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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-04-11 CRC MinutesMINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE CITY OF CHULA VISTA CHARTER REVIEW COMMISSION Mo_n__d___ay, April 11, 2012 C101 Conference Room 6:00 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT: Randy Bellamy, Ron Kelley, Bill Richter, Carra Rhamy and Tom O'Donnell STAFF PRESENT: Jill Maland, Assistant City Attorney, Richard Miadich, Attorney with Olson, Hagel & Fishburn, LLP and Cheryl Ponds, Legal Assistant PUBLIC PRESENT: Robert Ross 1. Roll Call. Randy Bellamy, Chair called the meeting to order at 6:02 p.m. The roll was called and members were noted as present as indicated above. 2. Approval of March 5, 2012 Minutes Mr. Richter had grammatical revisions to the minutes under Item 4.A., Page 2, second sentence beginning "Ms. Maland also...." insert the word "to" recommend. Also insert "that" before "they will work with a Legal Consultant", in third sentence. Ms. Rhamy had a revision under Item 5. Members Comments. She stated that she did not recommend that the commission write a letter. She wanted the minutes to reflect that "she thought that the commission should consider options they had regarding a response to the Chula Vista City Council regarding the matter". Mr. O'Donnell made the motion to approve the minutes as amended, seconded by Bill Richter. The March 5, 2012 minutes were approved as amended. Public Comments (items not on the agenda) None 4. Discussion/Action Items A. Consideration of the Proposed Charter Amendment to Establish District Elections for Council Seats: Jill Maland introduced Richard Miadich. She said Mr. Miadich is here to provide an outline of what needs to be taken and the timeframe in which we have to work and start working to check off those things on the list in order to get to the County the final ballot measure language our deadline to get to the county is August 10, 2012. She stated that the Council indicated that they would like some advance time before that deadline to work back and forth Charter Review Commission I April 11, 2012 with the commissioners on the recommendation. Ms. Maland suggested to be ready to present the information to the Council by early July. She gave a brief background of Mr. Miadich and his experience. Mr. Miadich, stated he is a partner with Olson, Hagle & Fishburn, a Sacramento law firm which focuses on elections, campaign finances and constitutional law. He congratulated the commission on the timing of consider moving to district based elections due to the recently complete census data which are very important to drawing the boundaries of a district based elections. Mr. Miadich gave an outline of the decision points that need to be addressed in order to move to district based elections and how we get there: • C] 1. Will districts be drawn before or after the election at which the voters are asked if they whether they want to move to district based elections. He said that General Law cities do not have a choice the Government Code requires them to draw the boundaries first. He explained that Chula Vista is not governed by the General Law because it is a Charter City. He said as a Charter City, we have the flexibility to draw the boundaries either way, before or after the voters make the transition choice. He explained that as a practical matter if the City Council's instruction is to place this on the November ballot, and Council instructs that it would like this by July, it is not feasible to be able to have the boundaries drawn, obtain the necessary community input and do the necessary work to have those boundaries in place. Mr. Miadich's recommendation would be to have the election first and draw the boundaries afterwards. 2. How are those boundaries going to be drawn, which has to be part of the measure that is presented to the voters. There are multiple components to this, first of which, who is going to draw the boundaries. Do you want a commission set up to draw up the boundaries and if so, who's going to be the make up the membership of that commission, who is going to select or appoint the members of that commission, what criteria or what is the eligibility will be used to select the membership of that commission, what will is the timeline to establish the commission and deadline for them to complete their work and most importantly, what is their juridisdiction. He further explained the term "jurisdiction", does that commission have the final say or are they recommending to the Council and the Council has the final say to object or accept their recommendation. 3. What criteria will this commission apply in drawing the boundaries? Some of this is dictated by constitutional law, Criteria 1. geographically compact and contiguous, 2.follow visible, natural and manmade features, 3.respect communities of interests 4. without regard to advantages/disadvantages to incumbents/challengers; 5. without regard to any political parties. There are restrictions at the State level, such as you can't draw lines for political parties advantage. Mr. Maidich suggested that they have restrictions included. 4. Mechanically, what are the procedures that this commission is going to use to draw the boundaries, how many public hearings do you want to conduct. How much time between the commission putting together a draft proposal and finalizing the proposal to forward for public comment. How do you want to react to public comment. These things are important in how this commission will operate. 5. When will the first election with these districts be held? Charter Review Commission 2 April 11, 2012 6. How will we transition to district elections? How do you deal with encumbants, how does the current term limits of the Charter affects the district based elections and how do address filling vacancies? 7. The timing to complete this task, Mr. Miadich stated that Ms. Maland told him this needs to be presented to Council in early July, by July 10t", he recommended holding two meetings in May, he can attend via phone. Mr. Miadich said if the CRC can make some of these decisions, give him some guidance and he and Ms. Maland can start drafting and discuss other issues later on. Mr. Miadich opened for questions and discussion. Mr. Kelley stated the CRC can meet as often as required. Mr. Miadich answered questions from the commissioners. He suggested that the commissioner discuss the first two issues. 1. When will the boundaries be drawn -before or after the election Commissioners agreed that the boundaries be drawn after the election. 2. Who will draw the boundaries? The Commissioners agreed to establish a commission to draw the boundaries. Commissioners discussed the following regarding criteria for selecting the commission members: 1. Members serve without compensation (volunteers) 9 members (designate retired judge as Chair) ~. live in Chula Vista 4. composition will reflect the geographical/ethnic diversity of the city 5. no city employees/ relatives of City Council members 6. no registered lobbyists 7. no member of local political group 8. registered voters 9. half of the commission selected and half from lottery 10. No employee of Chula Vista's City Bargaining units 11. Serve on the commission can never run 12. No paid campaign consultant 13. No official of a local political party B. Consideration of Proposed Letter Regarding City Attorney Amendment The Commissioners discussed a letter to City Council expressing the Charter Review's displeasure of the process that the City Council used on this charter amendment. Motion was made by Ron Kelley to create a subcommittee to draft a letter and bring back to the full Commission, Ms. Rhamy seconded, vote was 4 yes, 1 opposed (Mr. O'Donnell). Motion passed. Mr. Bellamy and Mr. Kelley volunteered for the subcommittee. Charter Review Commission 3 April 11, 2012 5. Members Comments -None •6. Staff Comments -None 7. Adjournment -Randy Bellamy adjourned the meeting at 7:55 p.m. rr.. . ~ l_. ~ _ , ~, r Cheryl Ponds-Poole,Secretary • • Charter Review Commission 4 April 11, 2012