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Home My WebLink About1998-01-19 CRC MINS MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY OF CHULA VISTA CHARTER REVIEW COMMISSION January 19 , 1998 City Attorney's Conference Room 4 : 30 p.m. ----------------------------------------------------------------- MEMBERS PRESENT: John Dorso, Jack Blakely, Harriet Acton, Barbara McAllister, Bob Campbell, David Potter and Deric Prescott MEMBERS ABSENT: None STAFF PRESENT: City Attorney. John M. Kaheny Colleen Kelly, Administrative Analyst II The meeting was called to order at 4 : 30 p.m. 1. Roll Call . The roll was called and all members were present except Member Potter who arrived at 4 : 33 p.m. 2 . Approval of Minutes. MSUC (Campbell/Prescott) to approve the minutes of November 24, 1997 as corrected to delete Member Blakely's name from the members present as he was absent from the meeting. 3 . Comments regarding District Elections. Chair Dorso asked to trail this item. 5 . Budget for FY 98/99 . MSUC (Acton/Campbell) to approve the budget for next fiscal year as submitted, which is the same amount as the current year. 4 . Report by City Attorney John Kaheny: Proposition 208 . The City Attorney briefed the Commission at the last meeting about the effect 208 was having on members of the City's boards and commissions. Since that time, the District Court in Sacramento enjoined 208 and remanded it to the California Supreme Court to decide whether or not they want to exercise a rare and unusual power they have, which is, to reform a piece of legislation. Mr. Kaheny felt this was done because the Judge did not want to get appealed and, also, it needed a lot of work. The opinion was interesting for a variety of reasons: The Judge passed over the strongest arguments to strike it down, then found other reasons to strike it down which might have been done to insulate himself from appeal. If the FPPC appeals this, the Appellate Court is liable to go with the stronger grounds and kill Charter Review Commission Minutes January 19, 1998 Page 2 the whole thing, therefore, putting a "poison pill" in the way he structured it. Joyce Lane, Elections Clerk from the City of San Diego, testified about San Diego's $250 limit on local campaign races and its effect on the process. The Judge concluded the $250 limit had no effect on political corruption, but had the opposite effect of giving great benefits to those who have personal wealth. Mr. Kaheny's opinion is that the issue will not be resolved for a couple of years. Bob Campbell asked the legal status of 208 presently. The City Attorney replied it does not exist and pushs off the effective date of the law. As long as the stay is in effect, board and commission members can still contribute to the extent the Political Reform Act and Chula Vista's campaign ordinances allow. Chair Dorso questioned if the City Attorney would let the other boards and commissions know what has happened. The City Attorney is planning to send out a brief note regarding 208 . 3 . Comments regarding District Elections. Barbara Opposes district elections because it's divisive. McAllister: It pits one part of the City against the other. She does not wish to lose authority over any City Councilmember or weaken her authority. It's the City Council' s responsibility to force Montgomery to produce a candidate. If Montgomery wants a representative, let them get one. Bob Felt Jerry Rindone' s reasoning was very weak. Campbell: Several members of the Council, including the Mayor are bunched in a small area of the City, but that does not bother him because they won the support of the voting public. He thought about the issue a lot and is opposed because the argument was not strong enough to make changes. Harriet Agrees with Member McAllister. . She wants all of Acton: the Councilmanic authority responsive to her as an individual . It does not matter where the Council lives. Deric In his Constitutional law class, affirmative action Prescott: programs were discussed. Similar arguments were made if employers want to hire minorities, they should be allowed to do that. Why force them to Charter Review Commission Minutes January 19 , 1998 Page 3 have government interaction to level the playing field. To encourage people from Montomgery, you have do something. Because running for office is very expensive, it discourages people in a less economically affluent area from running. The idea of everyone on Council serving everyone in the City is important. If you have people from every corner of the city, they would bring their own agenda of what's necessary in their neighborhood. They would be more in tune as to what the particular problems are from their area, but because they are obligated to the whole city, he doesn't think you would see the struggles that occur in San Diego. He favors a proposal encouraging members of the community to run for office. If the costs are too much, then we might want to consider ways (and maybe none of the present options are viable) to have a full-time City Council or increase in the number of districts (which is not necessary presently based on popu- lation) . David Generally agrees with the comments made. His Potter: concerns are twofold: (1) with districts, there's going to be neighborhood parochial type require- ments even if the person is elected at a citywide election. There could be a patroon system whereby people in the neighborhood will expect their candidate (merely because he lives there) to be their man on the Council (2) if we recommend a' geographic solution, the hybrid appeals to him. If Council is increased to 7 , half would be geographic and half would be at large. However, district elections cause additional expense at what gain? If you look at the Council members in 1982 and 1997 , you will find that most of the Council lived on the eastern boundary of the City in the same proportion as currently. As the City moved to the east, Councilmembers' residences moved east. John Chair Dorso referred to the City Manager's memo of Dorso: 11/20/97 wherein he summarized: " . . .the basic question to challenge the Commission, is, is there a need for a change? More specifically, is there a problem in the conduct of City business based on geography"? Jack Does not support the proposal today, but it Blakely: should not be buried, perhaps in the future it Charter Review Commission Minutes January 19 , 1998 Page 4 would be appropriate. People in the north end of the city and Montgomery would have a better opportunity to voice their concerns if they were on the Council, not that the Council does not take care of the people in Montgomery, because they do, but if there .was a member on the Council from Montgomery, they would have a better insight being from a particular area. Today that's not a problem, but at the next election it could potentially be a problem, unless it's addressed. We have to look at the year 2000 and beyond. After general discussion, Chair Dorso suggested the Commission review Mr. Goss's memorandum and be prepared to vote on the matter at the next meeting. The City Attorney volunteered to work with the Chair to draft a letter to the City Council citing the Commission's position for the next meeting. 6. Public Comments. None 7 . Members' Comments . None 8 . AdIournment. MSUC (Prescott/Campbell) to adjourn the meeting at 5 : 25 p.m. to the next meeting scheduled for February 16, 1998 at 4 : 30 p.m. �sv�4.t.r�aJ Lorraine Kraker, Secretary C:\crc\minute\1-19-98