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Home My WebLink About026124 ORD - 01/25/2005 ORDINANCE AMENDING THE CODE OF ORDINANCES, CITY OF CORPUS CHRISTI, CHAPTERS 2, 17 AND 39, REGARDING POLITICAL PARTICIPATION OF CITY EMPLOYEES, RESIGN TO RUN RESTRICTIONS, AND HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION PROVISIONS, TO CORRESPOND WITH ELECTION RESULTS; AND PROVIDING FOR SEVERANCE; AND PROVIDING FOR PUBLICATION. WHEREAS, in Special Election held November 2, 2004, ordered in Ordinance 025913 and canvassed in Ordinance 026022, proposed Charter Amendments regarding political participation by City employees (Charter Amendment No.4) and resign to run restrictions (Charter Amendment No.5) passed; WHEREAS, Charter Amendment NO.4 amended City Charter, Article VII, Section 4, to allow City employees, other than managerial employees and employees in the City Secretary's Office, to participate in political activities on City-related issues provided that no political activities may be conducted while in uniform, on duty, or using City resources, and no coercion or retaliation is allowed against City employees for engaging in protected political activities, and Section 39-15 of the City Code of Ordinances requires repeal to correspond with the Charter amendment; WHEREAS, historically the City Charter has included requirements that members of the City Council and other City officials must resign their City positions if they seek other public office, and Charter Amendment NO.5 which amended City Charter, Article VII, Section 5, was designed to make the current restrictions clearer and easier to follow, but was not a major change to the existing Charter provisions, and Section 2-60 of the City Code of Ordinances requires amendment to correspond with the Charter amendment; WHEREAS, in Special Election held November 2, 2004, ordered in Ordinance 025913 and canvassed in Ordinance 026022, the proposition to establish a permanent ad valorem tax freeze on residence homesteads of persons sixty-five (65) years of age or older or disabled persons and eligible spouses passed; WHEREAS, in election held April 4, 1987, ordered in Ordinance 19638 and canvassed in Ordinance 19692, the proposition providing for the adoption of an exemption from ad valorem taxation in the amount of $50,000 of the appraised value of the residence homestead of an individual who is disabled or is 65 years of age or older passed, and Section 17-34 of the City Code of Ordinances requires repeal to correspond with the homestead exemption propositions; and WHEREAS, the City Code of Ordinances is being amended to correspond with election results; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS: Jan 2005 Code amendments re election results. DOC ()~:>:C~4 2 SECTION 1. The second paragraph of Section 2-60, Declaration of policy, disqualification of members seeking other office, is deleted, to read as follows: "Sec. 2-60. Declaration of policy; disqualification of members seeking other office. "It is hereby declared to be the policy of the city council that the appointment to membership on boards, commissions and committees is a distinct honor and trust imposed in the appointee and involves the corresponding obligation of the appointee to serve his community in the capacity of member of such board, commission or committee by regular attendance and participation in the proceedings of the respective bodies. In the event any member of any committee, board or commission shall announce as a c::mdidate for nomination or election to any electi'/e public office, or campaign f-or nomination or election to any public office, or be appointed to any elective public office, such member shall automatically cease to be an active member of such committee, board or commission, and the respective body shall certify such fact to inf-orm the council of such vacancy so as to enable the council to fill such vacancy by prompt appointment. "Public office" as used in this section does not include any office in any political party. " SECTION 2. Sec. 17-34 of the City Code of Ordinances is repealed in its entirety. Sec. 1731. Homestead ad valorem tax exemption to persons sixty five or over. There is hereby exempted from all ad valorem taxes levied after January 1, 1971, four thousand dollars ($1,000.00) of the assessed taxable value of residence homesteads as that term is defined by the state constitution and law of persons sixty five (65) years of age or older; provided, however, the exemption will not attach to any residence homestead until and unless the owner thereof or his duly authorized agent or attorney has applied at the city tax office for the exemption completely executing the form set out herein, or any revision thereof which includes an affirmative statement that the applicant is sixty five (65) years of age or older, is owner of the property for which the exemption is sought, applicant resides on the property, property is homesteaded under constitution and laws of the state, the form is signed by the head of the family and acknowledged by (1 clerk of the tax office. Said form shall be executed between January firet and .