Albuquerque city councilors this week approved a proposal that would severely limit the mayor’s say on who gets to suggest changes to the city’s charter.
The city’s Charter Review Task Force convenes nearly every 10 years to evaluate the city’s charter and identify any needed changes. An early proposal to outline the panel’s makeup would have allowed Mayor Tim Keller to choose seven members with input from the council. But after an amendment, the proposal going to the mayor’s desk would limit his pick to just one of an 11-person task force.
Councilor Dan Champine successfully amended the original proposal to give the council more say in how members of the task force are picked. Champine proposed increasing the number of members and allowing each councilor to pick one. The mayor would appoint one member, then the council as a whole would choose an 11th to serve as the chair.
“The diversity of this council, you have nine people up here representing different parts of the city,” Champine said. “I think that was a good, equal and fair way to go about this task force.”
Champine’s amendment passed on an 8-1 vote, with Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn being the only councilor to vote against it.
Councilor Nichole Rogers in June pushed for an updated charter review ordinance, but that idea was shot down by a majority of the council. Fiebelkorn suggested on Monday that she voted against the latest resolution because of that.
“I thought this was a really cool idea when Councilor Rogers brought this forward a couple of months ago,” Fiebelkorn said. “I am very confused still as to how, two months later, we’re doing the same thing and now it’s a cool idea. So for that reason, I will not be supporting it. I think this is important stuff but nothing has changed in the last few months.”
The council approved the updated resolution on a 7-2 vote.
YES: Brook Bassan, Dan Champine, Renée Grout, Dan Lewis, Klarissa Peña, Nichole Rogers, Louie Sanchez
NO: Joaquín Baca, Tammy Fiebelkorn
Keller would still need to sign the resolution but Staci Drangmeister, a spokesperson for his office, said the administration has “some concerns.”
“We want to have a good dialogue in the community, but it should be a conversation that ensures that the balance of the executive and the legislative branch is equitable as we talk about the charter,” Drangmeister said.