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Charter Review 2013/12/03ANAHEIM CHARTER REVIEW COMMITTEE MINUTES Thursday, December 3, 2013 6:00 p.m. Anaheim City Council Chambers 200 Anaheim Blvd., Anaheim 92805 The meeting notice, agenda and related materials were duly posted on November 29, 2013. PRESENT: Chair Todd Ament, Committee Members: Tom Dunn, Amanda Edinger, Craig Farrow, Ernesto Medrano, Gloria Ma'ae and Keith Olesen ABSENT: None STAFF: City Manager's Office: Paul Emery, Assistant City Manager and Margie Otto, Senior Analyst, Linda Andal, City Clerk, Michael Houston, City Attorney, Dr. Raphael Sonenshein, Consultant 1. Call meeting to order. The meeting of the Charter Review Committee of December 3, 2013 was called to order at 6:04 P.M. in the Council Chambers of Anaheim City Hall located at 200 S. Anaheim Blvd. 2. Public Comments. Ron Bengochea, resident, expressed his disappointment that the public did not avail themselves of the multiple avenues to listen, understand, and participate in this process, adding that his primary goal in attending was to ensure residents did not lose any rights, emphasizing he was pleased to find that was not the case nor did he find that changes were needlessly made. He opposed Article 7 combining the positions of Finance Director with City Treasurer stating the savings were not enough to eliminate a position whose oversight on the City's $1.6 billion budget could have the potential for a more costly impact with the position eliminated. He opposed Article 12 as well indicating elimination of newspaper publishing of the City's year -end financial statement, took away the ability for citizens not technologically proficient to avail themselves of that information from the city's website or elsewhere. 3. Approve minutes of the committee meeting of October 24, 2013 and November 7, 2013. Vice Chair Medrano moved to approve the minutes as presented, seconded by Member Ma'ae. VOTE: AYES — 7: (Chair Ament and Members: Dunn, Edinger, Farrow, Medrano, Ma'ae and Oleson). NOES - 0. Motion Passed. 4. Rescind staff's request to amend Article XII, Section 1205 Mr. Emery reported staff had taken another look at Article XII, Section 1205 because of a discussion with the Committee about the request to consider modifying language allowing interdepartmental appropriations transfers. Specifically, he indicated staff reviewed the numbers of times those transfers were needed and used and determined the language was Meeting of the Charter Review Committee December 3, 2013 Page 2 of 4 appropriate as written and that staff was able to manage its fiscal responsibilities within the current budget framework. Committee Member Dunn moved to rescind staff's request to amend Article XII, Section 1205, seconded by Committee Member Edinger. VOTE: AYES — 7: (Chair Ament and Members: Dunn, Edinger, Farrow, Medrano, Ma'ae and Oleson). NOES — 0. Motion Passed. 5. Discuss and direct regarding the sale and use of fireworks in the City. Mr. Emery indicated Committee Member Dunn at the October 24 meeting requested staff consider creating a new section in the Charter authorizing the use of fireworks in Anaheim. For informational purposes, in 1986, the City Council placed a measure on the general municipal ballot asking voters to prohibit the sale of fireworks in the city, a vote that was independently approved by the electorate and not included in the City Charter. Mr. Emery indicated staff reviewed 12 of the listed charter cities and found none of them included fireworks within their governing documents. Three options were available to the committee: 1) add a new Section 1214 to the Charter permitting the use of fireworks, and if approved, it would also repeal the existing voter - approved ordinance banning fireworks in the city; 2) make no change to the Charter but recommend the City Council consider placing a measure on the ballot to repeal the ordinance banning fireworks and then by Council adopted ordinance or resolution permit the use of fireworks within city limits; or 3) take no action and maintain the current ban on fireworks. Member Dunn stated that his motion would be to add Section 1214 as proposed and incorporating Attachment C from the Fire Department's report as part of the amendment, seconded by Member Medrano for purposes of discussion. Member Farrow was supportive of bringing back fireworks to Anaheim, but preferred option 2, taking it out of the charter and allowing the City Council the flexibility of managing the use of fireworks. Vice Chair Medrano was also in favor of having fireworks, adding the fund- raising aspect for non - profits was significant. He supported option 2 and expressed his concern that including it as a charter amendment might have a negative impact on voter's perspectives in general. Member Ma'ae concurred and would support option 2. Member Edinger indicated she was in favor of a separate ordinance addressing the use of fireworks rather than incorporating it into the Charter as long as the Fire Chief's recommended guidelines were attached. Member Olesen was against including fireworks in the charter emphasizing it did not belong in a governance document and that he was also against deliberation of this item using fund - raising as a determining factor, stating it was not appropriate when there were others who might have to live with the consequences of fireworks use. Additionally, he felt it was fundamentally wrong to divide a city in sections in which fireworks were allowed in one area and not elsewhere. Member Dunn remarked