Carbondale to consider referendum for home rule charter update

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Carbondale residents could have the opportunity to vote in November on a referendum modernizing personnel policies in the city's home rule charter.
Carbondale City Council will consider adopting an ordinance during its June 16 meeting to add a referendum question to the Nov. 4 ballot addressing the personnel section of the city's home rule charter, according to Mayor Michele Bannon and a public notice published Friday in The Times-Tribune. If approved, the referendum will ask city voters whether to amend Article IX of Carbondale's home rule charter concerning its municipal personnel system, according to the notice. The charter is the city's governing document.
The potential referendum comes as city officials are working to update their legislation, namely Carbondale's 1974 home rule charter, Bannon said.
'Government always needs to be transparent,' Bannon said. 'We always need to be responsive, and we need to be aligned with the evolving needs of our community.'
Enacted in 1972, Pennsylvania's Home Rule Law increased local autonomy, according to the state Department of Community and Economic Development. Home rule charters transfer the basic authority to act in municipal affairs from state law to a local charter that is adopted and amended by voters, according to the DCED.
The goal in Carbondale is to modernize its charter, clarify outdated language and 'ultimately enhance our operational efficiency within municipal government,' Bannon said.
Elements of Carbondale's home rule charter don't reconcile with each other, Bannon said, which prompted her to speak with city council, their solicitor and members of the public.
'It's obviously clear that we need to make some changes in the charter, so we figured we'd start with personnel, simply because that's the heart and soul of who we are,' she said. 'The city of Carbondale provides service to our residents, so we want to make sure everything is lined up there and … that our staff gives our residents the best service they possibly can.'
Councilman Dominick Famularo, who introduced the ordinance, echoed Bannon.
'The language of our charter is 50 years old, and there are many spots throughout the charter where either the understanding of the passage has changed or the language seemed inappropriate,' Famularo said.
Carbondale last amended its home rule charter in 2004 when residents approved a referendum allowing the mayor to fill the position of managing director if he or she met the qualifications.
Amending the home rule charter has to be done by referendum, Bannon said.
According to the draft ordinance, there would be amendments to three items under the personnel section.
First, appointments and promotions of subordinate officers and employees within departments shall be made by the mayor/managing director, not the department head. That conflicts with other parts of the charter, and the mayor/managing director already handles appointments and promotions, Bannon said.
Second, any employee who files a petition for election of office would have to obtain a positive opinion from the State Ethics Commission and any other relevant agency.
Currently, the charter stipulates that no city employee shall serve as an officer of a political party; any city employee who files a petition for election to a partisan political office and does not withdraw shall be required to take a leave of absence for the duration of the campaign. If not elected, the employee shall promptly be restored to the previously held position without losing any rights, according to the current charter language.
While campaigning for mayor in 2023, Bannon had to take a leave of absence from her longtime position as city clerk. That became an issue for the city, Famularo said.
'She had to leave her position for several months during the campaign, and of course what happens then is we have a gap in leadership in the city,' he said. 'I really don't think that was anyone's intention when they wrote the charter.'
Third, the amendment would remove 'cumbersome language' regarding civil service, Bannon said. According to the proposal, the home rule charter would only say, 'All full-time police and fire employees of the city shall be covered by civil service,' deleting a line saying, 'with the exception of the managing director, the city solicitor, department heads and the city clerk.'
City council will meet June 16 at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall, 1 N. Main St.