CITY OF GRANTS, N.M. – The City of Grants exists thanks to the city charter. The charter declares that the city was established by and for the people of Grants, because of this, the charter goes to great lengths to protect the citizens of the city, focusing on the citizens before even discussing the city government. The charter goes on to establish the city council as the legislature, the mayor and city manager as the executives, and finally the municipal judge as the judicial branch of government. The charter goes on to detail how positions in city government can be filled to help with the day-to-day affairs of the city; how the government is meant to pay for its affairs.
In essence, the charter is a guide to help the government understand their responsibilities. One major problem arises, though: Who is going to make sure the charter is followed? That is what the final article of the charter seeks to resolve.
ARTICLE IX: COMPLIANCE
Throughout the charter, several positions are tasked with ensuring compliance of the charter, this article and its sections ensure that the charter is followed.
This article is made up of s three sections and various subsections, it is one of the shortest articles in the charter.
Section One: Charter Implementation and Compliance
Being only one sentence, this section codifies one thing: Who exactly is responsible for ensuring the city remains in compliance with the charter? This section declares:
1. The city manager is responsible
2. The city attorney is responsible
3. Every elected official is responsible
Only the city manager and city attorney are explicitly mentioned in this section, but the elected officials include city councilors, the mayor, and the municipal judge.
Section Two: Citizen Monitoring of Charter Compliance
This section gives the public an ability to redress – or make an argument that something must be made right – the city government when they feel the charter is not being followed.
Subsection A declares that the city council must make special provisions for the citizens to redress the government about the charter. Specifically, these special provisions must happen at every regular city council meeting.
Subsection B expands upon Subsection A, declaring that every regular city council meeting must have a section where the public gets to address the city government on issues pertaining to charter compliance. This section must be separate from the public comment section, meaning that the charter demands two separate sections on a regular city council agenda for the people to make comments to the city government.
Subsection C The charter has protections and rules for those citizens who would speak about the charter during the compliance section of the agenda.
1. There can be no more than five people who talk about charter compliance at any regular meeting of the government.
2. Every individual speaker who rises to speak about charter compliance will receive two minutes to speak, the council can allot more time to the speaker if they desire.
3. Speakers who rise about charter compliance must speak about, and the minutes must record the specific article, section, and subsection that is up for debate.
Subsection D states the city clerk must, at least two times a year, let the people of the city know that there is a charter, and where they can find the charter.
Section Three: Council Action
Known as the “Legal Opinion” clause, this twosentence section allows the city council to call for an immediate opinion from the city attorney if they are presented with a legitimate issue regarding the charter. This clause is meant to be used for issues that arise from the charter compliance section that must be on each regular city council agenda. This charter allows the city council to wait no longer than the next regular city council meeting to obtain a legal opinion.
This article just ensures that there are multiple eyes on the charter, all working together to establish that the city is following the charter.