Sandy Oaks will be a Type A municipality with an aldermaic form of government.
The city will start off with 1 mayor and 5 aldermen. An alderman is the same as a city councilman and the word originates from the combination of “Elder-man.”
Who Decides Things?
The mayor decides what is on the agenda for the city council.
The 5 aldermen each get to vote on issues.
The mayor only gets to vote if there is a tie.
Who Represents YOU?
At the start of a new city there are no zones or districts that certain aldermen represent. Instead, all 5 aldermen represent the entire community.
For the size of Sandy Oaks, there really is no reason for creating districts to represent even later on.
How Long Will People Serve?
The Mayor serves for 2 years.
Normally, the aldermen also serve for 2 years.
However, in order to offset the terms, for this first governing body some aldermen will serve for 2 years and some will serve for 1 year.
The way Art Martinez de Vara explained it, the decision has already been made to have three serve for 1 year and 2 for 2 years. Presumably, this is an effort to get rid of the “outsiders” as quickly as possible, and assumes that they will win their elections. However, if they do, THEY will decide who has to run for reelection and when.
I’m sure there will be many instances where city leaders will need to do some personal in depth research and read through the Texas Gov. Codes and not simply rely on outsiders feeding information:
http://law.onecle.com/texas/local-government/22.034.00.html
I am very much aware of that law, Logic, and I am certain that that research will NOT be done by ANY of the Fab Five. Just as they have done little or no research while serving as the WPPOA. By the way, you are aware that serving on the City Council and on the WPPOA (and as the Sandy Oaks Political Action Committee) may be a conflict of interest. Guess the Texas Ethics Commission will have to decide that.