PILOT POINT — One city charter commission member twice went against the grain Monday, casting the lone votes against a pair of recommendations that, in his view, failed to stick up for residents.

David Lewis, who also is the editor and publisher of the Pilot Point Post-Signal, said he had disagreed with the City Council the last two times it raised the city’s property tax rate. He wanted to make sure the new charter had built-in protections for taxpayers.

But fellow commission member Pete Hollar, who also is a council member, said he was concerned that they could hamstring future councils if they proposed a charter clause specifying a maximum tax rate.

Lewis also voted against the rest of the commission when members declined to recommend a charter clause that would prohibit council members from having a substantial interest in city contracts.

In the matter of tax rate caps, Hollar disagreed that taxpayers were unprotected without one. He pointed to the state’s tax caps, the threat of a rollback election and other recommended charter provisions that would provide voters plenty of recourse if a future council went too far.

“Why should we be a pioneer in something like this?” Hollar said.

City Manager J.C. Hughes told the group that he could not find any other Texas city that had adopted a tax cap.

Lewis first tried to abstain from the vote rescinding the group’s previous recommendation for a tax cap. After Hollar reminded Lewis he had editorially criticized city officials for doing the same thing, Lewis voted no.

During the commission’s penultimate meeting before calling a public hearing on the proposed charter, members made quick work of their final checklist. The city staff offered specific direction on the last two dozen items of a 158-question checklist recommended by the Texas Municipal League.

Although the city staff recommended a conflict-of-interest provision, commission chairman Buddy Cole pulled the item for extended discussion.

Commission member Don Richmond pointed to Denton’s controversy over the city’s tax collection contract with the mayor’s law firm, but the group eventually reached a consensus that such a prohibition would not benefit the city.

Again, Lewis disagreed with the rest of the group.

Commission member Glenn Barber, who is the superintendent of the Pilot Point school district, said a public discussion of such contracts helps in vetting possible conflicts of interest.

“What you’re doing is trying to eliminate as much collusion as possible,” Barber said. “Putting it out in the open helps with that.”

Despite a caution by Mark Roth, a commission member and council member, warning that not all purchases are voted on, members agreed that, for now, the charter would not contain the prohibition.

Commission members and the city’s attorney will review the draft document and meet one more time before the public hearing, tentatively scheduled for July 27.

After the public hearing, the commission will meet again to incorporate public comments before presenting the final draft to the council Aug. 3.

The council is expected to vote Aug. 10 on whether to call a November election on the charter.

Residents could expect to see the final copy of the charter 30 days before the vote, Hughes said.

PEGGY HEINKEL-WOLFE can be reached at 940-566-6881. Her e-mail address is pheinkel-wolfe@dentonrc.com .