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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSS5 - Charter Update CommissionCITY OF NEWPORT BEACH CITY COUNCIL STAFF REPORT Agenda Item No.SS November 24, 2009 TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL FROM: David R. Hunt, City Attorney ext. 3131, dhuntoNewportBeachCA.gov Dave Kiff, City Manager ext. 4030, dkfflcD_NewnortBeachCA.gov SUBJECT: Consideration of Creation of a Charter Update Commission ISSUE: Does Council wish to create a commission to consider possible updates to the City Charter and to City Ordinances that have been adopted by initiative measure so that update measures can be placed on the November of 2010 ballot? RECOMMENDATION: Review the issues and give direction DISCUSSION: The City Charter was originally adopted effective January 7, 1955. The Charter is in effect the constitution of the City of Newport Beach. It governs and sets the parameters of all powers and regulation that occur within the City. While it has been periodically amended, there are currently provisions that are not consistent with California or United States laws. As such, it may be appropriate to appoint a citizens' commission to look at specific issues for possible update, clarification, and /or amendment to make them consistent with the current dictates of state and federal law and to modernize the Charter's dictates in order to make municipal government more efficient. In addition to Charter update, there are ordinances that have been passed by initiative measures that could be updated as well. For example portions of our Civil Service Ordinance are not enforceable under state and federal law. Those issues, and any other issue arising from the Civil Service Ordinance can be addressed by the citizens' commission, should the Council so direct. Should the Council wish to proceed in this manner we recommend that the scope of work for a citizens' commission be focused on a limited range of issues. The time between now and the last day to put an issue on the 2010 General Election is relatively short. Any city Consideration of Creation of a Charter Update Commission November 24, 2009 Page 2 measure must be adopted by an appropriate enabling resolution and forwarded to the County Clerk/Elections Official no later than June 28, 2010 for inclusion on the ballot. Working backwards, there is little more than six months in which a commission can be appointed, staff can research and analyze issues, the commission can discuss the issues, a report can be prepared by staff, and a final recommendation can be adopted by the City Council. As such, we recommend focusing the commission on issues of concern to the Council and providing a scheduled work program that can achieve the desired results within the limited time available. Charter Issues to Be Reviewed Staff has reviewed the Charter and various initiative measures that may be of interest to the Council for review. We have appended as Attachment "A" a listing of issues that has been developed. Some of the issues are simple and some are more complex. The listing is not intended to be comprehensive, or mandatory, in any way. You can choose to assign issues to the commission in any manner you wish and you can add to the issues listed if you desire. The number of issues you choose will simply affect the intensity of the process during the six months available. We also note that this list is not intended to be an exhaustive expression of issues that could be addressed. There may be many more issues worthy of consideration. We have attempted to focus on a set of issues that can be addressed in the limited time available for consideration. The Council may wish to direct consideration of other issues after having the issues listed in this report reviewed and addressed. The issues described in more detail in Attachment A have been placed, for convenience of discussion, into one of the following three categories: Category C: Clean -up (Those matters in which the Charter or initiative measures are inconsistent with existing law) Issues: 1. City Manager residency requirement 2. Redistricting committee 3. Tax limits 4. Sale of Bay front property S. Gender references Category M: Modernization and Efficiency (Those matters in which the Charter is not consistent with current municipal practice and in which efficiency in government can be achieved through modernization) Issues: 1. Contracting authority 2. Civil Service System 3. Ordinance publication requirements 4. Publication of legal notices Consideration of Creation of a Charter Update Commission November 24, 2009 Page 3 5. Time for contracting 6. Franchise procedures i. Centralized purchasing Category P: Policy changes Issues: 1. Appointment to vacant Council seat Proposed Process We have drafted a proposed timeline (shown below), to lay out a potential work plan for the project. In summary, the plan we recommend, should you direct that we engage in the effort, starts with adopting a resolution creating a Charter Update Commission and soliciting