there was nothing wrong with imposing, time, place and manner on any issue and called for the question. Member Dunn restated his motion which was to add Section 1214 to the Charter which would allow the permissive use of fireworks with the time, place and manner to be determined by the City Council, seconded by Vice Chair Medrano. VOTE: AYES — 5: (Chair Ament, Committee Members: Dunn, Farrow, Medrano, and Ma'ae.) NOES — 2: (Members Edinger and Olesen). Motion Passed. Meeting of the Charter Review Committee December 3, 2013 Page 2 of 4 6. Approve draft Charter amendment language to be submitted to the City Council Mr. Emery remarked the Committee was in receipt of all amendments discussed by this committee in the form of a table identifying the issue and a summary of the recommended language. Mr. Houston suggested the Committee use a consent calendar approach, with committee members removing only those sections requiring further discussion. Committee Member Oleson pulled sections 701 and 702, Member Dunn removed sections 500 and 504. Member Edinger indicated the report stated these items were recommended by the charter committee but did not reflect the final vote with Mr. Houston remarking that could be added on the final report. Dr. Sonenshein remarked by voting each item separately, the City Council would then have a sense of how the committee felt about each item but recommended as well there be a vote on the final package even if there was an item that was not unanimously approved by the committee. Vice Chair Medrano moved to approve the amendment languages as presented, seconded by Member Ma'ae with the exception of sections 500, 504, 701 and 702. Mr. Houston remarked for the purpose of a legislative history, section 1222 relating to the sale of municipal property allowed Council to adopt methods for the sale of that property, did not change other more specific provisions in the charter such as the Public Utility, which could only be disposed of by a 2/3 vote of the council and electorate; i.e., the more general provision would not supersede specific requirements. VOTE: AYES — 7: (Chair Ament and Committee Members: Dunn, Edinger, Farrow, Medrano, Ma'ae and Oleson). NOES — 0. Motion Passed. Section 500, 504 — Committee Member Dunn reiterated his strong opposition to the idea that the Mayor's term be changed from four years to two years, stating it was ill- advised and an idea raised because of personalities and not by the concept of whether any mayor should serve for four or two years and would create problems. He felt it was impractical to force a mayor to run every two years due to the cost and that it would disqualify a substantial number of people because of that cost. Chair Ament responded that mayors had a different level of responsibility and he felt all five elected officials should have equal powers and voice and having an election every two years, allowed those whose terms were not up to be able to run as well. Chair Ament moved to approve section 500 as proposed, seconded by Member Farrow. Member Olesen felt it made more sense to have the mayor run every two years to correspond with each of the two elections cycles for city council members. Member Edinger disagreed, stating this action would diminish the role of mayor and weaken those powers. Chair Ament remarked all five council members should represent Anaheim citizens and with a strong mayor, they may not have a voice. He added mayors who were involved in the city would get re- elected and those who were not engaged would be voted out. Member Farrow remarked that ultimately it was up to the electorate as to who would take the seat of mayor and in comparison with other cities, a two year cycle was appropriate and appeared to be working. Vice Chair Medrano supported a two year term, remarking at some point in time, he believed Anaheim would have a full -time mayor and that position should be held to a higher standard by the voters. Mr. Houston explained the amendment for Section 500 that the committee was considering would only strike the word "four" and insert "two." Section 504 was involved because one of the actions this committee took was to repeal term limit provisions and if the mayoral term was changed to two years, there could be a conflict. This was intended to supersede language Meeting of the Charter Review Committee December 3, 2013 Page 2 of 4 Section 504 should the voters decide to keep the term limit provision you are requesting to eliminate. VOTE: Chair Ament moved to affirm amending the term of Mayor from four to two years, seconded by Member Farrow. AYES — 5: (Chair Ament and Committee Members Farrow, Medrano, Ma'ae, and Olesen.) NOES — 2: (Members Dunn and Edinger). Motion Passed. VOTE: Chair Ament moved to affirm section 504 as presented, seconded by Committee Member Farrow. AYES — 7: (Chair Ament and Committee Members: Dunn, Edinger, Farrow, Medrano, Ma'ae, Olesen). NOES — 0. Motion Passed. Section 701 and 702. Committee Member Olesen remarked he did not see the advantage in combining the positions of Treasurer and Finance Director because the positions offered checks and balances and no comments offered had convinced him it would not open up more problems than it solved. Committee Member Dunn inquired what the specific differences were between those two positions with Mr. Emery responding the Treasurer had the responsibility of receipt, deposit and maintaining fund balances in different instruments that retained cash for the city while the Finance Director handled the disbursement and control of expenditures. In many cities, he remarked, the duties had been assigned in the same department, sometimes the same person or one individual as a senior manager in the department. Staff felt there was adequate control that protected city resources and this revision had the potential for administrative ease in the future and the recommendation was to provide Council with the flexibility to delegate the appointment of the Treasurer to the City Manager. Member Ma'ae moved to approve 701 and 702 as presented, seconded by Vice Chair Medrano. VOTE: Ayes — 6: (Chair Ament, Committee Members: Dunn, Edinger, Farrow, Medrano, and Ma'ae. NOES — 1: Committee Member Olesen. Motion Passed. 