Hearing addresses potential changes to Bethel Park home rule charter
In November, Bethel Park residents voted by a narrow margin to have the police chief report to the municipal manager instead of directly to council.
The approval represented a change to Bethel Park’s home rule charter, the rules that have governed the municipality since 1978.
More changes could be up for referendum if council pursues some of the recommendations made by the Bethel Park Home Rule Study Commission, which has compiled a report based on discussions at meetings starting in October 2014. A hearing to address the report is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 26, in council chambers.
“We thought we should put out before the public the specific topics we settled on for consideration and address them,” Ward 7 Councilman James G. McLean explained.
He is chairman of the home rule study commission, the same role in which his father, James H. McLean, served for the Bethel Park Government Study Commission while drafting the original home rule charter in 1974-75.
The current commission held two prior public hearings, in February with regard to the reporting of the police chief and in May to seek more input about changes that residents would like to see.
Following the Jan. 26 hearing, the commission will submit the report to council members, who then can consider pursuing the recommendations with no obligations or specified time frame on their part.
In addition to the police chief issue, commission members discussed the pros and cons of these potential changes to the charter:
• Gender references. The proposal is to include a provision to address the exclusivity of using male pronouns, such as: “All references in this charter to the male gender are deemed to refer to the male and female genders.”
• Budget and capital budget submission deadlines. The charter requires the capital budget to be submitted by July 1 of each year and a proposed general fund budget by Sept. 1. The commission proposes changing the requirements to Aug. 30 and Sept. 30, respectively.
“We don’t even have enough of the year in to know where we are financially,” McLean said about the current schedule, noting that the home rule charters of other municipalities examined by Bethel Park have later deadlines.
• Election of at-large council members. A resident at the May 26 hearing suggested that the municipality be reconfigured to have fewer wards than the current nine, and that the remainder of the nine council seats by elected at large.
By state law, though, a change in the form of government can be proposed only by a study commission that has been elected by voters, not appointed, as was the case in Bethel Park.
• Powers of the mayor. A discussion to remove the mayor’s veto power resulted in the commission not recommending the change.
• Initiative and referendum. Under the charter’s provisions, initiative or referendum petitions have the possibility of suspending ordinances related to fiscal matters. The commission recommends a provision protecting “ordinances that adopt a budget or capital program” and others related to borrowing, levying taxes, setting sewer or utility rates and addressing emergencies.
• Starting time for council’s annual organization meeting. The recommendation is to switch from 8 to 7:30 p.m., to match all other council meetings.
• Election after vacancy filled. The charter provides that a vacancy in the office of mayor or council member be filled by appointment until “the earliest possible election.” That has been applied to the next general election, and the commission recommends keeping it that way, to avoid confusion among voters.
• Effective date of adopted ordinance. The recommendation is that the charter be modified to provide that ordinances not subjected to the initiative or referendum process take effect immediately, rather than the current provision of “no sooner than 30 days” after adoption.
• Comprehensive plan interval for updates. The charter provides that the plan be reviewed and updated at intervals no longer than five years, but the commission recommends amending the provision to 10 years.
McLean complimented his fellow study commission members for their work.
“They are all people who in some way are active in government, but they really took an interest in this, which made for better conversations in everything we talked about,” he said. “Even when we disagreed, it was without people taking it personally, and we came up with better results.”