Town attorney Dennis Davenport told the Tyrone Town Council that the recent changes to the charter were not exactly sailing through the General Assembly.

A visibly upset Davenport said the town would have to re-advertise the changes after receiving notice from Rep. Virgil Fludd and the Legislative Council.

“They said the ad wasn’t specific enough,” said Davenport.

With the General Assembly winding down, Davenport said the town had barely enough time and get the measure through the House and Senate. In his many years of doing legal work for governments, Davenport said this was the first time he had encountered such a problem.

But Councilman Grace Caldwell believe she knows why the roadblock was thrown up at the last minute.

“I think it’s because we support the Fayette County Commission in their efforts against district voting. I think we represent all of our citizens, but I don’t think Fludd represents me,” she said.

Councilman Eric Dial who also tried to aid in getting the changes through the General Assembly, said the Town Council had no choice but to re-advertise and trust the right thing would get done.

Earlier this year, the town instructed Davenport to look over the charter. The town has functioned both previously and still today under a “weak mayor” model of government, said town attorney Dennis Davenport. Under that model, the mayor runs the meetings and votes to break tie votes by the council. Some of the changes made to the charter in 1998 that had formerly been the responsibility of the mayor were given to the town manager, Davenport said. After some discussion by the council, the board decided to leave the language as it is currently written.

Another question arose over the responsibility of the town manager and police chief for hiring and firing authority in their respective departments. Mayor Don Rehwaldt felt such responsibility would be appropriate for those positions since they had the background and the knowledge to perform those duties. Davenport said the charter gives those authorities to the mayor, but added that the mayor could delegate those duties to the town manager and police chief.

“That would not conflict with the wording of the charter as it exists now,” Davenport said, noting Rehwaldt’s preference and adding that the mayor could take that authority back if such a decision was made.

Another question involved the definition of a quorum. A discussion by the council led to a preference to leave the language as it currently exists, with a quorum being defined as the mayor and three council members rather than language that listed a quorum as a majority of the members of the mayor and council, including the mayor.

Significant in the changes was the inclusion of the words “dust” and “sand” in the section of the charter dealing with the town’s ability to regulate the “emission of smoke and other exhaust that pollutes the air.” Council member Gloria Furr recommended the addition.

In other action, the council voted to recommend that citizen Richard’s Shelley’s request for a text amendment be sent to the Planning Commission for study.

Shelley said the Town Council had removed a number of uses from the C-2 zoning category years ago, and his able to rent out his buildings was being hurt by the limited number of uses now available.