Wolfforth commission begins drafting city charter
WOLFFORTH - The City of Wolfforth is on track to become a home rule municipality by the end of the year after the recently appointed Wolfforth Charter Commission held its first meeting jointly with the City Council Monday night.
The Charter Commission was appointed last month after the City Council decided to move forward with efforts to adopt a city charter in a move officials liken to "growing up."
"The adoption of a charter is kind of like growing up and learning to make your own decisions," City Manager Randy Criswell said during the meeting. "When we're a kid, our parents are telling us what to do and we've got the rules that they set that we follow. But when we become an adult, when we grow up, we set our rules."
Wolfforth is currently classified as a class A general law city, which do not have city charters and are generally cities with under 5,000 people. By crafting a charter, Wolfforth hopes to become a home rule city, which municipalities can opt to transition to after their population surpasses 5,000. Wolfforth's population was estimated at 6,008 - and growing - according to a 2021 U.S. Census Bureau estimate.
Texas home rule cities generally have more flexibility in governance and policy compared to general law cities. Criswell said the charter the commission is tasked with drafting is like the "constitution of Wolfforth, Texas."
"A home rule city may do anything authorized by its charter that is not specifically prohibited or preempted by the Texas Constitution or state or federal law. A general law city has no charter and may only exercise those powers that are specifically granted or implied by statute," according to the Texas Municipal League.
Related: Wolfforth, facing shortage, to buy water from Lubbock under new 25-year contract
The 10-member Charter Commission is tasked with drafting the charter document by the end of summer, with a goal of placing a measure to adopt the charter on a November ballot.
"There's a lot of work to do and not a whole lot of time to do it," Criswell said.
Members of the Wolfforth Charter Commission, appointed during a special City Council meeting Feb. 17, are Chelsea Salazar, Christopher Lee Flores, Kris Kerr, Larry Holland, Marie Garza, Mike Bickle, Misti Welch, Scott Mann, Shawn Vinson and Steve Hanes. Mann serves as the chair and Flores as the co-chair.
Mayor Charles Addington said the commission's work is critically important and will impact generations of Wolfforth inhabitants.
"Your charge tonight is to form the backbone and the foundation that this city will go on from now on," Addington told the commission members at the joint meeting. "This charter will way outlive all of us … so to say that it's very, very valuable and very important is to undervalue everything that you're going to do."
And while Addington acknowledged it will be impossible to satisfy everyone in the community — "No good deed goes unpunished," he said — Mann promised his commission will not take its assignment lightly and will strive to create a charter for all of Wolfforth.
"We're going to hit the ground running," Mann said. "Our commitment to you — and I'm confident I can speak for all these members — is we will protect this process. We will do this right, and we'll do it right the first time so we can present a document we can be proud of and that is procedurally flawless to the citizens of Wolfforth to approve."
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Wolfforth commission drafting charter as leaders eye home rule status
