Q: Where can I read or obtain a copy of the City Charter?
A: The City of Memphis has hired LexisNexis to organize the City Charter and they have completed their work. A copy is available at the main library and contains the Charter as it has been revised by ordinances and a list of ordinances passed by the City Council, some of which have been approved by the voters. Click here to go to lexisnexis to see part of the city charter on line.

Q: Why has the City of Memphis not put the entire two volumes on line if they have been completed and are available at the main library?
A: That is an interesting question. We have contacted LexisNexis in California and asked them that very question. We were told that the City Attorney has held up the publication of this document and the placing of it on the City Website because the City Charter is a hot topic in Memphis. Therefore we have concluded that the Mayor is purposely preventing the publication of the City Charter on the City website because he does not want the people to easily have the Charter available for review. What is going on here? Do the Sunshine laws mean nothing? Apparently the Mayor wants to suppress information about the Charter until after the Charter Commission vote in 2007.

Q: What started the Charter Commission petition drive?
A: In January of 2001, the City Council passed a pension resolution changing the Memphis pension system which allowed elected and appointed officials with only 12 years of service to start receiving their pensions after 12 years regardless of age. John Lunt came before the City Council in 2004 and asked the City Council to revoke this fiscally unsound resolution but he could not even get a second to the proposal. He then was told about the provision in the Tennessee Constitution concerning a charter commission, and in 30 days he had over 30,000 signatures whereas only 10,465 were required. The City Council, feeling the heat, revoked the resolution but only for future people, not for themselves.

Q: What is the Charter Commission?
A: Memphis is a home rule city which means that it operates under a Memphis City Charter which was approved by the people of Memphis and is revised from time to time by the City Council generally after a vote by the people. Memphis, of course, is still subject to the laws of the state of Tennessee and the laws of the United States.

The Tennessee Constitution under Article 11, Section 9, provides the following.

Any municipality after adopting home rule may continue to operate under its existing charter, or amend the same, or adopt and thereafter amend a new charter to provide for its governmental and proprietary powers, duties and functions, and for the form, structure, personnel and organization of its government, provided that no charter provision except with respect to compensation of municipal personnel shall be effective if inconsistent with any general act of the General Assembly and provided further that the power of taxation of such municipality shall not be enlarged or increased except by general act of the General Assembly. The General Assembly shall by general law provide the exclusive methods by which municipalities may be created, merged, consolidated and dissolved and by which municipal boundaries may be altered.

A charter or amendment may be proposed by ordinance of any home rule municipality, by a charter commission provided for by act of the General Assembly and elected by the qualified voters of a home rule municipality voting thereon or, in the absence of such act of the General Assembly, by a charter commission of seven (7) members, chosen at large not more often than once in two (2) years, in a municipal election pursuant to petition for such election signed by qualified voters of a home rule municipality not less in number that ten (10%) percent of those voting in the then most recent general municipal election.

Q: Since the petition drive got over 30,000 signatures in August of 2004, why was the vote for the seven members of the Charter Commission not put on the November 2004 ballot?
A: - The Memphis City Council and the Mayor did not want to see this commission elected so they threw roadblocks in various ways by passing an ordinance prescribing that the members of the charter commission had to be elected one each from the seven city council districts. (Each Memphis voter can still vote for seven charter commission members, one from each of the seven districts). They also put pressure on the Shelby County Election Commission to delay the certification of the petition drive so that there was not enough time for the charter commission election to be put on the November 2004 ballot.

Q: Why was the charter commission election not on the December 2004 run off ballot?
A: The City Council, using taxpayer money, hired Allan Wade and City Attorney Sara Hall to sue the citizens and say that the November and the December elections were not “municipal elections” as provided for in the Tennessee Constitution. The Concerned Citizens of Memphis won in Chancery Court but lost in the Appellate Court. The election will still occur, but in October of 2007 unless some elected Memphis official dies, resigns or is removed from office before that date. In that case, the election could be earlier than October 2007. Remember that the Charter Commission exists. It only remains for the seven members to be elected.

Q: What happens after the seven Charter Commission members are elected?
A: If a majority of the elected members are people who want to see real change in Memphis City Government, then they will propose real changes, such as term limits, restraint on City Council meddling with City Administration matters, protection of MLG&W, pension reform and any number of other items to put financial limits on the City Council and the City Administration. These changes will be listed and the voters will vote on each change and say yes or no.