NOTICE: City offices were described at the June 17, 2025 meeting as open “Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday 9 to 5.” Office hours are set by the City Administrator (Ord. 2023-05-31.1, Sec. 6(K)).
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City News · Government

City Administrator’s Purchasing Authority Set at a Round $50,000

Plus hiring, firing and an indefinite term, all in one ordinance.

Hawk Cove, Texas, May 31, 2023. Efficiency took a big step forward tonight. Among the nine ordinances the Council approved was one “ESTABLISHING AND CLARIFYING THE OFFICE OF CITY ADMINISRATOR, APPOINTMENT, POWERS, DUTIES AND COMPENSATION.” Our copy of it is Ordinance No. 2023-05-31.1.

The highlights

  • Purchasing. The Administrator “shall be authorized and responsible for up to Fifty Thousand Dollars and No/100 ($50,000.00) in purchasing authority pursuant to the laws of this State” (§6(H)), and “shall be authorized as allowed by law to take unilateral action on construction and/or equipment purchases” (§8).
  • Personnel. “In conjunction with City Secretary, act as City Personnel Director; hiring and terminating (without City Council approval), evaluating and directing any and all City personnel” (§6(D)).
  • Term. “The Administrator’s term of office shall continue indefinitely” (§3).
  • Agendas. “Subject only to recommendations by the City Council,” the Administrator has “the sole right, responsibility, duty and authority to determine any and all items to be placed on any City Council agendas” (§7).
  • Communications. “Exercise all of City’s public communications, including by or through any and all media forms and platforms” (§8(H)).

How it used to read

In Ordinance 04-102, our partial copy faxed in February 2004, the Council wanted an Administrator who “shall serve at the will of the City Council and shall report directly to the City Council,” with “final authority concerning the hiring and employment of any employee, subject to the advice and consent of the City Council.” Nineteen years later, the advice and consent became a parenthesis.

About the compensation

The caption promises to provide for “THE APPOINTMENT, POWERS, DUTIES AND COMPENSATION OF THE CITY ADMINISTRATOR.” The word “compensation” appears six times in our copy: once in the caption and once in the footer of each of the five pages. The body says “City shall contract with the Administrator, and such contract shall govern all aspects of the employment relationship,” and that “City presently is under contract to City’s present Administrator” (§3). Six days earlier, on May 25, 2023, the Council had approved the “CITY’S AGREEMENT WITH CITY ADMINISTRATOR.” The ordinance itself names no figure. The $50,000 is for purchasing.

Changing any of it requires “the unanimous vote of all five (5) voting members of the Council” (§2). The full list is at How Much Power the City Administrator Has.

The May 25 and May 31, 2023 minutes are posted on Meetings & Agendas. Quotes from them are copied from the page images, capital letters and all.
Our copy of Ordinance 2023-05-31.1 is unsigned and its passage date is blank. Ordinance 04-102 is a partial copy.

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