The Raytown Charter Commission’s 4th Meeting

The Charter Commission met at 6:30 PM, Monday, June 9th for the 4th time. Commissioner Ted Bowman was the only member absent. Progress was limited, with a good bit of debate on details on the start of the Charter that usually are not contentious. There was lively debate on a couple of issues, term limits and in-eligibility for office due to unpaid taxes.

The debate on eligibility centered on two aspects, what is to be considered a tax and whether there should be any sort of grace period.  Could an unpaid parking ticket result in the removal of an alderman,  would not paying all property tax on the due date result in the removal of an alderman. Do fines incurred by family members driving an automobile registered or jointly registered to an alderman result in their removal if unpaid on the due date.

The most lively debate was again on term limits. Leading the move to add term limits was Charter member Greg Walters. The commission was split on this issue, with a 7 to 5 advantage on the anti-term limits side.   After all Commissioners spoke to the issue, Walters offered an alternative to put the issue on the ballot as a pull-out. This means that the voters would vote on the charter and vote on whether term limits were part of the charter separately.

The meeting lasted almost 3 hours, with a short break after about an hour and forty minutes.  Below are the video recording made by RaytownOnline.com of both segments of the meeting.