Show Up
This blog serves as a friendly reminder that you are the government. The Texas City Attorneys Association and the Texas Municipal League, both Texas organizations crucial to the success of functioning Texas cities, provide training materials for city employees, officials and city attorneys and include this adage. Curious? You can find these materials here and here
In Texas, there are approximately 1200 cities according to the Texas Comptroller and 254 Counties. Many, but not all, are actively functioning municipal corporations. Cities are created by citizens, plain and simple. Chapter 5 of the Texas Local Government Code sets out the type of cities that can be created and how they are defined, and this includes General Law Cities, Type A, Type B, and Type C as well as Home Rule cities and lastly a Special Law Municipality. This last category “special law” was created by a municipal charter granted by a local law enacted by the Congress of the Republic of Texas or by the legislature. For the specifics on how to create a city see the Randle Law Office 2023 blog on how a city can be created.
Texas local governments of all kinds, including both cities and counties, are run by the people. But the truth of the matter is that they are not run by all of the people. Only those individuals that step up to run for local office and of course those that register to vote and actually show up and vote.
I am constantly amazed at the low percentage of the population of cities that actually step up or show up. It surprises me that many people have no problem with allowing others to legislate and create the laws the rest of us have to obey.
Don’t like the laws (for cities the laws are called ordinances)? Then what are you personally doing about it? Are you volunteering in your city? Are you showing up to city council meetings, town hall meetings, Planning & Zoning Meetings and all of the other meetings taking place every single day and week and month all across Texas?
It is pretty easy to simply show up, particularly since many of these meetings are broadcast on the internet, YouTube, or even on social media channels like Facebook Live. Beyond showing up, think about running for office or simply volunteering for a municipal committee. Many of the smaller cities do not require a huge fundraising effort for local campaigns, you just need to get out there and knock on doors, shake hands and speak up.
The Texas Secretary of State has posted the qualifications necessary to run for local municipal elected positions on their website here. The Texas Election Code Chapter 141 sets out these requirements including others such as not being declared legally incompetent and not being a convicted felon. Generally, for the smaller (General Law) cities with less than 5000 residents, you must be 18 years or older, a registered voter, a resident of Texas for 12 months, and a resident of the jurisdiction you aim to run in for either 6 or 12 months depending on the type of city. Chapter 22 of the Texas Local Government Code sets out additional requirements, such as the requirement of taking oath once elected, and not being in financial debt to the municipality.
I urge anyone and everyone reading this blog to give it serious consideration, or if you don’t think you are interested, then talk someone into it that you believe is qualified and possibly interested.
Meanwhile, every city council meeting, economic development corporation meeting, Planning & Zoning Commission meeting I attend I will keep looking for you to show up.
Please do not rely on this article as legal advice. We can tell you what the law is, but until we know the facts of your given situation, we cannot provide legal guidance. This website is for informational purposes and not for the purposes of providing legal advice.