^.pril thirtieth of each year and failure to execute and file said form by April thirtieth of any year forfeits the exemption for that year. Howe'ler, the city tax assessor may, for good cause shown, waive the I\pril thirtieth deadline upon the sworn affid:lVit of the applic:mt, so long as such late filing privilege grant .....ill not, in the evaluation of the city tax assessor collector, materially contribute to the delay or increase the expense of the preparation of the city t3X roll. APPLICATION FOR $1,000.00 ASSESSMENT EXEMPTION FOR PERSONS 65 YE/\RS OLD OR OLDER JAN 2005 CODE AMENDMENTS RE ELECTION RESUL TS.DOC 3 D3te 1. Description of Property: 2. OwnerE:hip of Described Property: 3. Names and ages of persons residing at Property: ~. Is Property Described Homeste3d as that term is defined under the Constitution 3nd Laws of the State of Texas" Yes No 5. By signing this form I hereby affirm that the foregoing st3tements are true and correct and I am the head of the family residing in the afores3id homestead. Sign3ture .'\cknowledgment: Clerk, Tax Office This section is and shall be construed 3S cumulative of all other ordinances and merely 3dds the aforesaid exemption upon proper application. (Ord. No. 112~7, ~~ 1,2,1 1073; Ord. No. 119111, ~ 1,2 20 7~; Ord. No. 12211, ~ 1, 8 +-74} SECTION 3. Section 39-15, Political activities of city employees, is repealed in its entirety. Sec. 39 15. Political activities of city employees. (3) Purpose. The purpose of this section is to clearly establish prohibited and permissible political activities for 311 city employees, classified or unclassified, except those otherwise regulated by federal or state law. (b) Policy. It is the policy of the City of Corpus Christi that city employees be prohibited from taking an active p3rt in campaigns for city elective office except as 3 candidate for an office under the City Ch3rter. It is simil3rly city policy that, except where expressly provided otherwise, city employees sh311 ha'/e the right to fully particip3te in politic31 activities other than campaigns for city elective office. It is the purpose of this section to specifically deline3te those activities which city employees may and m3Y not participate in. (c) Regulated activities. JAN 2005 CODE AMENDMENTS RE ELECTION RESUL TSDOC 4 (1) To Ll'loid undue influence of city employees on the outcome of city council elections 3nd to Llvoid undue influence of city councilmen or candid3tes f-or city oouncil on city employees, the follmving restrictions me imposed: Ll. ~Jo employee of the city or Llssoci3tion of such employeec mLlY publicly endorse or aotively support candidates for the city councilor any politic31 orgLlnizLltion or LlcsociLltion orgLlnized to cupport c3ndidates for the city council; b No employee of the city mLlY circulate petitions for city council c3ndidLltos, Lllthough he m3Y sign such Ll petition; c. No employoe of the city mLlY oontribute, directly or indirectly or through Lln org3nizLltion or Llssociation to such Ll campaign nor solicit or rooeive contributionc for Ll city oouncil candidate; d. No employee of the city mLlY wear city council cLlmpaign buttons nor dictribute oampaign litemture at work or in Ll city uniform or in the offices or buildings of the City of Corpus Christi. (2) /\n employee of the city may not: 3. Use the prectige of his pocition with the city for Llny pLlrtican cLlndidate; b. Manage a partisan political campLlign; c. Solicit or receive contributions for such a campLlign; d. Actively support a cLlndidate except on his own time while not in Ll oity uniform nor in Lln offioe or building of the city. (3) The following activitiec are permitted: 3. City employeec mLlY pl:lce oity oouncil cLlmpaign signc in their Y3rdc Llnd on the premises of their homes; b. City employees mLlY place bumper stickers on the vehiclec which they own but not on a car the use of which is supported in whole or part by Ll CLlr Llllowance; c. The spouses of city employees may contribute to the CLlmpaign of Ll city council c::mdidate and may solicit and reoeive contributions for a oity counoil oandidate; d. The spouses of oity employeec, Llnd acsooiations and organizationc of spouses of city employees, may publicly endorse and actively support oity counoil oandidates; e. The cpo uses of oity employees, and accooiations Llnd organizLltionc of spouses