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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004-05-24 CRC MINSMINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY OF CHULA VISTA CHARTER REVIEW COMMISSION May 24, 2004 City Attorney's Conference Room 4:30 p.m. ------------------------------------------------------------------- MEMBERS PRESENT: Harriet Acton, Cheryl Cox, Mark Croshier, Armida Martin del Campo, Humberto Peraza, Jr., David Potter MEMBERS ABSENT: Sergio Feria. STAFF PRESENT: Assistant City Attorney Sharon A. Marshall The meeting was called to order at 4:35 p.m. 1. Roll Call. The roll was called and members were noted as present or absent as indicated above. 2. Approval of Minutes. Minutes of the April 5,2004 meeting approved as presented. 3. Determination of a Reaularlv Scheduled Meetina Date and Time. Open discussion. Determined that regularly scheduled meetings of the Commission would take place the second Monday of each month at 4:30 p.m. at the call of the Chair. At least one week prior to a meeting, notice of meeting date and time will be forwarded to all Commission members. 4. Review by Cheryl Cox and discussion of Campaign Contribution Ordinance and Citv Council's Action. Cheryl Cox briefed the Commission on the particulars of the Campaign Contribution Ordinance recently passed by Council. Of note were the following: 1) The Campaign contribution limit was approved by Council at $300.00 per individual contributor with these contributions to be made to finance a current campaign or to pay debts incurred in prior campaigns. 2) It was determined that eleven months prior to a single election contest is sufficient time for a candidate to begin accepting contributions. Individual contributors may only make a contribution once during a 4 -year period. A candidate may carry over his/her campaign contribution from one election to the next as long as it is for the same office. Charter Review Minutes May 24, 2005 Page 2 3) A candidate may not obtain a loan for his campaign in excess of $10,000. A candidate must notify his/her opponent of the bar, give notice no later than 21 days prior to the election, and deposit the monies into the campaign contribution checking account so that it is designated as part'of campaign funds. 4) Pursuant to the Constitution, there is no limit to the amount of money a candidate may personally loan his campaign from his/her own personal funds. A question arose as to monies received by a candidate from a previous campaign. If a candidate serves his/her term and two years later decides to run again for office, can that candidate use the money from a previous campaign for the current campaign? It was suggested that these monies might be rolled over to the General Fund. Committee asked Sharon Marshall to look into the issue and advise the Commission at the next meeting. 5. Discussion of incumbent candidate re-election Guidelines. In 2002, the City put it to the general public whether or not they wanted to increase term limits. The proposals were: to do away with term limits all together, to increase term limits to three years with a three-year waiting period between the third term and the next time a candidate could run or, if neither chosen, then remain at one year between the last term and the next time 'a candidate could run. Discussion ensued. Recommended that a public forum be put into place to discuss the issue. Motion was made by Humberto Peraza, Jr. on this recommendation to pass this on to the City Council for consideration. Motion seconded by Mark Croshier. Motion failed. 6. Anv New'Business. Suggestion made by Cheryl Cox to determine a protocol for submitting agenda items to be discussed at a given Charter Review Commission meeting. Discussion ensued.. Consensus on protocol: A member may submit his/her item for a meeting agenda to the Chair who will in tutn.contact the City Attorney in advance to advise of the proposed item. It was suggested that the requests be submitted to the Chair in writing. This item will be discussed further at the next meeting and a determination made at that time. 7. Public Comments. Gerald Scott posed a question to the Commission. On personal loans, if a candidate has loaned himself/herself a significant amount of money for his/her campaign, can the other candidate accept contributions from someone who has already given the maximum amount in order to increase his/her contribution amount to meet Charter Review Minutes May 24, 2005 Page 3 such a personal loan? Cheryl Cox responded that the Constitution does not allow the City to put a limit on a person's use of his/her personal funds. In order to balance the playing field, whether a candidate receives one increment amount equal to that which the other candidate contributes personally, or whether it is parceled out in $1,000 contributions, a candidate would be allowed to raise that money without a cap being placed on the contribution amount until he/she arrived at the amount equal to that amount which the other candidate loaned his/her campaign. Susan Watry expressed her appreciation to the Commission for voting not to go back to the voters on term limits. In Ms. Watry's opinion the people at large want term limits to remain. 8. Members' Comments. Harriet Acton inquired about business cards for the Commission members. Do we have a budget, if so, how much of a budget, and may we print small identification cards as members of the Commission? It was indicated that the other Boards and Commissions have cards for their members. Sharon Marshall was asked to look into the budget issue for the Commission and advise the members at the next meeting. 9. Adjournment. Motion to adjourn the meeting at 5:40 p.m. to a meeting date and time to be determined. Diane Clancey, Secret y J:\attorney\dianec\CRC - Minutes (5/24/04)