The Board of Mayor and Aldermen is going to be examining and amending the city’s 142-year-old charter.

No meeting has been set for the review.

Amending the charter to give the mayor sole appointing authority of several city department heads was one of three alternatives Mayor George Flaggs Jr. gave Aldermen Michael Mayfield and Willis Thompson in a May 5 letter about changing or altering the city’s 103-year-old commission form of government.

The mayor also proposed changing the form of government to a mayor-council system with seven part-time aldermen or eliminating the mayor and aldermen in favor of a three member commission with the commissioners electing a chairman to preside at the meetings. Both Aldermen opposed the three plans.

Flaggs said Thursday morning he and Mayfield reached a “compromise” on amending the charter. An agreement was reached later with Thompson.

Flaggs said a public meeting May 21 to get the public’s response to his plans to change the form of government has not been cancelled, saying he will instead seek comments on amending it.

“I need to hear from the people so I’m going ahead with the meeting,” he said.

“I will not go forward with anything that suggests a change in the form of government,” he said, adding he will present a preliminary draft of his recommendations for the charter to the aldermen May 26.

“I think that is a major step forward,” he said.

Mayfield said any amendments the board makes to the charter would be implemented when the next board takes office in 2017.

“One thing I asked the mayor was that we don’t do anything midterm that’s going to disrupt city government,” he said.

“The charter definitely needs some cleaning up,” he said. “There’s some things in there that are totally obsolete.”

Mayfield said he agrees with some of Flaggs’ proposed changes, “but the three of us are going to have to set up a meeting where we can sit down and we’re going to have to go from the beginning to the end of the charter as it’s written.”

He added Thompson also agreed with the need for some changes.

“I don’t plan on changing everything, but to see what the main items are concern are and work around that,” Thompson said. “It’ll be a work in progress, because it’s the charter, and some things are outdated and some things have never been changed. So it’s going to take time and effort it to get it done.”

Mayfield said the meeting would include Board Attorney Nancy Thomas and Human Resources Director Walterine Langford, who is also a lawyer.

“We will be advised by them on the charter and how to remove things without damaging the charter,” he said.

“I wouldn’t dare sit down with the three of us and try to purge the charter or add anything to the charter without our human resources director and the board attorney, because we may be working off spirit but they’re going to work off the law. I want to be careful here and be sure we’re working within the law as it relates to the charter.”

“I just think coming together and communicating will get us closer to the end result than anything else,” Thompson said. “I’m willing and open to do that, to listen and at the same time give some feedback.”