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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-12-2015 Charter Committee Agenda & Backup City of San Bernardino Volunteer Citizen-Based Charter Committee Agenda Time: 5:00 p.m. Date: Tuesday,May 12,2015 Place: EDA Board Room 201 N. E Street, San Bernardino, CA 92418 The City of San Bernardino recognizes its obligation to provide equal access to public services to those individuals with disabilities. Please contact the City Clerk's Office (909) 384-5102) one working day prior to the meeting for any requests for reasonable accommodation,to include interpreters. Anyone who wishes to speak on an agenda item will be required to fill out a speaker slip. Speaker slips should be turned in to the City Clerk, who will relay them to the Committee Chair person. Public comments for agenda items are limited to three minutes per person. ROLL CALL PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE CHAIR'S COMMENTS PUBLIC COMMENT(LIMIT 30 MINUTES) ACTION ITEMS 1. Approval of minutes from April 28, 2015 meeting (Attached) 2. Revision of Approach to Charter Review i 3. Plans re Public Comment and Forums 4. Questionnaire/Outline for Public Input 5. Timeline 6. Development of Skeleton for Charter Review (possible that none of these will be taken up until j next meeting) a. Form of Government Structure b. City Council Structure and Powers 7. Next Meeting Date and Time Adjourn The next meeting of the Charter Review Committee is set for Tuesday, May 26,2015 at 5 p.m. Attendees are encouraged to park on the top floor of the City Hall parking structure and access the EDA buildingfrom there. City of San Bernardino Volunteer Citizen-Based Charter Committee April 28, 2015 DRAFT Minutes The meeting was called to order by Chairman Phil Savage at 5:02 p.m., Tuesday, April 28, 2015, in the EDA Board Room, 201 N. "E" Street, San Bernardino, California. ROLL CALL Present: Chairman Phil Savage; and Committee Members Michael Craft, Casey Dailey, Gloria Harrison, Tom Pierce, and Gary Walbourne Absent: Committee Members Dennis Baxter and Hillel Cohn Also attending: City Attorney Gary Saenz and Deputy City Clerk Linda Sutherland PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE CHAIR'S COMMENTS Chairman Savage suggested that the Committee Members read the Principles and Objectives of a Good Charter that was adopted early on. He stated that the Charter Committee did not have a lot of time and that it was going to take some organization and structure to tackle this project. He stated that he developed some thoughts he had as to how they might be able to do this, and would present that later when they got to their discussion regarding the Guide to Charter Commissions. He said he developed his suggestions based on his review of that guide, conversations he's had with people in the community, and"The Big Four MOU"—a special agreement that deals with how the City should operate while still under the present Charter. PUBLIC COMMENTS Jim Smith, Highland, urged the members of the Charter Committee to attend the next Strategic Planning Workshop, which would be held on May 16, 2015, at 8 a.m. (Note: the location of the workshop had not yet been determined.) Allen Parker, City Manager, distributed and orally discussed the "Operating Practices for Good Government," which was established by the Strategic Planning team and adopted by the City Council. John Abad, San Bernardino, stated that he did some research of General Law cities versus Charter cities; and suggested that the questionnaire be sent out to the registered voters. 1 Committee Member Michael Craft read an email he received from someone who wished to remain anonymous that contained four suggestions for the Charter Review Committee. ACTION ITEMS 1. Approval of Minutesfor March 17, 2015 Committee Member Dailey made a motion, seconded by Committee Member Walbourne,to approve the minutes. The motion carried unanimously. 2. Discussion and possible action on Model City Charter and Study Guide Chairman Savage distributed a document titled, "Proposed Approach to Charter Review," dated April 28, 2015. He recommended that the committee set a timeline to keep themselves on track; use the National Civic League's Model Charter as a guideline as to the topics they would be considering; and develop a "skeleton"of what the structure should be. Committee Member Dailey said he would like to see the committee start from scratch with a new Charter, based on a Council/Manager Form of Government that would be ready to go to the voters by next November. He stated that they need to have noticed public meetings that involve the community, business groups, and labor organizations,to get their feedback and input. City Attorney Saenz advised that the first step the committee should take was to establish a process and a tentative schedule. Committee Member Dailey suggested that they agendize for the next meeting the discussion of General Law versus Charter, and Form of Government, and that they should make a decision at that meeting. Chairman Savage agreed with the Form of Government issue;however, he said he would