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A week after Fulshear Mayor James Roberts used his veto authority to express frustration over what he said were efforts by city council to usurp his authority, council members passed a resolution reaffirming the city’s strong mayor form of government.

Last week, Roberts vetoed city council’s action to appoint a new city attorney over what he said was council’s encroachment on his mayoral authority.

He also said he wanted to force council members to clarify what form of city government they wanted.

“Since 1977, Fulshear has operated under a strong mayorship. That has, more or less, been changed by the actions of this council, and I need to know the direction this is going,” Roberts said in issuing the veto. “Until I know the intent of this council, or it alleviates this mayor from the responsibilities of a strong mayorship, I intend to veto this appointment.”

At last night’s meeting, Councilman Derek Einkauf proposed city council take formal action reaffirming Fulshear was a Type A General Law city.

Under state law, the mayor of a Type A General Law city serves as its administrator and is responsible for the operation of the city and direction of employees, enforcement of the laws of the city, preparation of the annual budget and the appointment of officers and employees. All mayoral appointments are subject to confirmation by the city council.

Einkauf, who was not present for last week’s meeting, said he had researched the issue and found the city needed a “defining ordinance” on how it should be operated.

“A general law city should have a defining ordinance on how things should be operated,” Einkauf said. “We should pass an ordinance defining how we should operate and the duties of the mayor.”

Councilman Stephen Gill said he agreed the city needed to formally define its form of government. He then distributed a resolution he had prepared affirming Fulshear’s status as a Type A General Law city.

“I move we adopt this resolution to confirm the City of Fulshear as a Type A General Law city,” Gill said.

Einkauf quickly seconded the motion, noting Fulshear had traditionally operated as a Type A city. The problem, he said, was there was no record of previous city councils ever formally adopting a form of government.

“There is no (document) on file that states that,” Einkauf said.

He added that an earlier council may have approved such a document, but it “may have been lost” at some point through the years.

The resolution passed on a unanimous vote.