• David Tewes •
• Originally published September 30, 2008 at 11:49 p.m., updated September 30, 2008 at 11:49 p.m.

City council members would have term limits, and tax dollars couldn’t be spent to defend indicted city officials if a group of Victoria taxpayers has its way.

Citizens for Responsible Government is on the verge of a petition drive that would force the city to conduct a May election to change the city charter.

Term limits and limits on how tax money may be spent are among the changes the group is seeking. The group will meet Thursday in hopes of getting member approval on the final petition document.

That will clear the way for the drive to begin collecting signatures for the election.

“We’ve already arranged for Council Member David Hagan to be our first signature,” said Russell Pruitt with the citizens group. “We feel that David’s votes in the council meetings have been favoring our issues.”

Hagan said he’s honored the group thought of him and he likes the idea of term limits.

“I feel that’s what our founders wanted,” he said. “We’re citizen lawmakers, folks that came from the community.”

When their work is done, they return to the community and live under the laws they help create, he said.

“I’m confident that when my time in public service is up that another citizen will come in and take may place and do an equal or better job than I’m doing,” Hagan said. “I can support what these folks are trying to accomplish.”

Pruitt said the group needs about 1,600 signatures to force the city to conduct the election, which will coincide with the city council election in May. All four single-member district council members are up for re-election next year.

Pruitt expects to have at least 70 volunteers going door-to-door and attending public events to collect signatures. He hopes to have enough names within two months.

“What really prompted this is the former city attorney told the city council they didn’t have to live by the city charter on the tax limitation,” he said. “That 5 percent cap was pretty personal to us because we’re the ones that got it in the charter.”

Pruitt said he doesn’t blame the city council for not adhering to the charter, because they were listening to then City Attorney David Smith.

The city brought in consultants on two different occasions who disagreed the tax cap was violated by the council.

• Here is a summary of the proposed charter changes:

  Set terms limits for all elected city officials to no more than two three-year terms.

  Change the uniform election date from May to November, when voter turnout is usually higher.

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Here is a summary of the proposed charter changes:

Set terms limits for all elected city officials to no more than two three-year terms.

Change the uniform election date from May to November, when voter turnout is usually higher.

Victoria City Council will not spend tax dollars on behalf of any indicted city official, unless approved by the voters.

Provide that the city attorney become an elected official instead of appointed.

Change petition signature requirements from 10 to 5 percent of the qualified voters.

Victoria County elections administrator to certify petitions instead of the city secretary.

The Citizens for Responsible Government meeting will be at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Victoria Electric Co-op at 102 S. Ben Jordan St.

The meeting is open to the public.

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