Portsmouth charter to get a polishing

PORTSMOUTH

The city's charter is redundant, confusing and sometimes just plain wrong.

Not everything in there is flawed, but enough is that the City Council has selected a panel to review the document and recommend noncontroversial edits.

The group met Wednesday and intends to report back as soon as Nov. 8.

Time is short because the council wants to send the changes on for passage next year by the General Assembly.

The group of lawyers and community leaders also will discuss more sensitive items, such as Portsmouth's recall provision, a rarity among cities in Virginia.

It's been 40 years since the last comprehensive review, and some charter provisions are outdated or were never necessary, panel members said.

Opportunities for trimming and editing include:

- Article 8, which says the School Board is appointed by the council, even though the body has been elected for years. "So all of this is dysfunctional," City Attorney Tim Oksman said.

- Unnecessary mentions of constitutional officers, whose positions are established by the state. Yet one of those officers, the clerk of court, isn't mentioned.

- Article 9, which provides for district courts. "The district court's going to be there whether it's mentioned in your charter or not," said Jeff Sharp, a senior attorney from the Virginia Division of Legislative Services.

Charters generally describe a locality's geographic boundaries, establish how its government is organized and spell out certain powers. While their frameworks are similar, they allow cities to tailor government to their own situations, Sharp said.

They are different from city ordinances, which are far more extensive and get into the day-to-day operation of government. And they are easier to change, with just a council vote.

The panel members said they want to make Portsmouth's charter, which numbers more than 30 pages, easier for the average person to understand.

Sharp, who is experienced with helping localities draft legislation, told them to value brevity and clarity.

The council resolution that formed the charter review group steered it toward recommending changes only to noncontroversial items.

It specifically said the group shall not recommend changes to provisions that allow the recall of a council member, establish spring elections and require a council member to resign to run for mayor.

The group can send comments to the council on those issues, however, and it plans to do so.

The council will have to approve any changes before it sends them to the General Assembly and must hold a public hearing before its vote.

Dave Forster, (757) 446-2627, dave.forster@pilotonline.com