The Seattle City Council has placed a series of amendments to the City Charter on the November ballot.

A key amendment will allow the council to reconfirm the appointments of city department heads every four years, including Parks and Recreation, Finance, and Personnel, each of which were created in the City Charter.

The City Council also approved reconfirmation for five department heads created in the Seattle Municipal Code, including Fleets and Facilities, Human Services, Information Technology, Seattle Center, and Executive Administration. The council already has the authority to reconfirm five different department heads, including Seattle City Light, Seattle Public Utilities, Seattle Department of Transportation, the Department of Planning and Development, and the Department of Neighborhoods.

The council also passed a resolution today outlining criteria and process for re-confirming department heads, including the active solicitation of public input. The new re-confirmation process provides general performance criteria for the Council to review a department head's leadership, accomplishments, vision, priorities, challenges, and decision-making approaches and does not take the place of the Mayor's of directing department heads in their day-to-day work or the reporting structure.

Other amendments included one to allow the City Council to appoint members to the Seattle Planning Commission, a clearer definition of a council quorum and deleting obsolete references in the Charter.

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