NOTE: This is the last in a series of five blog posts that examine the City of College Station’s nine proposed charter amendments that appear on the November election ballot. The charter is the city’s governing document.
Two of the amendments concern the oath of office for city council members and the adoption of gender neutral language in the charter. Click on the proposition name to see the actual changes that would be made to the charter language if voters approve the proposition.
Proposition No. 4
FOR/AGAINST: Shall Article XII (General Provisions), Section 118 (Oath of Office) of the College Station City Charter be repealed and a new section added to Article IX (Nominations & Elections), providing for an oath of office?
What does it mean?
- Proposition No. 4 would replace the current oath of office with the one required by the state constitution for state officials.
Proposition No. 9
FOR/AGAINST: Shall the College Station City Charter be amended to add a provision to Article XII (General Provisions) of the charter providing that the charter is to be gender neutral and amended throughout to make the charter language gender neutral; to correct non-substantive errors such as misspellings, punctuation, grammar and sentence structure; to make non-substantive changes to clarify the meaning of various charter provisions; to conform to requirements and/or provisions of current state law and/or federal law; and to remove charter language that is obsolete?
What does it mean?
- Amendment No. 9 would add a gender neutrality provision and would change the wording throughout the charter to reflect that neutrality.
- The amendment would also correct misspellings, punctuation, sentence structure, note conformance with state law, clarify the meaning of various charter provisions and remove obsolete language.
On Friday, we looked at Amendment No. 8, 
which would affect the conflict of interest provisions.
Scroll to the bottom of the ballot!
When you vote Nov. 6, be sure to scroll to the bottom of the ballot to vote in your local elections. A straight party vote will not select local choices that directly affect your community.
For more information on these or the other proposed charter amendments, go to cstx.gov/elections or brazosvotes.org, where you’ll also find information about polling places, early voting and absentee ballots.
Related Links:
- City Blog: Proposition No. 8 would change conflict of interest language (City Blog, Oct. 26, 2012)
- Texas Conflict of Interest Laws Made Easy (Texas Attorney General’s Office)
- City Blog: Two charter amendments focus on city franchises (City Blog, Oct. 25, 2012)
- City Blog: Amendments No. 2, No. 5 address language, processes (City Blog, Oct. 24, 2012)
- City Blog: Two proposed charter amendments would affect recall (City Blog, Oct. 23, 2012)
- City Blog: A closer look at the proposed city charter amendments (City Blog, Oct. 22, 2012)
- Conflict of interest policy among 9 charter amendments on ballot (The Eagle, Oct. 22, 2012)
- Proposed CS Charter Change Defining Council Conflict of Interest (WTAW, July 30, 2012)
- What CS Voters Will Consider to Change Charter Gets Council Approval (July 27, 2012)
- Changes to College Station Charter (YouTube, July 24, 2012)
- College Station City Charter
- Charter Review Advisory Committee
