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The city councilman would like the city’s Home Rule Charter amended, giving the council back some of the power it lost from the original 1944 charter.
“I don’t want to step on the toes of the Charter Review Committee, but I am going to recommend some changes and hope they get approved,” Ruiz said.
Last month, the city council approved a charter review committee that begins its work Tuesday. Any amendments to the charter must be approved by the voters.
“I’d like to see the council appoint department heads,” Ruiz said. “The council should also get to see sealed bids. That was taken away, and we need to get that back under council control.”
Ruiz is adamant in his belief that changes are needed.
“If we give any more up, we might as well stay home and let the city manager run the whole show,” said Ruiz, elected in May after three previous tenures on the city council.
Long-time Cuero resident John Hamilton, who has been observing the city government work for more than 40 years, shared his opinion on a potential change.
“I think it’s worth a try,” Hamilton said. “At one time the mayor was in charge and each councilman had a certain department to oversee. I wouldn’t be against attempting to reinstate that.”
In some cities, different forms of government work. Although not directly related to what’s going on in Cuero, Bay City, with a population of about 19,000 residents, has the mayor-council form of government.
“We’ve always had a strong mayor-council form of government,” said three-term Mayor Richard Knapik. “If we continue to grow, at some point we may very well need a professional city manager but for right now it seems to be working.”
Two alternatives to the manager-council form of government include the weak-mayor and strong-mayor forms of the mayor-council government.
In the weak-mayor form, the council possesses both legislative and executive authority. It may appoint officials and must approve mayoral nominations. It also exercises primary control over the municipal budget. The mayor serves largely ceremonial duties.
In the strong-mayor form, the mayor is given almost total administrative authority with the power to appoint and dismiss department heads without council approval. The strong mayor prepares and administers the city budget, although that budget often must be approved by the city council.