like to defer the General Law issue until they deal with the topics. Committee Member Pierce stated that he did not believe they were equipped to plan the overall strategy of how they should interact with the public; how to get appropriate input; and to learn from interested parties, and those who use the Charter regularly, how they're affected by it. Chairman Savage stated that someone should be charged with dealing with City staff to work out the mechanics and report back. He said he didn't think they needed a facilitator to help them, but they could use some expert assistance from City people who know how things operate. Committee Member Walbourne stated that several Council Members have monthly meetings with their constituents at restaurants and parks, and that's 2 where he got a lot of his information. He stated that there could be some type of standardized questionnaire whereby they could bring back a general consensus from the public. Deputy City Manager Manis stated that the school district had an extensive database and they offered to allow the City to tap into their database to reach large numbers of the City resident base. Committee Member Dailey stated that the general public was not very well versed, if at all, with understanding what a Charter was. He said that the committee needed to be very mindful about how to solicit that input from the public. He said he understood the City just hired a communications manager and it may be beneficial to work with that individual and utilize the school district's offer for the database, to develop a survey that is very basic in soliciting input. Committee Member Dailey stated that maybe there should be less focus on the actual Charter itself and more focus on ideas and concepts about the type of City people want to live in, the services they want their government to provide for them, and how they want their Government to function. Committee Member Dailey made a motion, seconded by Committee Member Walbourne, to approve the "Proposed Approach to Charter Review," subject to amendments as needed. Committee Member Harrison asked if the motion was to approve Items IA-G on page 1, or the entire document. Committee Member Dailey stated that he was referring to the entire document, using it as a framework for how they wanted to move forward with their collective process. Committee Member Dailey amended his original motion, seconded by Committee Member Walbourne, to approve the "Proposed Approach to Charter Review," dated April 28, 2015, as a basis for this committee moving forward, subject to amendments as needed. The motion carried unanimously. Chairman Savage stated that he would create a timeline for the next meeting and would agendize discussion regarding Form of Government. City Attorney Saenz stated that he felt it would be helpful for this committee to develop a questionnaire that could be sent out by the school district that would address all of the topics at one time. Chairman Savage asked if the City Attorney would prepare the questionnaire. City Attorney Saenz stated that he would develop a draft questionnaire and bring it back to the next meeting for the committee's review. 3 Committee Member Craft stated that he would also like the questionnaire posted on the City's website. Committee Member Dailey said that they needed to do something to insure that the responses were from residents of San Bernardino and not from surrounding cities. Chairman Savage stated that there are people who don't reside in the City of San Bernardino who have legitimate concerns or interests in how this City conducts its business. Deputy City Manager Manis stated that the new communications manager was a social media person and could help them with the questionnaire. He stated that the committee may also want to consider getting feedback from Department Heads because they work with the Charter on a daily basis and he would imagine they all have strong opinions as to how it should function. Mayor Davis advised the committee to be careful how they spend City dollars so it didn't look like they were advocating for a certain position. The questionnaire should be structured so that they get information that's going to help them, but crafted in such a way that the responses were informed ones. He suggested that the committee give some consideration to what they wanted to get from the survey. Committee Member Craft stated that he believed that a communications specialist probably had more of an education and background on how to ask a question to elicit a result without showing bias. He suggested that the City Attorney work with the communications director to develop the questionnaire. City Attorney Saenz stated that he had no problem with that. Chairman Savage asked the members of the committee if they would like to choose a tentative order for the topics. Committee Member Craft stated that as long as the topics were there, he saw no reason to prioritize at this point because they didn't know what the survey may say regarding the Form of Government. i It was the consensus of the committee that the topics would be taken up in the order they were listed unless a committee member suggested otherwise. Committee Member Pierce stated that they should agree on what they were going to talk about at the next meeting. Committee Member Dailey stated that his opinion was that they needed to have the questionnaire in front of them and they should approve that at their next meeting. The second thing they needed to do was develop a specific timeline. 