| Published: 9:47 AM, 11/19/2012 |
Author: Jessica Cross Source: The Monroe County Advocate
TELLICO PLAINS-The town of Tellico
Plains' is making history with a charter overhaul.
In their second workshop, the Mayor and
Board of Alderman met together on Thursday to continue updating the
document. Consistency was an issue in the outdated charter, with a
variety of terms referring to different things. Some words just
didn't apply anymore, such as referring to a calaboose, the school
house, or the justice of peace.
"A lot of it was just cleaning up the
language in there," said Mayor Patrick Hawkins.
In addition to making the charter more
modern, the board is also including a change to their election
schedule and the members of the town council in the updated charter.
In Dec. 2011, then aldermen Harkey
Yates died unexpectedly and the board made the decision to not choose
someone to fill Yates' shoes on the board out of respect for their
late alderman. After nearly a year of operating with a five-member
board (not counting the mayor, who only votes in the case of a
tie-breaker), the council decided they would like to operate that way
permanently.
"I believe it'd be good to cut it
back to five," said Alderman Robert Hamilton.
Unlike many municipalities, Tellico
Plain's city recorder has always had a vote on the council, making it
easier for the town to be a five-member board. See full story in the Sunday, Nov. 18, edition of The Advocate & Democrat.
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