9. Consideration of additional meeting dates. For personal reasons, Chair Ament stated he would be unable to finish the meeting, asking that Item 9, consideration of additional meeting dates, be considered at this time. An item had been raised by Vice Chair Medrano about how council appointed its boards and commissioners, asking the committee to consider it at a future meeting date. Discussion was held, with the Committee agreeing to January 9 with staff to confirm if the chambers was free on that date or notify them if another date was needed. VOTE: Committee Member Olesen moved to schedule a regular meeting on January 9, 2014, seconded by Vice Chair Medrano. AYES — 7: (Chair Ament and Committee Members: Dunn, Edinger, Farrow, Medrano, Ma'ae and Oleson.) NOES — 0. Motion Passed. At 7:37 p.m., Chair Ament excused himself from the meeting and passed the gavel to Vice Chair Medrano. 7. Review, discuss, develop Preamble language Dr. Sonenshein remarked a preamble expressed the values of a community but had no legal force and did not commit city government to a particular point of action. He offered examples of various preambles, from the very generic statements to those that addressed how the cities Meeting of the Charter Review Committee December 3, 2013 Page 2 of 4 wished to be perceived. Four options were available to the committee: 1) take out the current preamble, 2) keep it, 3) adopt a longer generic version, or 4) decide to create a new preamble tonight or continued to the next meeting. Committee Member Olesen asked if it would be routine for members of the committee to develop a preamble and share it with the committee for their review. Dr. Sonenshein remarked that was the best way to handle it by having one or more, or all members come up with their versions. Member Olesen remarked the more examples he reviewed, the preambles seemed to detract from the charter and reflected what was going on politically in that city at that point in time. Committee Member Dunn moved to table this item to allow any members to develop their own preamble to be considered at the next meeting, seconded by Committee Member Ma'ae. Ms. Otto remarked the preamble language should be forwarded to her by Monday, January 6 th in order to get it into the January 9 th agenda. Mr. Houston added that the process should be done independently and not copied to colleagues. VOTE: Ayes — 6: (Vice Chair Medrano and Committee Members: Dunn, Edinger, Farrow, and Ma'ae.) NOES — 0. ABSENT: Chair Ament. Motion Passed. 8. Approve the draft Recommendation Report of the Committee for submittal to the City Council. Dr. Sonenshein remarked it was not necessary to approve the draft tonight since there was one more meeting, adding that the committee would be presenting recommendations to the City Council on January 28 As this was the first time members of the public would be made aware of this process, he indicated it was important to explain to the community the decisions made, how it was set up, the process used and the way in which decisions were made. This was a draft for the committee's review and he asked for feedback should there be anything that was omitted or not characterized properly. The report would move the process forward, and opened with a cover letter from the committee to the council, offered the history of the formation of the committee, what rules were followed and how the members were appointed with each step of the process subsequently outlined. He added that this committee did not waiver from any of the decisions they made procedurally, a set of rules had been developed and the committee adhered to those rules as well as to the schedule that was established. A series of comparison cities was created and the committee members used that comparison many times during their deliberations and followed a set of principles and ideals. With Member Edinger's suggestion, he indicated the votes would be shown as part of the record and reflect the written legacy of the committee. 10. Committee comments /staff comments. Vice Chair Medrano asked that discussion for the selection of commissioners be agendized for the next meeting. Linda Andal, City Clerk, remarked Mayor Pro Tern Eastman had requested section 902 of the charter be reviewed by this committee. All boards and commissions ended at each fiscal year, a time when the Council held budget hearings and adopted the annual budget which left little time to review applications. She indicated, with the committee's approval, staff would return with alternative annual appointment dates which would be consistent with regional appointments as well. Meeting of the Charter Review Committee December 3, 2013 Page 2 of 4 11. Adjourn meeting. With no further business, Vice Chair Medrano adjourned the December 3, 2014 meeting at 8:02 P.M. Re pectfolly submitted, Linda N. Andal, CMC City Clerk