4 He suggested that they put discussion of the Form of Government and the relationships between the City Council, City Manager, etc., on the agenda for their meeting on May 26, because at that point they should have some preliminary feedback from the questionnaire. He suggested that at their next meeting they should: 1) Review/approve the questionnaire 2) Discuss the means by which it is going to be distributed to the public in general, and 3) Discuss developing a specific timeline for working through the process and plan meeting schedules. Discussion ensued regarding the questionnaire and how the information would be released to the public via social media. It was suggested and agreed that Committee Member Craft would work with the City Manager's office and report back to the Committee. 3. Discussion and possible action on Code of Ethics Committee Member Craft stated that he wanted to have a Code of Ethics in the Charter that applied to each elected official, manager and employee of the City whether they fill out a form or take computer-based training. Committee Member Craft made a motion, seconded by Committee Member Harrison,that a Code of Ethics be included in the Charter. No vote was taken. Committee Member Harrison asked if the Mayor and Council had adopted a Code of Ethics. City Attorney Saenz stated that a Code of Ethics had been adopted by the Council. He said there were various approaches on how to keep the activities of Council Members, Mayors and employees on an ethical level, but it was rare that it was included in a Charter. He said it was usually adopted by resolution of the Council or there may be a municipal code section on ethics. He said the question could be included in the questionnaire. Committee Member Craft stated that most Charters do not have a clause relating to a Code of Ethics; however, those Charters typically were written a long time ago. He stated that more recent Charters contained a statement that all the members of the City would in fact act with integrity and in an ethical fashion and not for private gain. Committee Member Pierce stated that after 1989 the Model City group had recommended replacing statutory language in the Charter with a mandate for the Council to pass an ordinance covering ethics issues and methods for their enforcement. Committee Member Dailey asked why it wasn't included within the Charter. 5 City Attorney Saenz stated that it wasn't in the Charter because it had a very general impact and application in that everybody should act ethically, but there were more specifications in a municipal code because it's easier to enforce if you attach a certain punishment. He said it's usually addressed in the municipal code by way of an ordinance or enforced by the District Attorney in terms of criminal laws such as embezzlement, fraud and intentional misrepresentation for personal gain. Committee Member Daily stated that it seemed that the intent would be to ensure that public officials, employees and others associated with the City were holding themselves to a certain ethical level and it seemed like it might be stronger if it wasn't included in the Charter so that you could use some of those enforcement mechanisms to punish people that were acting unethically. Chairman Savage suggested that the subject of a Code of Ethics be deferred to a future meeting. 4. Future meeting date(s) Committee Member Harrison made a motion, seconded by Committee Member Craft, that the committee meet every two weeks. The motion carried unanimously. Committee Member Walbourne stated that it had been requested that the committee not meet the day after a City Council meeting. Committee Member Harrison made a motion, seconded by Committee Member Walbourne, that the committee meet on the second and fourth Tuesday of every month beginning May 12, 2015, at 5 p.m. The motion carried unanimously. Committee Member Harrison requested that the City Clerk's office prepare a meeting schedule. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 7:07 p.m. The next meeting of the Volunteer Citizen-Based Charter Committee will be held at 5:00 p.m., Tuesday, May 12, 2015, in the EDA Board Room, 201 N. `B" Street, San Bernardino, California. By Linda Sutherland Deputy City Clerk 6 APPROACH TO CHARTER REVIEW- Revision #1 (Proposed Revisions in bold italics) 5/12/15 L PROCESS A. Develop a specific timeline for working through the process and planned meeting schedules. B. Solicit input on each decision in process from Council, relevant City personnel, & the public. C. Work from Charter Topics, not from S.B.'s Charter. Keep General Law as a possibility. D. Assuming a topical approach, determine topics to be used. E. For each topic review and consider the following: 1. National Civic League's Guide& Model Charter 2. Existing Charters of other similar Cities 3. Manner General Law would treat, or allow treatment of, the topic 4. Special issues relevant to the topic. 