While we know you are pawsitively waiting for our purrfect part three to Paw Patrol we must take an intermission break for some important information. For those who don’t know the City of Frisco is a “home rule” city, meaning it’s citizens or residents can vote to adapt a charter that acts as the City’s basic governing document. The city governance style is that of a “council-manager” style which means government functions are controlled by a six-person City Council and a City Manager.
According to the city website the City Charter must be reviewed at least every six years and not more often than once every two years. That is why the city has a Charter Review Commission, which is a board that contains ten citizens for a term of six months. They choose two alternatives in the event one of the members is unable to complete the term. The primary purpose or function of the board is to: (A) inquire into the operation of the City government under the Charter and determine whether any provisions require revision; (B) propose any recommendations it deems desirable to ensure compliance with the Charter of the City government; and (C) report its findings and present its recommendations to the City Council. The last Charter Amendment Election was held in May 2019.
We are curious if our readers of the Frisco Chronicles are aware of how important the City Charter is to our day-to-day governance. It made us curious and a little concerned about what proposed changes to the city charter residents will be asked to vote on in May. To be frank we don’t trust the city! We have not seen any public discussion on the charter review and no articles written about it. Apparently, citizens had the right to go to Charter Review Commission and speak at the regularly scheduled Wednesday meetings from June 2024 through October 2024, but were citizens aware of that? Was that announced anywhere?
Many voters will get to the ballot box and feel unprepared to vote on these changes. In our opinion it could leave many residents/voters in the dark about the potential impacts their vote can have on the city’s governance. Not to mention, the timing and approach of this effort should raise eyebrows because there has not been enough transparency, potentially limiting public input on significant decisions affecting the future of Frisco. With limited public awareness and a tight timeline, residents should be calling for more clarity on the changes and how they will influence the local community.
We decided to investigate, and we learned the Charter Review Commission presented the final report from the 2024 charter review to the city council on December 3, 2024. The next step following the report presentation is for the council to have the opportunity to review and revise the recommendations as Council finds desirable. Desirable? What are the changes being suggested?
On February 4th City Council Meeting Item Number 40 reads “Consider and act upon adoption of an Ordinance ordering a Special Election … for the purpose of submitting to the qualified voters of the City of Frisco certain proposed amendments to the existing City of Frisco Home Rule Charter…” there was no discussion by the council on the proposed changes. Instead, Tammy Meinershagen made the motion to approve which was seconded by Bobblehead Bill Woodard. We pulled up the memo associated with the agenda which states there are twelve (12) propositions calling for the Special Charter Amendment Election. The memo references a January 21, 2025, City Council Work session so we pulled up the minutes for that, and as you can guess there is very little info available to the public. Then we went to the October 1, 2024 meeting referenced in the memo and found a large attachment of what the proposed changes are.
Curious yes, what the council wants to change? Words and punctuation proposed to be added are underlined; words and punctuation proposed to be deleted are marked with strikethrough.
Section 3.02 Limitations on Terms: No person shall serve as a Councilmember and Mayor (combined) for more than 18 six consecutive elected years terms.
If you read the current Home Rule Charter, it says “The mayor and each councilmember shall serve for a term of three years. Under limitations it reads “No person shall serve as mayor for more than three consecutive elected terms” which is a total of 9 years. Then it goes on to say “no person shall serve as councilmember for more than three consecutive elected terms” which is also 9 years. The last sentence of the limitation reads “No person shall serve as a councilmember and mayor (combined) for more than 18 consecutive years.” 18 YEARS? Do you think they should be able to serve 18 years? How does the city develop new and fresh perspective when someone can serve that long?
Oh yeah did we mention it also recommended adding a provision to the charter to allow the city council to fill a council seat by appointment when a council member vacates their seat with a year or less left on their term? The recommended charter amendment would not apply to the mayor. The appointment would require a supermajority (at least three-fourths) approval from the city council and would have to be made within 30 days of the seat being vacated. NO VOTE on who will fill that seat they get to appoint their friends who agree with them.
Section 3.04 Compensation: The Mayor shall receive compensation in the amount of $1,500.00 850.00 per month. Each Councilmember shall receive compensation in the amount of $1,200.00 700.00 per month. On October 1, 2025 and annually thereafter on the same date, the amount of compensation shall be adjusted by an amount equal to the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index, Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) over the prior, one-year period.
READ THAT AGAIN! READ IT CAREFULLY! The first issue we have is the council just asked us to raise their pay in 2019 which the voters passed raising the mayor’s pay from $500 per month to $850 and raising council members’ pay from $350 per month to $700. Now they are back for more! With the new proposed payout, King Cheney would make $18,000 a year to be Mayor. Our council Members would be making $14,400 per year. That does not include all the perks of box seats at events or paid city travel.
Issue number two is the blue sentence (read it carefully)! The amendment includes a note requiring compensation to be adjusted by the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) going forward to take inflation into account. This ensures that future compensation amendments will not be necessary as it will change automatically. That means our right as voters to determine if they should be paid more is taken away from us because it “can change automatically.”
We are curious, what do other city council leaders across North Texas make? We found the answer in a 2021 Dallas Morning News article which pulled the information from a 2020 U.S. Census Bureau.
Plano – Population 285,494: City Council $1000 per month and Mayor $2000 per month
Arlington – Population: 394,266: Mayor: $250 per month & Council members: $200 per month
Dallas – Population: 1,304,379: Mayor: $80,000 & Council members: $60,000 a year
Fort Worth – Population: 918,915: Mayor: $29,000 & Council members: $25,000 a year
Garland – Population: 246,018: Mayor: $575 per month, plus $72 for regular meetings and $72 for work sessions preceding meetings. Council members: $288 base pay, plus $72 for regular meetings, $72 for work sessions preceding meetings.
Irving – Population: 256,684: Mayor: $1,200 per month & Council members: $900 per month
McKinney – Population: 195,308: Mayor: $50 per city council meeting (which comes to $1200 per year), $100 monthly phone stipend and $100 monthly stipend. Council members: $50 per council meeting (which comes to $1200 per year) and $100 monthly stipend
Mesquite –Population: 150,108: Mayor: $100 per month & Council members: $50 per month
Richardson – Population: 119,469: Mayor: $100 per meeting & Council members: $100 per meeting. Yearly pay is capped at $5,200.
We also found this totally monthly pay comparison chart in the City of Grand Praire from a review they did in March 2024.
Section 3.09 Meetings of the City Council: (1) The City Council shall hold at least two regular meetings each month and as many additional meetings as it deems necessary to transact the business of the City; provided, however, the City Council may, in its sole discretion, determine to hold one regular monthly meeting four two months out of the calendar year. The City Council shall fix the date and time of the regular meetings by ordinance. What does that mean? They want more pay and the ability to opt out of 4 meetings instead of only two. More money less work! They need this because of the number of public events they must do for a political picture grab.
Well, the intermission is over so it is time to get back in to the theater and wait for the rest. Yes, there are more changes you need to know about because we will be voting on them so stay tuned!
Related Articles: Community Impact: Voters could see higher pay for City Council, Dallas Morning News,
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