MORGANTOWN — Moving the city’s election in line with the May primary and easing the residency requirement for the city manager position are among a half-dozen city charter changes scheduled for a first reading at Tuesday’s Morgantown City Council meeting.
Charter amendments can be adopted in two ways. They can be put on a ballot and supported by a simple majority of city voters, or they can be adopted by council ordinance, but only if there are no citizen objections. If an objection is filed, council can either abandon the amendment or put it before the voters.
When it comes to eliminating the city’s standalone election and joining the county ballot, council will decide whether to put that question before its voters as part of the city’s upcoming April 29, 2025, election.
If a majority of council supports doing so, and a majority of city voters back the move, the city would join the county ballot starting in May 2028.
The city would hold its elections as normal in April 2025 and 2027, but members would be elected to three-year terms instead of four in order to sync up with the even-year primary cycle.
Based on discussion to this point, council looks to be split on the move.
Proponents have said the move will dramatically improve turnout and eliminate an estimated $40,000 in election costs every two years as the county does not charge municipalities to hold their elections on the county ballot.
Star City and Westover have already moved their elections in line with the county. Granville will put that question before its residents as a ballot issue in November.
“There are pros and cons to this. Certainly, I guess the pro side is we’ve been offered the use of the ballot box without cost. That’s certainly a pro,” Councilor Bill Kawecki said during an August special session.
“The difficulty I’ve found with this always is it kind of diminishes the reason. It moves the importance of what’s happening in the city to what is more politically palatable in a larger sense. In other words, we get swept up into the politics of circumstance. … The one thing I don’t like and always felt good about was that council was nonpartisan and avoided all the trappings of political party endorsements, monies contributed.”
Also included on Tuesday’s agenda is a charter amendment that would allow city council to waive the residency requirement for the city manager.
Currently, the charter says the city manager doesn’t have to be a city resident at the time of appointment, but “must reside in the City while in office.”
Under the proposed change, the manager “may reside outside the City while in office only with the approval of Council.”
The residency requirement took center stage in September 2022 when council was forced to investigate “concerns” about whether current City Manager Kim Haws was living in Morgantown.
A short time later, it was explained that guidelines had been added to Haws’ contract spelling out the city’s expectations regarding residency.
Haws was hired by Morgantown City Council in November 2020. He announced last week that he intends to retire at some point “in the near future.”
Other charter changes to be considered include:
- An amendment allowing the mayor or three members of council to call a special meeting. Currently, it requires the mayor or four members.
- An amendment setting a candidate withdrawal deadline 30 calendar days before the date of the election. Because the city relies on state code in this regard, the deadline to withdraw as a candidate actually falls before the city’s deadline to file as one.
- An amendment stating the duties of the city clerk must be performed in a neutral, nonpartisan manner.
- An amendment mandating the city’s boards, authorities and commissions submit reports to city council annually by June 30th indicating the entity’s activities and financial condition.
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