Chattanooga city charter criticized as not clear, accessible

Chattanooga’s city charter is confusing and not easy for the public to navigate, according to critics who point to two court cases in two years that have tested the merits of the documents’s language.

Just two months ago, Rob Healy sued the city after questions surfaced about whether language in the charter barred him from running for mayor. In 2007, questions arose about City Charter language in the case against former Councilwoman Marti Rutherford, who was accused of not living in the district she represented.

“The City Charter is sometimes difficult to find and difficult to find a complete copy of it,” said attorney Stuart James, who represented some District 6 residents in the Rutherford court case who questioned whether the councilwoman lived in there district. “I don’t know if it’s that readily available.”

The City Charter is a document that gives state authority for the city to govern itself and acts like a constitution for municipalities. It can only be changed by voter referendum.

While both Knoxville and Nashville have hardcover and online versions of their City Charter available to the public, Chattanooga City Attorney Randy Nelson said last week that the Chattanooga charter is readily available on the city’s Web site, but there is no bound copy because the city is not in the “publishing business.”

“What it (the City Charter) has is the ordinance that was passed in 2002 and any amendments,” Mr. Nelson said.

Other ordinances and resolutions can also be found online through a city search engine.

In 2002, city voters approved a 211-page updated version of the charter that was supposed to bring city government more in compliance with a 1990 court order establishing the mayor and city council form of legislating. Prior to 1990, Chattanooga had a city commission government.

Since then, several more amendments have been approved by voters in 2004 and 2006, Mr. Nelson said.

Mr. Nelson contends it’s the city code, not the City Charter, that has not changed. City codes are written by the City Council and can be changed by that body, officials said.

“The city code changes,” Mr. Nelson said. “Not the charter. It’s almost impossible to keep up with the code.”

Jerry Farinash, an attorney who represented Mr. Healy, could not be reached for comment this week because he was out of state. But last month he criticized accessibility to the charter, saying he found it incomprehensible that a “city this size does not have a published charter.”

In the Healy case, Mr. Nelson said the charter stated that anyone running for public office must live in the city for one year prior to the Dec. 18 qualifying date. Mr. Healy disagreed, arguing that the charter said he had to live in the city for one year prior to the March 3 elections. He moved into the city in February.

During the Healy hearings, Mr. Farinash asked Mr. Nelson: “Where is the official City Charter kept?”

“I don’t know if there is one document that is the official City Charter,” Mr. Nelson replied.

Mr. Farinash then asked if there was a published City Charter.

“Again, there is no official City Charter,” Mr. Nelson replied.

In November, a judge in Hamilton County Chancery Court said Mr. Healy was eligible to run for mayor.

Pete Murphy, an attorney who is running for the District 9 City Council seat, said parts of the charter sometimes direct people to other ordinances that still do not offer complete explanations.

“It’s not so much accessibility as clarity,” he said. “I’m left scratching my head.”

City Councilman Russell Gilbert Jr. said Friday that looking at how the City Charter is organized may need to be a key point after the March election. He expressed surprise that so much confusion existed about the language of the charter.

“We have to set a standard so everyone can follow a standard and there is less confusion,” he said. “If it’s difficult for them to understand, and they’re lawyers, then it will be impossible for the public to understand.”

Ron Mills, deputy law director for the city of Knoxville, said that city uses a service through Municipal Code Corp. that puts out both a bound copy of the City Charter and code. All published books can be found at every local public library and at City Hall, he said. The charter also can be found online, he said.

Sue Cain, director of law for Metro Nashville, said Nashville-Davidson County also uses Municipal Code Corp., and the charter can be found both online and in published form.

“It’s updated every time we update the code,” she said. “That’s quarterly.”