Jackson board continues look at transitioning to charter government

City of Jackson officials continued during Monday evening’s Board of Aldermen meeting to outline the potential timelines and necessary steps to transition into a charter city under home-rule governance.

Jackson is classified as a 4th Class Missouri city, according to the Missouri Secretary of State’s classification of municipalities.

The suggestion of a switch was discussed previously at the Jackson Board of Aldermen’s annual retreat and work session Oct. 22, during which Jackson Mayor Dwain Hahs said it was the “most important long-term discussion item” of the day.

Monday night’s meeting continued the discussion with a focus on the 13-person charter commission to draft the city’s charter.

Hahs said under the proposal, a group of 13 representatives — voted on by the people — would draft a charter. Once drafted, the charter would also have to be voted on and approved by the people within a year.

“We will continue to educate ourselves going forward for the next two to three meetings, then revisit the calendar as to when is the right time to do this,” Hahs said about the theoretical transition in a phone interview after the meeting.

Hahs said the board is still deliberating on whether the governing transition should take place at all, and if so, when the best time would be for such a change to occur.

At the retreat, Jackson city attorney Tom Ludwig said the first step toward becoming a charter government city would be for the aldermen to pass an ordinance calling for Jackson residents to vote on the question of whether the city should form a charter commission.

The city attorney said the charter would make it possible for Jackson to create a utility commission and deal more effectively with certain issues unique to Jackson.

Assuming the charter is approved, Ludwig said “the day after the election, the City of Jackson would be operating under its charter just like Cape does, Sikeston does and the other 38 Missouri charter cities do.”

Many other Missouri cities operate under a charter form of government, including Cape Girardeau, which adopted home-rule governance in 1981.

Other charter cities in Missouri include St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield, Jefferson City and Columbia. Several suburbs in the St. Louis and Kansas City areas have also adopted home-rule governance. Sikeston voters approved the charter form of local government in 2002.