Richmond could change representation
Voters to decide on forming districts, increasing number of city commissioners
Two propositions on the May 7 ballot in Richmond could change the way its commission represents residents.
Proposition 1 would increase the number of city commissioners — what other cities call city council members — from two to four. Proposition 2 would have commissioners elected to represent districts.
Richmond resident and commission candidate Tres Davis successfully submitted a petition to get the propositions on the ballot. He claims that some residents haven’t been represented in city government, including minority voters from neighborhoods such as North Richmond.
The 2010 U.S. Census listed Richmond with 11,679 residents, of which about 55 percent were identified as Hispanic or Latino, about 25 percent as non-Hispanic white and almost 18 percent as black.
“The lower economic group and the minorities in the city have always been underrepresented,” he said.
Davis, a behavior teacher for elementary students in Alvin
ISD and who is black, ran unsuccessfully for commissioner in 2015.
Davis’ petition was among five calling for potential ballot propositions that he submitted to the city since last spring for authorization to collect signatures. He received approval to circulate all but only sought signatures for the one pertaining to propositions 1 and 2.
A committee appointed by the mayor and commissioners to review the city charter pushed back against Davis’ use of petitions.
“It just appeared the city staff was being continually bombarded with (requests for petition review) and that some individuals were trying to run the city through the petition process,” said Michael Scherer, who chaired the charter committee.
If voters approve Proposition 1, Richmond’s government would be more like those of similarly sized cities, said Bennett Sandlin, executive director of the Texas Municipal League, a nonprofit that provides services to and advocates for Texas cities and city officials.
In Richmond’s commission-manager form of government, the city manager conducts day-to-day city operations under the watch of elected officials. That’s the most common style of government among Texas cities with their own charters, Sandlin said. Unique in Texas?
But Richmond is likely the only city in Texas with a charter that has just two commissioners, Sandlin added. Most Texas cities have between four and six.
Richmond has had two commissioners for as long as Mayor Evalyn Moore can remember.
The city has operated at its own pace in other ways as well.
Before Moore was appointed mayor in 2013, her husband, Hilmar Moore, was in the position for 63 years before dying in office.
Voters re-elected her to another three-year term in 2014. While Moore won’t say whether she plans to run again, she said she enjoys the job.
Richmond didn’t get its own charter until 2013, even though it had the required 5,000 residents by 1970. The city was incorporated in 1837.
Last fall, the mayor and commissioners appointed the charter review committee to consider if changes were needed.
The advisory group did not discuss increasing the number of city commissioners because by the time it got to the topic, members knew Davis’ initiative would make it on the ballot, Scherer said.
The committee’s recommendations came as Davis submitted his proposed petitions to the city for review. One of Davis’ proposals that didn’t make it to circulation for signatures would have demanded a recall election for Moore on grounds of claimed incompetency and failure to represent all communities in the city.
The committee’s only recommended changes were to raise the bar on what is required for a petition to either put an initiative or referendum on the ballot or to initiate a recall election. These resulted in two other propositions in the May 7 election.
Richmond’s charter states that to get an initiative or referendum on the ballot, a resident must gather whichever is greater — 150 signatures or a number of names equaling 30 percent of the vote total from the city’s previous general election.
Based on the charter review commission’s recommendations, Ballot Proposition 3, which pertains to petitioning for an initiative or referendum, and Proposition 4, which relates to petitions for recall elections, would change the part of the formula based on number of signatures to require 300 names.
Scherer said of propositions 3 and 4, “If you have more than 1,000 votes cast at the last election, we didn’t change anything. This would only apply in a situation where less than a thousand votes were cast.”
But voter turnout in Fort Bend County tends to be low.
Richmond’s most recent general election last May drew only 435 voters. That puts the 30 percent requirement at about 130 signatures, which is fewer than the 150 required by the other threshold.
Davis got 168 signatures, which wouldn’t have made the cut if a minimum of 300 names had been required last fall.
Before having its own charter, Richmond followed Texas general law, under which it is very unusual for residents to submit a petition to change a city’s number of elected representatives, Sandlin said.
The dispute over whether to increase the number of commissioners came after the death of Commissioner Glen Gilmore this month and a gridlocked special meeting on April 11.
Moore and remaining City Commissioner Jesse Torres failed to agree on a candidate to finish Gilmore’s term, which the city charter requires them to do within 30 days of the position’s vacancy.
“I think you’re being unreasonable,” Torres said to Moore after she asked the city’s attorney the consequences of not filling the spot. “I think we need to accept someone.”
Gilmore’s seat is up for election on May 7 and is sought by three candidates: Davis, Barry Beard and Carlos Garcia.
Torres refused to support any of the six candidates Moore proposed to fill the seat to finish Gilmore’s term, which would have ended shortly after the May 7 election, and Moore did the same for the candidate Torres recommended. The vote between Moore and Torres would have to be unanimous to appoint a new commissioner. If they don’t agree, citizens could take them to court to compel them to agree, City Attorney Gary Smith said at the meeting.
Torres, who is a former Lamar Consolidated Independent School District trustee, was indicted last month on charges of conspiracy to commit bribery, engaging in organized activity, fabrication of physical evidence and tampering with a government record with intent to defraud. Details are limited about the charges, which came after a six-month investigation into claims of bribery between Lamar CISD trustees and local construction companies. Torres will continue to serve in office unless convicted, Moore said.
Torres ran on a platform of increasing the number of commissioners and creating single-member districts and said he still supports both.
Moore said she won’t publicly voice her opinion of either.
Said Moore: “It’s going to be up to the citizens of Richmond and I respect their judgment.”