Every year we celebrate Silver City’s unique 1878 charter, but things have changed a bit in the last 147 years. If you read the charter (bit.ly/3GQhzRk), the tone seems antiquated. More important, the government it describes is not how Silver City works today.
In the original charter, the mayor served a one-year term and councilors served two-year terms, both without pay. Now the mayor and the councilors have four-year terms, still without pay. I’ll get back to the no pay.
The charter can be changed by a vote of the people, and it was so changed in 1889, 1907, 1995 and 2001. But the big changes have been through ordinances and state law. When the Local Elections Act passed in 2018, the state made clear that if state law says one thing and the charter says another, state law rules.
That’s why town elections eventually moved from March to November. It’s also why liquor laws, the Open Meetings Act, the town manager system and many ordinances have made parts of the charter seem as outdated as the hat the mayor wears on Territorial Charter Day.
But when state law doesn’t conflict, the charter is still supreme. This creates problems such as the one in this charter provision: “The mayor and councilmen shall constitute a town council of which the mayor shall be ex officio president, but he shall not vote except in case of a tie.”
A few might remember a vote about 20 years ago, when one councilor recused herself because she had a financial interest in the matter. Two voted in favor of the ordinance and one voted against. The mayor didn’t vote because it wasn’t a tie. But two isn’t a majority of five. So the one “no” vote overrode the two “yes” votes, and the ordinance failed.
It’s undemocratic for one councilor to outvote two, but if it happens once every 20 years, what’s the problem? Well, imagine you’re a business person thinking of running for council. You know you have an issue coming up that you can’t vote on. If one person can defeat your interest even if three of the remaining four support it, you might decide not to run. This has happened.
The solution is easy. Change the charter’s wording so that the mayor votes whenever less than four councilors vote. The majority rules again.
But if we’re changing the charter, I’d prefer that the mayor would always vote, so that we always know where he or she stands. Would this matter? Most votes are four to nothing or three to one. The two-to-two votes where the mayor breaks a tie are rare, although not as rare as they used to be.
In Silver City’s town manager system, the mayor’s role is often public relations and the bully pulpit. Councilors can be more powerful than the mayor. The mayor’s role as agenda-setter and referee between councilors doesn’t always match reality. All five county commissioners vote; if all members of the council did, the mayor would have more power and responsibility.
Now back to paying councilors and the mayor. This column has been a fan of county commissioners being paid a part-time salary for part-time work, and a proponent of paying state and town legislators the same. Nobody runs for County Commission to get rich, but some people don’t run for the state Legislature or the Town Council because they don’t want to work a lot of hours for nothing.
Some councilors say they spend 15 to 20 hours a week on the job. Some don’t, but those might not get reelected under a paid system. A lot of good candidates in mid-career don’t run because they can’t afford to serve.
I’d like to see the charter changed so that councilors could be paid. That would leave the classic problem of councilors being able to give themselves a raise. But the classic solution (as in the 27th Amendment to the federal Constitution) is to make votes for pay changes only take effect after the next election. If councilors get greedy, voters can kick them out.
Many voters think legislators at all levels should work out of the goodness of their hearts, but I think you get what you pay for. I salute those who dedicate their retirement or their leisure to public service, but I’d also like some councilors who have a direct financial stake in town affairs.
I would like to pay councilors and the mayor a salary of about a quarter of what a department head makes — details to be negotiated by the council at their own risk.
Changing a charter or a constitution is a big step that shouldn’t be taken lightly or frequently, but sometimes we should at least consider big steps.
Bruce McKinney is a Silver City business owner, close observer of local government and occasional troublemaker. In his column, which appears every other Thursday, he tries to address big questions from a local perspective. Send comments and ideas to [email protected].
