Gomez: charter vote is needed

Century registered voters will see three amendments on their ballot Nov. 5 in the General Election that will affect the town's 45-year-old charter. If passed, these three amendments would give the mayor more spending power, the ability to hire and fire and a general clean-up of the charter's language to make it simpler and less complicated.

Century Mayor Luis Gomez, Jr. says the passage of these three amendments will improve the town greatly. He is working hard to help his constituents understand how important these amendments are to the future of the town.

"If they fail, my hands will be tied again," said Gomez. "We have the Department of Environmental Protection and the sewage treatment system going in the right direction, our gas system is starting to go in the right direction and we are getting financial people in place."

The first amendment would allow the mayor to spend more than $199 without the council's approval.

The current charter allows the mayor to spend up to $199 without council's approval, which could take as much as a month, according to Gomez.

"In order to get council approval you have to do two or more bids," said Gomez. "For example, if we need an air conditioner repaired for the town and it's more than $199, I have to wait for a council meeting, present it to the council that we need an air conditioner repaired or replaced, then the council will give me approval to put it out for bid. We have to then get two or three proposals, then I have to bring it back to the council meeting and let the council choose out of the three bids which one they want and then I can get the air conditioner fixed, which will take about a month. If this amendment passes, I can get the air conditioner repaired and give the invoices to the council for approval."

Gomez said the council will set the spending limit.

Gomez said another problem is that Century's charter forbids 'piggy-backing', which allows and small town to benefit by piggy-backing off a larger municipality. For example, if a larger city utilizes a government contract, where vehicles or other goods and services are purchased, smaller municipalities can spend less money versus a regular purchase.

"This amendment will remove that clause," said Gomez. "Without it, we are thrown to the predators, which will cost the town more money. It's legal, because the charter is too old."

The second amendment would allow the mayor more authority on hiring and firing entry-level employees without waiting for council approval.

Currently, the town's charter does not allow the mayor to hire or fire entry-level position employees without council approval, which Gomez says makes it harder to find qualified personnel to work for the town.

Gomez referred to the recent situation where the town advertised for a town clerk, which the council approved of. Then shortly after, the person withdrew her acceptance of the position, so the town is back to looking for a new town clerk. Gomez said he thinks the potential candidate was inundated with negative responses to her accepting the position, which caused her to decline the offer.

"I would've been able to hire the clerk and the staff," said Gomez. "Then (hiring the) city manager and attorney would have been by the council, so that power is still with the council. I'm not trying to be a dictator."

The third amendment would allow the correction of errors and complicated language.

"If you refer to the charter, there are some poorly-worded and typographical errors in it," said Gomez. "It's just complicated. We need to iron out some of the wrinkles in the existing charter. Not change anything, but reword it until has a better understanding. It's a clean-up item to clean up some of the language and misspellings, but not change any of the meaning."

Gomez says these amendments will bring great progress for the town. He is hoping the residents of Century will vote yes to all three amendments in an effort to help the town move forward. He says it is vital to Century's current and future administrations and will have a definite impact on the town's ability to progress.

"We are preparing a stage for the future leaders of Century to not have their hands tied in handcuffs by a 45-year-old charter," is how Gomez described the importance of passing the three amendments that will be on the ballot Nov. 5. "We're changing some amendments within the charter, we are not trying to re-write the entire charter or change the town's power structure."

Gomez said he feels the town has made too much ground to lose ground, citing the hiring of a town manager and how important it is for the town to keep a person in that position going forward.

"We are having to re-structure that entire town," said Gomez. "The old 'that's the way we've always done it' is not going to benefit the town, because we've made so many changes and have things moving in the right direction, we can't afford to lose ground now."

The mayor says he is well aware that he will not be mayor of Century forever and hopes these changes will be place in the future.

"This is for whoever comes after me," said Gomez.