5. San Bernardino's Charter Reform Principles & Objectives (5/19/14) 6. San Bernardino's Existing Charter F. Develop the desired "governmental skeleton"of basic topics first, leaving specifics, other topics and drafting to take place later, considering first what basic approach to governing is desired(Form of Government) 1. Strong Mayor-Council 2. Mayor-Council 3. Council-Manager 4. Mixed/Other G. Flesh out specifics and language as to each basic and other Charter topic. II-a BASIC SKELETON TOPICS A. Form of Government B. Council 1. Powers 2. Number; Districts(Wards); Election (by Districts, from Districts, at large, mixed, cumulative voting) 3. Other C. City Officers 1. Mayor a. Powers-Duties-Responsibilities b. Manner of Selection (Election at large or by council or rotating from council members, etc.) C. Other 2. Manager a. Powers-Duties-Responsibilities b. Relationship with Mayor, Council,Department Heads C. Other 3. Other Offices(their manner of selection,powers, relationship with Manager, Council, Mayor, etc.) a. Attorney b. Treasurer C. Clerk 4. Election Process 5. Fiscal Management 6. Departments -(consider being specific vs leaving open to ordinance by Council) a. Police & Chief b. Paramedic/Fire & Chief C. Finance d. Water e. Library f. Planning g. Human Resources-Civil Service h. Other 7. OtheF C II-b ADDITIONAL TOPICS-(For discussion and drafting) 7. Preamble 8. Powers of the City 9. Severability, Transition and Municipal Code Issues Resulting from Charter Revisions 10. General Provisions- a. Charter Amendment b. Franchises? C. Initiative, Referendum and Recall? d. Code of Ethics Charter Committee Timeline May 12,2015 Dates Tasks Deadlines Comments 5/12 Develop Input Questionnaire By this meeting Approve it Develop Timeline for Committee Draft by this meeting Approve it Possibly deal with Charter Skeleton Topics Skeleton, not details 5/26 Receive Input from Questionnaire By this meeting Deal with Charter Topics 6/9 Deal with Charter Topics Skeleton, not details 6/23 Deal with Charter Topics Skeleton, not details 7/14 Deal with Charter Topics Skeleton, not details 7/28 Complete approval of Charter Skeleton By this meeting Submit to professional Consultant for review and input 8/11 Consider Consultant's input&revise Approve skeleton to such extent as deemed appropriate 8/25 Hold Public Forum on Skeleton 9/8 Develop specifics as to each Topic 9/22 Develop specifics as to each Topic 10/13 Develop specifics as to each Topic 10/27 Develop specifics as to each Topic 11/10 11/24 12/8 12/22 1/12 1/26 2/9 2/23 i 3/8 Complete Specifics as to each Topic By this meeting Submit to professional Consultant for review and input 3/22 Hold Public Input Forum 4/12 Review and Revise Charter change proposal 4/26 5110 Make final review and approve proposal for By this meeting presenting to Council 5/16 Present Recommendations to Council consideration and approval for putting to vote of citizens. III.A. FORM OF GOVERNMENT ANALYSIS by PMS 1. National Civic League Model City Charter& Guide Council-Manager Recommended in Guide, but discusses other forms as well. Model Charter Article III contemplates Council-Manager foam of govt. 2. Other Similar California Cities (SB is about 214,000 population) 4 other cities of populations between 200,000& 299,999 have charters. a. Irvine uses Council-Manager form (Article III of its charter) b. Chula Vista uses Council-Manager(see its sec. 304&Article IV) C. Modesto uses Council-Manager[see its Article IV]) d. Stockton uses mixed Council-Mayor-Manager form. 5 cities of populations between 300,000 and 399,999 have charters. d. Riverside uses Council-Manager form (see its Article III) e. Anaheim uses Council-Manager form (see its secs. 500, 505, 600 & 604) f. Bakersfield uses Council-Manager form (see its secs. 14,20(b)& 360 g. Santa Ana uses Council-Manager form (see its sec. 300) 9 of the 16 cities of populations between 150,000& 199,999 have charters h. Glendale i. Hayward j. Lancaster k. Oceanside 1. Palmdale M. Pomona n. Salinas o. Santa Rosa P_ Torrance 3. General Law Allows for Council-Manager or other forms. Approximately 2/3 of California's Cities are General Law. 4. Other Input,Issues & Comments SB's Operating Practices for Good Government Agreement MOU moves toward the Council-Manager form. 5. Guiding Principles Principle 3 says: "The charter should be designed to enable the city to operate in an efficient businesslike manner." 6. San Bernardino Uses mixed Council-Mayor-Manager form. See secs. 40 & 50 & Art. V 7. Other Relevant Factors San Bernardino has had either a Strong Mayor or a mixed Mayor-Council-Manager form of government since its inception. Mayor can still be elected at large and have rights of representation of the City for regional and other matters when using a Council-Manager form of government. Assuring that San Bernardino's Mayor would continue to have such status under a Council-Manager form of government is important.