City takes first step in charter review
By Mike Steely
Senior Writer
steelym@knoxfocus.com
Having completed a review of the Knoxville City Council’s rules and procedures, the council is now turning to review the city’s charter. “There’s never been a deep look at the charter,” said Vice Mayor Lynne Fugate Thursday as several council members began that process. The last full charter review was in 1988.
Fugate chaired the meeting, which included council members Karyn Adams, Doug Lloyd, Debbie Helsley and Nathan Honeycutt. Former vice mayors Bill Lyons and Nick Pavlis, who served in the recent rules group, were present, with Lyons walking the meeting through a proposal discussed in last year’s September and October meetings.
The city charter has been amended now and then over the years but has never been reviewed in its entirety. Currently, one charter change is on the ballot and, if passed, would permit the candidate getting more than 50 percent in the primary to be declared the winner.
The second step is the adoption of the process and naming 13 members to the Charter Review Panel. Each city council member would name one member, and the city mayor would choose four members. Non-voting members will include the city law director, city attorney and city recorder. Lyons said the idea is to create a diverse group of members.
The Charter Review Panel would begin the deeper look at the charter no later than April 1 of next year and then review the charter every eight years in meetings open to the public. The panel is required to meet in four public sessions at different locations around the city during the process year and issue a report within 12 months of their first meeting.
District 1 Councilwoman Adams asked Lyons about the general process and Lyons said the panel would look for competing amendments and clean up items that are moot or compete with state law. The final report would include public input and, if approved by the council, would go on the ballot during the 2028 federal-state election.
District Three’s Lloyd asked if property owners who live outside the city might qualify for panel membership and that question might be reviewed, as non-resident property owners may currently vote in city elections.
District Two’s Honeycutt said the public process will give the effort structure and added, “The charter is not set in stone.”
Fugate, who is also an at-large council member, said the panel’s membership could not reflect any district that would “overwhelm” the rest of the panel.
City Recorder Will Johnson mentioned that KUB and other organizations named in the current charter would be invited to the upcoming meetings. He also suggested that employee pensions not be part of the review since there is an existing pension board.
Pavlis called including the pensions in a charter review “difficult and extremely political,” and it would be “an injustice” to include it in the update. Fugate concluded the meeting saying that the matter should appear on an upcoming city agenda.
