After months of meetings, the Sachse Charter Review Commission concluded its work with a final meeting to go over recommendations to be made to council.

Commissioners approved the final set of suggestions during the Thursday, July 7, regular meeting. The commission’s chairperson, Scott McMurdie, presented the recommendations to council during the Monday, July 18, regular meeting.

Assistant City Manager Lauren Rose set the tone of the meeting early, establishing that it would likely be the final time the commission met unless council sent back any changes or asked for more deliberation on an amendment to the city’s charter.

“I’m hoping this will be an efficient meeting as we wrap up,” Rose said. “We’re going to finalize what your report will look like. These are all affiliated with items we’ve discussed.”

During the meeting, council liaisons were a topic of significant discussion, including how they would function within the council’s existing policies. Currently, council has full discretion over its liaison policy, said City Attorney Kevin Laughlin.

Rose said council debated defining the role of liaisons at a meeting last month but deferred to the Charter Review Commission to recommend any definitions in its amended charter.

However, having a definition or structure to a liaison program would not give council any wiggle room on its implementation, said Laughlin.

“A liaison program can be done without having a mandate in the charter,” Laughlin said. “The problem is, once you get in there and decide it’s not working, by law the council has to do it and you may have a charter election five or seven years down the road trying to get rid of it.”

For the full story, see the July 21 issue of The Sachse News.