BRYAN, Texas — As November nears, two charter amendments are on the ballot for the City of Bryan, and the city wants your vote to get the amendments approved.
City secretary and Chief of Elections Mary Lynn Stratta explained how they want to clean up the city's charter language for Propositions A and B for those living in Bryan.
"When the charter language doesn't conflict or have antiquated language in it that is no longer in compliance with state law, so we feel like this clean up will just streamline things and make things much simpler and easier to understand," explained Stratta.
Proposition A will read as followed on the ballot:
"Shall Section 5 (l) entitled “City Council. Duties of the Mayor,” of the Bryan City Charter be amended to remove the limitation of “establishment that sells alcoholic beverages” and clarify that the Mayor may order any place of public gathering to be closed during a riot or disaster and may exercise authority granted under the Texas Disaster Act?"
Stratta explained the amendment simply means that in the case of a disaster or riot, the mayor has the authority set out by the Texas Government Code.
Prior to an explanation of what the proposition laid out, it stated the following:
As presently worded, this provision may cause confusion by creating a mistaken impression that the Mayor’s emergency authority during a disaster is limited to regulation of gatherings or establishments where alcoholic beverages are sold. If this proposition is adopted, the Charter language will be consistent with current State law, the Texas Disaster Act, as contained in Chapter 418, Texas Government Code, which sets out certain duties and responsibilities of the Mayor during a disaster. This would not apply to locations exempted from closure by order of the Texas Governor during a declared disaster."
She said it would make the language more concise and put it in compliance with state laws.
"This section contains old antiquated language," stated Stratta. She believes the winter storm the Lone star state saw in February of last year showed how the antiquated language of the section was actually a hindrance, rather than a helping hand.
"When we have a true disaster like the winter storm it's so much simpler and efficient to streamline on the city here to be able to prepare those disaster declaration to maybe get the help they need," said Stratta.
While many propositions come at a cost to voters, this one won't cost voters a single cent. Neither Proposition A nor B will require any money to come out of the pockets of voters, but it will also bring the official wording in alignment with state laws.
Furthermore, those who wish to bring petitions forward for others to sign will have less restrictive requirements to follow, making the process easier for Bryan citizens.
Proposition A will read as followed on the ballot:
"Shall Section 10 (a) of the Bryan City Charter entitled “Initiative. Petition,” be amended to conform citizen petition requirements to existing State law by adding the requirement that a signer of a petition may provide the signer’s date of birth as an alternative to voter registration number and amend to clarify that the circulator of the petition that signed must also be a qualified voter of the City?"
"Our current charter that petitions submitted by citizens must include both their voter registration number and their date of birth," said Stratta.
According to the current state laws, those who wish to bring forward petitions must have one or the other.
While these proposed amendments haven't exactly been the talk of the town, the passing of the two propositions will make the overall process more streamlined.
"The state laws are so non controversial that it makes things so much easier on voters when they do have to be involved in a certain process," said Stratta.