The city Charter Review Commission got its first direct input from city leaders this week, with elected officials and department leadership offering recommendations for cleaning up the document and better defining the roles of some officials and departments.
The commission, which is in the beginning stages of rewriting the charter with a goal of getting a new version of the foundational city document on the ballot in next year’s November elections for voter approval, spent more than an hour in City Council Chambers taking in the initial thoughts from the people who work under the charter’s rules every day.
Council Majority Leader Leah Halton-Pope, who has been a leading voice on the council pushing for charter reform since beginning her first term last year, submitted 20 pages of recommended changes to the commission, ranging from defining roles to simple changes such as fixing misspellings and removing references to departments and offices that no longer exist.
“These are really some simple things,” Halton-Pope said. “This isn’t complicated.”
She also recommended that the chief information officer be subject to council approval like other department heads and that changes to the budget process already passed be updated within the charter.
Nolan Skipper, the acting commissioner of the Department of Public Works, addressed concerns from council members about the lack of definition in the charter on the roles of his department’s many offices.
Skipper, who came into his leadership position in August when former commissioner Nathan Marton resigned, said he is in the process of streamlining and defining the duties of each of his departments.
“I think the path here is defining that structure,” he said.
Permits and Inspections Commissioner Catherine Amdur suggested that the commission write into the charter that a percentage of the fees and fines issued by her department stay within her department to pay for a dedicated team of employees who work specifically on community engagement and education.
She has been working on expanding that part of her department’s work, but wants a dedicated revenue stream to make sure that work gets done, something that has been difficult with what she describes as a lean department, with 85 employees to carry out permitting and inspections for the entire city.
“It’s not a very large team,” Amdur said.
Nadine Marrero, director of the Office of Strategic Planning, said she, too, would like to see the roles of the departments that fall under her purview better defined. As an example, she pointed to the division of real estate, which is treated as part of her department though it is not defined as such in the charter.
She also pointed to several commissions that fall under her department that rarely or never meet. And she suggested pulling the appointment of one of the nine members of the Environmental Management Commission from the Buffalo Niagara Partnership, the region’s business advocacy group, and giving back to someone within government, perhaps the council.
“Having an appointment outside of government is kind of unusual and also hard to coordinate,” Marrero said.
Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox!
Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter.
* I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
Justin Sondel
Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily!
Your notification has been saved.
There was a problem saving your notification.
{{description}}
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Followed notifications
Please log in to use this feature
Log In
Don’t have an account? Sign Up Today