§ 7.04. Number, selection and term of council.

The Council shall be composed of a Mayor and six (6) Councilmembers who shall be elected and serve in the following manner:

(a)

The Mayor shall be elected from the City at large.

(b)

One (1) Council member shall be elected from the City at large.

(c)

Five (5) Council members shall be elected from single member districts. There shall be five (5) districts and a Council member elected from each district. The five (5) districts shall be defined by ordinance and the boundaries thereof shall be subject to review no less frequently than the year following each federal decennial census based upon population equality to ensure equal voting rights for all citizens under state and federal law. In addition to the qualifications of Section 2.02 each such candidate must reside in their district for no less than six (6) months prior to said election. If a member of the Council elected from a single member district should cease to reside within his elected district, his office shall immediately become vacant.

(d)

The Council member elected at large and the Council members from Districts One (1), Three (3), and Five (5) shall be elected in each odd numbered year or until their successors are elected and qualify. The Mayor and council members from Districts Two (2) and Four (4) shall be elected in each even numbered year or until their successors are elected and qualify. The Council member elected at large shall first be elected in the City's general election in May of 2003.

(e)

If no candidate for a particular office receives a majority vote, a runoff election for that office is required, and the Council shall, within five days following the completion of the final canvass of the main election, order a runoff election to be held in the City not earlier than the twentieth or later than the thirtieth day after the date the final canvass of the main election is completed. Said runoff election may be held after the foregoing period, but not later than the forty-fifth day after the date the final canvass of the main election is completed, only to permit a runoff election to be held with another political subdivision in accordance with Chapter 271 of the Texas Election Code, or to avoid holding the runoff on a legal state or national holiday or a weekend day within three days of a legal state or national holiday. The candidates in a runoff election are the candidates who receive the highest and second highest number of votes in the main election or who tie for the highest number of votes, provided if more than two candidates tie for the highest number of votes, the tied candidates shall cast lots to determine which two are to be the runoff candidates. The official ballot to be used at said second election shall be prepared by the City Secretary, and the two (2) persons receiving at said first election the first and second highest number of votes cast for candidates for such office at such first election will have their names printed on said official ballot in the order of their standing in the computation of votes cast for such candidates at said first election. In the event of a tie for the second place position at the first election, the candidates tying shall cast lots to determine who will be the second candidate at the second election. In the event of a tie between the two (2) candidates for any office at said second election, they shall cast lots to determine who shall be elected to such office.

(f)

Qualified voters shall vote for a candidate for Mayor, for the Council member at large, and only for a Council member candidate seeking election within that voter's single member district.

(Ord. No. 463, adopted 2-9-70, approved at election 4-7-70; Ord. No. 712, § 2, adopted 2-24-78, approved at election 4-1-78; Ord. No. 934, § 1, adopted 12-5-83, approved at election 1-21-84; Ord. No. 1783, approved 3-19-02, adopted at election 5-4-02)