CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – The Clarksville Montgomery County Charter Commission, made up of 10 county appointees and 5 city appointees, has been tasked by the Montgomery County Commission and the Clarksville City Council to write a charter for a consolidated Montgomery County government and Clarksville City government.

The new charter is to be voted on the November 2018 election.

“During the last few months we were able to seek advice from a variety of sources including both Mayors, members of the City Council and the County Commission, as well as from citizens at our first town hall meeting,” Jonathan Hunter, Chairman of the Mayoral Authorities and Legislative Council committee, said. “This feedback was very important as we crafted the sections of the Charter relating to the authorities of Mayor and the Legislative Council. We included many of the recommendations that we were told were important to our community, such as effective checks and balances between branches of government, adding additional ‘At Large’ representatives to the Legislative Council to ensure best possible representation of all residents of Montgomery County, and including term limits for the Mayor and Legislative Council.”

Some key highlights in the articles that have been approved on first reading include: mayoral term limits of three, four-year consecutive terms and the Mayor’s role of presiding over the Legislative Body, but without the right to vote.

The Legislative Body article provides that there will be twenty-one council members to mirror the districts of the current County Commission and four at-large council members. The Legislative Body will also have term limits of three, four-year consecutive terms and members cannot be employees of the metropolitan government.

Each month the charter commission discusses and votes on sections of the consolidated government charter. A vote on the complete charter will take place in July before it is submitted to the County Clerk.

The next charter commission meeting is February 22 at 10 a.m. at the William O Beech Civic Hall. On the agenda for this meeting are Constitutional Offices and Metropolitan Boards and Departments.

Additionally, the charter commission will host a second town hall meeting at East Montgomery Elementary School on February 22 at 6 p.m.