HomeMy WebLinkAbout1990/07/19 Charter Review Commission Minutes
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MINUTES OF THE CHARTER REVIEW COMMITTEE
July 19, 1990
City Attorney's Conference Room
6:00 p.m.
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Members Present:
Chairman Campbell, Members Susan Full er, Jack
Blakely, Sharon Reid, Mary Frances Click,
Carlos Batara
Members Absent:
John Dorso
Staff Present:
Assistant City Attorney
Principal Planner Ken Lee
Chairman Campbell called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. It
was moved by Member Reid, seconded by Chairman Campbell and
passed by unanimous consent that the minutes reflect that Member
Dorso' s absence was excused by the Commi ttee for good cause due
to a business conflict.
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CHARTER SECTION 603
Principal Planner Ken Lee elaborated on the request of the
Planning Department to amend Charter Section 603 to delete the
requirement that the affirmative vote of a majority of the entire
membership of the Planning Commission be necessary for it to take
action. The Planning Department suggests that the requirement be
changed to only require the affirmative vote of a majority of a
quorum. Alternatively, the Department requested that the
Committee consider Charter language that would only require the
affirmative vote of a majority of the entire membership as to
those Planning Commission items as to which the Planning
Commission has final authority in the absence of an appeal. That
is, as to those matters on which the Planning Commission merely
makes a recommendation to the City Council, the ru1 e wou1 d be
changed to allow the item to pass with only an affirmative vote
of a majority of the quorum. Chairman Campbell was concerned
that the action was requested without any input from Chairpersons
of the Planning Commission or any other board or commission of
the City. Member Batara was concerned that there was no
information as to how many times the work of the City's boards
and committees had been stymied because of a bare quorum meeting
and being unable to obtain a unanimous position on an item.
Member Fuller thought the request was an overreaction to an
incident that only happened twice with the Planning Commission
this year. Member Reid felt that the Charter need not be amended
to fix what did not appear to be a major problem and that a
motion to deny merely for the purpose of moving the matter on
coul d be properly phrased to refl ect the true feel i ngs of the
affected body. Members Batara and Campbell were concerned that a
change in the Charter as requested would set up the opportunity
for minority control and/or manipulation of the parliamentary
process. Member Click also expressed concern about the
possibility of setting up a situation where the minority could
control the action of the advisory body.
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Charter Review Committee Minutes
July 19, 1990
Page Two
Further consideration of the item was continued to the next
meeting, with direction to staff to telephonically poll the
Chairpersons of all boards, commission, and committees or the
persons staffing them to determine to what extent it had
historically been a problem and what their recommendations were
in light of the request from the Planning Department.
CHARTER SECTIONS 607 AND 609
Assistant City Attorney reported that the Mayor requested the
Committee consider changing the provisions of Sections 607 and
609 of the Charter with regard to the Board of Library Trustees
and the Civil Service Commission to increase their membership
from 5 to 7. Vari ous members di scussed reasons pro and con.
Further discussion was continued to the next meeting with a
request that staff contact the Mayor and request his presence or
to share his thinking as to reasons for the request with staff so
that those reasons could be forwarded for further consideration
by the Committee at the next meeting.
CHARTER SECTION 602
Member Batara requested the Committee consider the possibility of
deleting the provision in Section 602(a) which allows a person to
be reappointed after a two year hiatus. The effect would be to
prohibit a person ever being reappointed to a board, committee,
or commission on what they had previously served. The purpose of
the change woul d be to allow a greater number of ci ti zens to
participate in local government.
CHARTER SECTION 600 OR 602
Member Batara requested the Committee consider potential
amendment to either Charter Section 600 or 602 to add a provlslon
prohibiting membership on more than one Charter created board,
committee or commission simultaneously. The stated purpose was
to allow a greater number of citizens to participate in local
government.
COMMUNITY PLANNING ADVISORY GROUPS
Member Batara suggested the Charter be amended to elevate
community planning advisory groups to Charter status. He
suggested that the scope of the suggestion was such that review
coul d not be accompl i shed in time to pl ace the matter on the
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Charter Review Committee Minutes
July 19,1990
Page Three
November ballot, but would like the Committee nevertheless to
consider the recommendation thereafter. Member Batara would like
the Committee to look at community planning advisory groups in
other areas, particularly San Diego County and San Diego City to
see how they operate and what kind of authority they are given,
before finalizing a recommendation as to the nature and power of
such Charter level community planning advisory groups. Member
Fuller thought it would be appropriate to obtain a profile of
which such committees exist in the County and what they do.
CHARTER SECTION 300
Member Batara requested the Committee consider a change to
Charter Section 300 to clarify the two term limit prohibition.
Under the current language of the fourth paragraph of Section
300, he believes it is not clear that the two term limit
prohibition would prevent a person from running for Council,
serving two terms, running for Mayor and serving two terms, and
then running for Council again, without any break. The purpose
of the amendment would be to clarify that there would have to be
a break after service of two terms as either Counci1member
followed by Mayor, or Mayor followed by Counci1member.
Following general discussion by the Committee of the last four
describes proposed changes, the Committee requested that all the
items be placed on the agenda for the next meeting and publicized
in the notice of the meeting so that potential public input on
the suggestions could be obtained. Assistant City Attorney
Rudolf also advised the Committee members that the City Attorney
had advised all department heads of the Charter Review
Committee's meetings and requested any recommendations or
suggestions for Charter changes be brought forward to the
Committee as soon as possible in light of the August 7 deadline
for action by Council to place matters on the ballot for November.
The Chair established the time and place of the next meeting to
be 7:00 p.m. in the City Attorney's Conference Room and the
meeting was adjourned at 7:15 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
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