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Home My WebLink About7.2 Directly Elected Mayor fog CITY OF DUBLIN AGENDA STATEMENT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DATE: January 23, 1989 SUBJECT Directly Elected Mayor Report by City Attorney EXHIBITS ATTACHED Memorandum from Assistant City Attorney dated January 12, 1989; Draft Resolution; Draft Ordinance RECOMMENDATION 1/l,: Consider and provide Staff with appropriate direction. FINANCIAL STATEMENT: Mayor' s compensation undetermined; Advisory election costs would be less than $3, 000. DESCRIPTION At the City Council meeting of November 28, 1988, the City Attorney' s Office was directed to prepare a report regarding those provisions of law, which relate to the direct election of the Mayor. The City Attorney' s Office has prepared a report (see attached) , outlining those policy issues for Council consideration. These issues include: 1 . Should the City Council present to the voters the issue of whether the Officd of Mayor should be directly elected? 2 . If so, when should the question be presented to the electorate? 3 . Should the Mayor receive compensation in addition to the compensation received as a Councilmember? 4 . If the Mayor should receive additional compensation, should the electorate decide the amount, or should the Council decide the amount by Ordinance after the election? Staff the the City Attorney will be prepared to answer any additional procedural questions which may arise. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- L 2 COPIES T0: ITEM N0. r MEYrR.S, NAVE, RIBACK c`sc WEST MICHAEL R.NAVE A PROFESSIONAL LAW CORPORATION -c•;NSUL4 0:0ICE STEVEN R.MEYERS ' NATALIE E.WEST GATEWAY PLAZA 1220 COWARD AVE.SUITE 250 ELIZABETH H.SILVER 777 DAVIS STREET,SUITE 300 BuRUNGAME.CA 9-010-4211 !t 5)3.-,.7!--0 MICHAEL S.RIBACK SAN LEANDRO,CALIFORNIA 94577 =Ai,x151 342-'885 MOLLY T.TAMI (415)351-4300 ANNE E.MUDGE FAX(415)351-4481 ;aai,y Ooc:Cc MICHAEL F.RODRIQUEZ RECEIVED 1262 GPANT AVE.SUITE E autr 1 n �'� •'0'/.TO.CA 9=945 OF COUNSEL t lS89 415)852-5378 THOMASF.BERTRANO •� C=ITE( OF DUBLIN *EPLY TO San Leandro MEMORANDUM TO: Richard Ambrose DATE: January 12 , 1989 City Manager FROM: Elizabeth H. Silver Assistant City Attorney RE: - Directly Elected Mayor At a council meeting in November, Councilman Snyder requested that we research the method of directly electing the mayor. Government Code Section 34900 et seq. provides the procedure for the electorate to decide whether the mayor should be directly elected. Section 34900 allows the council to submit to the electors the question of whether to elect a mayor and four council members and whether the mayor shall serve a two year or four year term. Section 34901 specifies the form of the question. If a majority of the votes cast is affirmative, the office of mayor is elective and at the next general municipal election one of the offices of councilmember to be filled at that election shall be designated as the office of .mayor, to be filled at that election. (Government Code Section 34902 . ) An elected mayor is a member of the Council and has all the powers and duties of a councilmember. (Government Code Section 34903 . ) The council may present the question of directly electing the mayor to the electorate by placing an initiative ordinance on the ballot at the next succeeding regular or special city election, pursuant to Elections Code Section 4017 . TO: Richard Ambrose RE: Directly Elected Mayor DATE: January 12 , 1989 PAGE: 2 If the council were to call a special municipal election to vote on the question of electing the mayor and consolidate the special election with the June 1990 primary election, the electors could elect the mayor at the November 1990 general municipal election, assuming the initiative was passed. This would require designation of one of the three council offices being elected in November 1990 as the Mayor and the two remaining council offices would be filled for four-year terms. Alternatively, if the question were presented to the voters at the next regular municipal election in November 1990, the position of mayor would then be on the ballot at the succeeding regular municipal election in November 1992 . Two councilmembers would ordinarily be elected at the November 1992 election; if the initiative were passed, one of those two seats would be designated as the mayor, resulting in the remaining four council seats being unevenly staggered. In this situation, Government Code Section 34906 allows the council to designate one of the council offices to serve a two-year term or provide that the person with the least votes will serve a two-year term. This must be done prior to the first day for circulating nominating papers. In the foregoing situation, in order to divide the four council offices evenly, one of the three councilmembers being elected in November 1994 would be elected for a two-year term. If an incumbent councilmember is elected mayor, the vacancy on the council would be filled by the council pursuant to Government Code Section 36512 , which requires the council, within thirty (30) days, to fill the vacancy by appointment or call a special election. Alternatively, the council could enact an ordinance pursuant to Government Code Section 36512 . 