applications for participation on the commission. We then recommend that the final report of the Commission, with whatever recommendations it adopts, be finalized by May 4 and brought to the Council at the last meeting in May of 2010 in a study session. That deadline will allow the Council to review the recommendations and schedule final action on the matter in time for placing any issues on the ballot. We also recommend that the Council not require the commission's recommendations be unanimous, but instead allow for any dissenting portion of the commission to prepare a dissenting report. This approach will allow for the issues to move more quickly, a requirement that is necessary based upon the limited amount of time available for deliberations. We recommend that a commission be supported by the staff of the City. Staff would provide the commission with background information, analysis, and where appropriate, their recommendations based upon their professional experience, background, and training. We would recommend that the items for review and consideration by the Commission be clearly established by the Council so that the Commission understands the Council's interests and the limits of the Commission's purview. Additionally, given the limited time frame for this project, and the fact that capacity is limited in the organization for this new, but important endeavor, engaging an outside project manager is proposed. The City Manager will engage an individual to assist the City Attorney, City Manager and Commission in ensuring timely completion of the task. The anticipated cost of the contract project manager is $15,000. For efficiency of this process, given the short time frame, we recommend that applicants for commission appointments be required to confirm that they are available to attend all of the meetings, which will be set in advance, according to the schedule shown below. A total of six meetings, with a possible seventh meeting, of the commission would be held between February 2rd (first meeting of the commission) and May 4. Meetings would be tentatively set for 4 — 6:30 pm on each of the days shown on the schedule. Consideration of Creation of a Charter Update Commission November 24, 2009 Page 4 A summary of the proposed schedule is shown below: Y [. November 24, 2009 � 4 Council Gives Direction on Possible Commission December 8, 2009 Council Adopts Resolution Creating Commission, Identifying Issues to be Addressed, and Soliciting Applications; Mayor Appointing Council Subcommittee December 12, 2009 City Clerk Advertises for Applications for Appointment to Commission January 8, 2010 Application Period Closes January 11 —15, 2009 Council Subcommittee Conducts Interviews of Applicants January 26, 2009 Commission Appointed February 2, 2010 First Meeting of the Commission — Work Plan Discussed February 16, 2009 Commission Meeting — Discuss Issues March 2, 2009 Commission Meeting — Discuss Issues March 16, 2009 Commission Meeting —Discuss Issues A ril 6, 2009 Commission Meeting — Discuss Issues April 20, 2009 Commission Meeting — Action on Recommendations May 4, 2009 Commission meeting — Action on Recommendations (meeting held only if needed May 12, 2009 Complete staff report for Council meeting of May 25, 2009 May 25, 2009 Council study session: Present staff report with Commission recommendations to Council June 8, 2009 Council discussion and possible action on Resolutions on Ballot Measures June 22, 2009 Final Council discussion and adoption of Resolutions re Ballot Measures if action is not taken on June 8 Consideration of Creation of a Charter Update Commission November 24, 2009 Page 5 Environmental Review Addressing procedural issues within city government is not a project as defined in the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Implementing Guidelines. Public Notice Notice has been given consistent with the Ralph M. Brown Act. No other public notice is required by this item. Alternatives You may choose to: 1. Direct staff to proceed with preparing the documents necessary to create the commission and bring them back to the next meeting of the Council, or any future meeting; and 2. Direct staff as to which, if any, or what other issues you wish to have reviewed by a commission; and 3. Direct staff as to the timeline proposed; and 4. Reject the idea in its entirety; and 5. Give direction for any other approach to the issue you deem appropriate. Should you direct the creation of a commission, we will bring formative documents to you at the agenda directed by you. CONCLUSION This matter is on your study session agenda for consideration and direction. We shall execute any direction you provide. Prepared and Submitted by: Submitted By: OFFICE OF THE CITY ATTORNEY CITY MANAGER'S OFFICE B By David R. Hunt Da Kiff City Attorney City Manager Attachments: Attachment "A ": List of Possible Issues to Address (A09. 00673 1 C,haAer Update !sues- 2009110 - 11124109 CC Mfg CHARTER UPDATE: LIST OF POSSIBLE ISSUES TO ADDRESS RE CHANGES Page 1 M t .