Falls Church Council Votes 6-1 to Amend City Charter

Falls Church City Council voted 6-1 Monday night to approve an amendment to section 3.02 of the city’s charter. The language of the section will clarify that City Council candidates can only be nominated by petition not party convention.

According to section 3.02 of the current city’s charter: Candidates for the office of Councilmen may be nominated by petition or under general law. There shall be printed on the ballots used in the election of councilmen the names of all candidates who have been so nominated.

“This charter amendment came about after the election in order to maintain the non-partisanship of the city’s elections,” said Councilman Lawrence Webb who brought forth the amendment.

Councilwoman Robin Gardner, the lone no vote, said the tradition is not the impetus for changing the city charter. She said the language in the charter already calls for a petition to nominate candidates for council. Under the amendment, candidates would run without declaring a political party affiliation as the city’s school board candidates do in their election. John Foster, city attorney, said political parties could still endorse candidates and provide funding to the campaigns. City elections were moved from May to November following the Nov. 8 elections. Voters were able to vote on the issue at that time.

Gardner said she didn’t see the need for an amendment to the charter and thought a resolution would have been suffice. She said the charter’s language already calls for a petition to nominate candidates. According to the charter: The requirements for nomination by petition shall be (a) Any qualified voter of the city actually residing within the corporate limits may be nominated by filing a petition together with the notice of candidacy required by the general laws of the Commonwealth relating to elections. (b) The petition shall state the name and address of the residence of the person whose name is presented thereby as a candidate.

“Why are we doing this,” Gardner asked the council in the meeting. “We’re looking to change our legal document that we define our city by a charter.”

To catch more on this from Monday’s meeting, click here for video from the meeting.