1, requiring that a special election be called immediately to fill every city council vacancy (including a vacancy in the office of directly elected mayor) , to be held at the next regularly established election date not less than ninety (90) days from the call. A directly elected mayor may be provided compensation in addition to that which he or she receives as a councilmember. (Government Code Section 36516. 1. ) Such additional compensation may be provided (1) by ordinance adopted by the council, or (2) by majority vote of the electors voting at a municipal election. TO: Richard Ambrose RE: Directly Elected Mayor DATE: January 12 , 1989 PAGE: 3 CONCLUSION If the council wishes -to place before the voters the question of directly electing a mayor, the council must decide the following issues: (1) Should the mayor be compensated? (2) If the mayor should be compensated, (a) Should the electors decide the amount, or (b) Should the council wait until after the election and decide the amount by ordinance? If alternative (a) is selected, what amount of compensation should be included in the proposed ordinance to be submitted to the electors? (3) When should the question be presented to the electorate (at a special election or at the next regular municipal election) ? We have prepared a sample ordinance providing for the direct election of the mayor and a sample resolution submitting the ordinance to the electorate, copies of which are enclosed. The ordinance and resolution are in draft form only and cannot be finalized until the council has decided the above policy questions. Please call me if you have any questions. Very truly yours, MEYERS, NAVE, RIBACK & WEST By: VZ44 i� Elizabeti H. Silver EHS: rdw RESOLUTION NO. - 89 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DUBLIN ----------------------------------------------------------------- A RESOLUTION SUBMITTING AN INITIATIVE ORDINANCE TO THE VOTERS OF DUBLIN REGARDING THE DIRECT ELECTION OF THE MAYOR, MAYOR'S TERM OF OFFICE AND MAYOR'S COMPENSATION NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DUBLIN RESOLVES AS FOLLOWS: Section 1: Call for Special Election. Pursuant to Elections Code Section 4017 , the City Council is authorized to present initiative ordinances to the voters for their consideration. Pursuant to Government Code Sections 34900 and 36516. 1, questions regarding whether to have a directly elected mayor, the term of office of a directly elected mayor and compensation for the directly elected mayor may be submitted to the voters. The City Council hereby calls for an election to be held in conjunction with the election of this state on for the voters of Dublin to determine questions as set forth in Section 2 herein. Section 2 : Ballot Language. The ballot language shall be as follows: "Shall the electors elect a mayor and four city councilmembers? Yes No "Shall the term of office of mayor be two years? Two Years "Shall the term of office of mayor be four years? Four Years "Shall the compensation for the office of mayor be $ per ? Yes No \resol\spclelec.ehs 1 Section 3 : Submission of Ballot Arguments and Impartial Analysis. a. The City Council hereby establishes as the last day for submission of direct arguments for or against each proposed ballot measure. b. The City Council hereby establishes as the last day for submission of rebuttal arguments for and against each proposed ballot measure. C. Direct arguments shall not exceed 300 words and shall be signed by not more than five persons. d. Rebuttal arguments shall not exceed 250 words and shall be signed by not more than five persons. e. The City Attorney shall prepare an impartial analysis of the measure showing the effect of the measure on the existing law and the operation of the measure by PASSED, APPROVED AND ADOPTED this th day of , 1989 . AYES: NOES: ABSENT: Mayor ATTEST: City Clerk \resol\spclelec.ehs 2 ORDINANCE NO. - 89 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF DUBLIN ------------------------------------------------------------------ AN ORDINANCE PROVIDING FOR THE DIRECT ELECTION OF THE MAYOR, SETTING THE MAYOR'S TERM OF OFFICE, AND RELATED MATTERS THE PEOPLE OF THE CITY OF DUBLIN DO HEREBY ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS: Section 1: [Subject to voter approval] The electors shall hereafter elect a mayor :and four city courcilmembers. Section 2 : The term of office of the mayor shall be [two/four] years. Section 3 : [Subject to voter approval] The compensation for the mayor shall be $ Section 4 : If approved by a majority of the voters, this ordinance shall be considered as adopted upon the date that the vote is declared by the City Council and shall go into effect ten days after that date as provided in Election Code Section 4013 . PASSED AND ADOPTED by the City Council of the City of Dublin on this day of 1989 by the following vote: AYES : NOES : ABSENT: Mayor ATTEST: City Clerk \ord\spclelec.ehs 1