The voters in Folsom and Mandeville won’t have a lot of homework to do when they enter the voting booth March 27, but Slidell voters will face not only candidates for mayor, police chief and city council, but they will also be asked to approve or disapprove nine proposed changes to the city charter.

Though city officials say most of the changes are just house keeping measures meant to get rid of old and outdated sections, the wording on the ballot will seem a bit confusing.

Proposition 1 asks the voters if they want to get rid of a section of the charter that was instituted when the Slidell City Council was first created. During that time, the council could vote on changing the makeup of the council if land was annexed into the city creating more districts. If the residents vote for Proposition 1, this section of the charter would be eliminated entirely. The same would happen if Proposition 2 is voted in, but the wording on the old section makes it confusing to the voter. Proposition 2 asks to eliminate a section on how the police chief is selected. Back when the charter was first drafted, residents were asked if the police chief was to be elected or appointed. The electorate voted to elect a police chief, but the old section remained in the charter. So, voting for Proposition 2 will not mean one is voting on how a police chief is elected. Approving Proposition 2 would mean the old section would be eliminated entirely, and Slidell will still elect a police chief.

Proposition 3 is probably the simplest of all nine changes.

All it asks the voter to approve is to change the name of the clerk of council to Council Administrator, which is the title currently in use, but needs to be officially mandated into the charter.

Propositions 4, 5 and 6 have to do with the salaries of the council, mayor and chief of police, respectively. The three propositions set the lower limit to these salaries. Council members can make no less than $6,600 a year, the mayor no less than $28,350, and the chief of police can make no less than $22,680.

However, each proposition says that if any of these elected officials wants a raise, it must be done in the budget process.

In other words, salaries will be decided by a vote of the council when they go through the city budget every year.

So, council members, mayor and chief of police do not automatically get a raise every year.

Proposition 7 asks the voters to approve a charter change that would make an ordinance passed by the council during an emergency situation, such as a hurricane, become law 12 hours after passage even without the mayor’s signature. This is being proposed so that if the mayor is away or indisposed during an emergency, the council could still pass emergency legislation.

If approves, Proposition 8 would allow elected officials to take office on July 1. Currently, elected officials take office on the first Monday in July following an election.

Finally, Proposition 9, if approved, would allow city council members to be employed by the city immediately after they leave office instead of waiting for a year which is what is mandated currently.