{��rvfk Ywx a;.v C3. City Manager Residency Requirement: Charter section 501 requires that a City As determined during the recent recruitment Manager become a resident of the City. process, this requirement is now inconsistent with federal law. C2. Redistricting Committee: Charter section 1005 requires the City Council This section has not been uniformly followed to appoint a committee to study and report and creates an administrative burden. on possible redistricting. Statewide redistricting takes place every ten years when the census results are published. It may be appropriate to clean -up this section to be consistent with current practice and statewide practice. [We should retain the ability to redistrict after annexations.] C3. Tax Limits: Charter section 1107 sets limitations on the These limitations have been largely, if not taxing authority of the City. entirely, superseded by state law through Proposition 13 and Proposition 218 as well as other statewide initiative measures. Duplication of restrictions can cause confusion and a trap for the unwary. C4. Sale of Bay Front Property: Charter section 1402 provides that Bay Front Several times in the past the City has enacted property, except with limited exceptions, Charter amendments in order to allow for the cannot be sold. sale of Bay Front property. This procedure can be avoided simply by amending the prohibition to allow for the sale upon an affirmative vote of the electorate. CS. Gender References Several sections of the Charter refer to the These references could be exchanged with the City Manager, City Attorney, City Clerk, person's title instead of a gender reference. Finance Director, department heads, "Chairmen," or City Council as males. (Section Page 1 Page 2 500, 501, 502, 503, 504, 602, 603, 605, 606, 607, 608, 609, 610, 611, 704. o k n" a ' a " ai dfi W' MI. Contracting Authority: Charter section 1110 requires all Public Should the City revise this amount in light of Works' projects with total expenditures over the substantial increase of construction costs $30,000.00 go to formal bid. and then provide for adjustment based upon CPI? M2. Civil Service System: Charter sections 800 through 803 provide for Currently the City's Civil Service System is a Civil Service System within the City and administered by the City's Civil Service Board Ordinance 866, passed by the voters on that was created via ordinance adopted in November 4, 1958 (codified as Municipal Code 1958 and has not been updated in over fifty Chapter 2.24). years. The entire law governing pubic employment has changed dramatically in that time leaving some of the provisions of our system inconsistent with state and federal law (for example section 2.24.170 prohibiting political actives by employees is now unconstitutional based upon appellate case authority from the state and federal courts) and at least one requirement of the ordinance, the provision of appellate rights to candidates for original employment with the City, has been recommended for change by the Civil Service Board. These concerns may warrant a review and modernization of the system. M3. Ordinance Publication Requirements. Charter section 414 requires that an Publication of ordinances in their entirety can ordinance be published at least once in the be extremely expensive. State law official newspaper. (Government Code section 36933) allows for summaries of ordinances to be published as a cost savings device. Page 2 Listing of Possible Issues 11.24.09 CC Mtg Page 3 M4. Publication of Legal Notices: Charter section 419 requires the City Clerk to Annual bid process has not produced any go to bid annually for contracting out noticeable savings and has created a difficult publication of legal notices. administrative burden on the City Clerk's Office. M5. Time for Contracting: Charter section 420, with some exceptions, This requirement potentially limits the City's restricts the length of time for municipal ability to enter into modern financial contracting to not in excess of 25 years. transactions. M6. Franchise Procedures: Article Xlll of the Charter creates franchising Franchising procedures are now governed by procedures and requirements. the municipal code. Allowing for municipal code regulation of the procedures as opposed to Charter regulation provides for flexibility in a changing economic environment. M7. Centralized Purchasing Charter section 1106 requires the City to Centralized purchasing may work in some continue a process of centralized purchasing. cases, but not in all. Advances in technology and controls may make decentralized purchasing less expensive. P1. Appointment to Vacant Council Seat: Charter section 403 directs that vacancies on Does the Council wish to address this issue, the Council shall be filled by appointment either to clarify how this provision falls within within thirty days, or set an election, and the term limits or to otherwise modify the appointee shall sit until the next general provisions? municipal election and his or her successor is qualified. Listing of Possible Issues 11.24.09 CC Mtg Page 3