of city employeec, may ciroulate petitionc f-or oity counoil cLlndidLltes; and JAN 2005 CODE AMENDMENTS RE ELECTION RESUL TSDOC 5 f. I\n m)Sociation or organiz[ltion of city employeOE: may mail or othCH\'.'ise distribute endorsements of city council candid[ltes to the city employee members of such organiz[ltion or association. (1) An employee of the city who is [l c[lndidate f-or office under the City Ch[lrter may ~ a-- Campaign while on duty in a city uniform or in the offices or buildings of the city; Sf b. Engage in the [lctivities prohibited under subsoction 39 17(c)(2). (d) Dissemination of factu[ll inform[ltion. Nothing herein shall be interpreted to prohibit the city staff from providing factu[ll information about issues involved in a city election to [lll groups or individuals on an equal basis. No indication of preference for any candidate or prol3osition Sh311 be made; provided, hO'.\'ever, that city staff may discuss and explain the mctu31 basis of st3ff recommendations made prior to the c3mpaign concerning issues invol'/ed in the olection; for instance, annexation and bond elections. (e) Ruling on contemplated political activities. ,^,ny employee who is uncertain as to the application of these rules to an activity in which he/she wishes to engage shall request in writing that his/her department head advise him/her 3S to the permissibility of the conduct. Such request shall include the date upon "..hich the employee foresees participating in the activity, 3nd the department head Sh311 respond in writing within a reasonable time thereafter. SECTION 4. If for any reason any section, paragraph, subdivision, clause, phrase, word or provision of this ordinance shall be held invalid or unconstitutional by final judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction, it shall not affect any other section, paragraph, subdivision, clause, phrase, word, or provision of this ordinance, for it is the definite intent of this City Council that every section, paragraph, subdivision, clause, phrase, word or provision of this ordinance be given full force and effect for its purpose. SECTION 5. Publication shall be made in the official publication of the City of Corpus Christi as required by the City Charter of the City of Corpus Christi. JAN 2005 COOE AMENDMENTS RE ELECTION RESUL TSDOC 6 That the foregoing ordinance was read for the first time and passed to its second reading on this the -I~' .(~ da~ of 1n:lV,L<l..1A...) .~ ,2005, by the following vote: Samuel L. Neal, Jr. II h-UIJ Bill Kelly CLJ-- Brent Chesney o.---.f , , Clef' ( ::)L.1,{.---T Rex A. Kinnison L.'<---;\, Melody Cooper Henry Garrett Mark Scott ~ uw--~ Javier D. Colmenero Jesse Noyola t.ur That the fOregOing~.ordi~~ w; read for the second time and passed finally on this the .-9-=;-f'--day of '1,(/, 2005 by the following vote: Samuel L Neal, Jr. t1 })IV Bill Kelly (1uf -------0-- J Brent Chesney ~ Rex A. Kinnison ~! Javier D. Colmenero ~ Jesse Noyola C&f Melody Cooper ~ Mark Scott ~ Henry Garrett C~f- , PASSED AND APPROVED, this the.-:::/)'jI'-day of , 2005. ATTES~~ Armando Chapa City Secretary d' --1.moe' L~' ~ r Mayor APPROVED: ~ /2- , 2005 c1- 'VJ-z.. .4.v-E,.C-\ Lisa Aguilar Z) Assistant City Attorney for City Attorney EFFECTIVE DATE I 3 05' Jan 2005 Code amendments re election results. DOC n '~ (' 1 ::.1 FINANCE DEPARTMENT Al1101 39 PUBLISHER'S AFFIDAVIT n..Cj FEB -3 State of f'exas County of Nueces \ J \ J ss: CITY OF CORPUS CHRISTI Ad# 5110957 PO # Before me, the undersigned, a Notary Public, this day personally came Diana Hinojosa, who being first duly sworn, according to law, says that she is Credit Manager of the Corpus Christi Caller~Times, a daily newspaper published at Corpus Christi in said City and State, generally circulated in Aransas, Bee, Brooks, Duval, Jim Hogg, Jim Wells, Karnes, Kenedy, Kleberg, Live Oak, Nueces, Refugio, San Patricio, Victoria and Webb Counties, and that the publication of, NOTICE OF PASSAGE OF ORDINANCE NO. which the annexed is a true copy, was inserted in the Corpus Christi Caller-Times and on the World Wide Web on the Caller-Times Interactive on the 31ST day(s) of JANUARY, 2005. $76.75 bL'CULa.. (fj UuliJO.s~ SENIOR COLLECTOR TWO (2 ) Time(s) Subscribed and sworn to me on the date of FEBRUARY 0 I, 2005. llicua ~Jtn~ Notary Public, Nueces County, Texas ROSA MARIA FLORES Print or Type Name of Notary Public My commission expires on 04/23/05. CALLER-TIM ES. January 31, 200~ /IIIIIB- I OF OADINANCE NO. 026124 Amending the Code of Ordinances, City of Corpus Christi, Chapters 2.17 and 39, regarding political; participation of City employeM, resign 10 om restrictions, and homestead exemption I provisions, . to I correspon~ wUh :="'~11ltIo ... .. .. . ..,....' .:~ --.y .. :~ ; ""'l ,