Mayor George Flaggs Jr. is taking another shot at revising the city charter.

The mayor has prepared a resolution to present to the aldermen outlining changes in the city’s charter he said will improve city government.

“I’m going to notify the board next week that I plan to put it on the agenda for the first meeting in January, and hopefully we can vote it up or down and move forward,” he said, adding Aldermen Michael Mayfield and Willis Thompson each have a copy of the proposed revision. He also sent letters with copies of the proposed revisions to 200 city residents seeking their opinion on the document. He said the response from the public has been favorable.

If approved, he said, the changes become effective when the next administration takes office in July 2017.

The plan marks the fourth time since taking office the mayor has attempted to change city government, either by trying to change the form of government or changing the charter.

Flaggs said the revision “is not changing the form of government; it’s restructuring our form of government. It cleans up the city charter.”

“It takes out all that obsolete stuff out,” he said. “Second, it allows the mayor and board of aldermen to organize itself to determine through a resolution who will appoint the department heads and still have a checks and balance, where one person cannot just name somebody; you have to have one other vote to be approved. You still have to have advise and consent.

“It allows for a day-to-day operation and more structure for the organization of city government.”

Flaggs said the revised charter creates the opportunity for the Board of Mayor and Aldermen to be accountable and give daily oversight and accountability to the department heads.

“You’ve got to have functional responsibility and structure, and when we do that, I think it serves the people better,” he said. “You have a better government. You have a government for the people and by the people.”

Like the charter plan, the revision puts the mayor and aldermen over specific offices.

“We’re going to divide it up, but the thing is, in my resolution you have 30 days to agree to which office you’re going to be over,” he said. “And those offices they’re over, the alderman or mayor will be the one to appoint the one over that the department.”

The revision also designates the division heads officers of the city and requires them to live in the city limits. Division heads already living outside the city, Flaggs said, will be grandfathered in, but their replacements, if they live outside the city, will have 185 days to move into the city.

“It’s just a progressive way to bring our government into line without having to expand government,” he said. “The aldermen still work full-time, they still have their cars, they still have their offices.”

Flaggs in June 2015 proposed a change of government to a strong mayor form with nine aldermen. After withdrawing that proposal, he proposed revising the charter, but Mayfield and Thompson opposed the plan because it gave the mayor the authority to hire and fire the police and fire chiefs, city attorney, city clerk and finance director.

In November 2015, the mayor introduced a proposed revision putting the aldermen over specific departments and the mayor over the city attorney and clerk, but without the authority to hire and fire. The board took no action. Thompson opposed it because he believed the city attorney and clerk should be accountable to the board.

Flaggs said the new proposal is different.

“What I’m doing now, is the result of me meeting with Alderman Thompson and (city attorney) Nancy Thomas, and (I have) community input,” he said, adding the residents he sent information to “tend to agree this is far better than changing the form of government. All you have to do is submit it to the governor and attorney general, and on to the secretary of state, and it’s law.”

He believes the proposal has a chance of passing because it will affect the incoming administration, “Regardless of who the mayor and aldermen are.”

“And then at the same time, it gives everybody the same opportunity to know the form of charter they’re running under,” he said. “A lot of times, people run for office for mayor and alderman and have not read the charter.

“This puts everybody on notice what the next charter will be.  It’s fair; all we’re doing is pretty much structuring ourselves. And it’s a pathway to the future for good government and accountability and oversight.”