Charter Review Committee

Members

Chair: Mayor Greggory Hull

District 1: Bob Cote

District 2: Bea Cruz

District 3: Deputy Mayor and City Councilor Bob Tyler

District 4: Howard Balmer

District 5: Sarah Baiett (Vice-Chairperson)

District 6: City Councilor Dan Stoddard

Meetings

The Committee held its first organizational meeting (virtually) on Thursday, March 18, 2021, at 6 p.m.  At this meeting, a regular meeting schedule was established.  Regular Committee meetings were held on the first and third Thursday of the month at 6 p.m. from April 1 - June 3, 2021.

The committee will hold a meeting on July 29, 2021 at 6 p.m. in a virtual format to review draft Charter Amendment questions.

Link for meeting agendas and minutes.

Purpose

Section 1.07 of the City Charter requires a thorough review of the Charter at least once every six years, in line with the review process set out by ordinance/municipal code. The last review was conducted in 2015.  Chapter 33 of Municipal Code details the review process and associated procedures.

The committee was activated and confirmed by the Governing Body on March 11, 2021. The committee will be activated for no longer than six (6) months, and shall propose recommended Charter amendments based on their review to the Governing Body no later than 90 days (June 9, 2021) from the date of such activation. View recommended Charter Amendments.

The City Attorney shall review and render an opinion as to the legality and form of any proposed Charter amendment before it is submitted to the Governing Body for consideration.

If the proposed Charter amendments are approved by a majority of the Governing Body, the Governing Body will advance the questions to voters for consideration (March 2022).

The Governing Body may modify the language of any amendment submitted by the Charter Review Committee to align with the form proposed by the City Attorney, but shall not make any substantive changes to any proposed amendments. Substantive changes may only be made following approval by the Charter Review Committee.

Should the Governing Body by majority vote suggest substantive changes to any proposed amendment(s), the Charter Review Committee shall hold an additional meeting to discuss the changes and obtain public input no later than 30 days following action of the Governing Body. At the meeting, the Charter Review Committee shall vote to approve or not approve the proposed changes to any amendment(s). Should the Charter Review Committee not approve the proposed changes, the amendment(s) shall not be submitted to the voters. Should the Charter Committee approve the proposed changes to any amendment(s), the Governing Body will advance the questions to voters for consideration (March 2022).


Only the proposed amendments receiving a majority of "in favor" votes, by voters at the March 2022 municipal election, will ultimately result in amendments to the Rio Rancho City Charter.