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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinance No. 1788, adopting Ballot Language for the Referndum on Increasing the Number of City Commissioners.pdfPage 1 of 5 Commission Memorandum REPORT TO: Honorable Mayor and City Commission FROM: Greg Sullivan, City Attorney Chris Kukulski, City Manager SUBJECT: Provisional Adoption of Ordinance 1788 – An Ordinance of the Bozeman City Commission transmitting to the Gallatin County Election Administrator for placement on the general election ballot for November 2, 2010 a referendum on increasing by two the number of elected City Commissioners. MEETING DATE: May 3, 2010. AGENDA ITEM TYPE: Action. RECOMMENDATION: After accepting public comment, provisionally adopt Ordinance 1788. BACKGROUND: On November 7, 2006, the voters of the City of Bozeman adopted the Bozeman City Charter which became effective on January 1, 2008. The purpose of the Charter was to establish and enumerate the powers of the City, subject to specific restrictions, and prescribe procedures and a specific governmental structure, including, among others, the form of government (commission – manager), the number of commissioners (currently four), and the powers and duties of the Mayor. In effect, the Charter serves as the City’s “constitution.” Included in the Charter is a requirement that the city voters must decide at the upcoming general election on November 2, 2010 whether to increase the number of city commissioners from the current four to six. Specifically, section 9.02(b) of the Charter states: (b) Referendum on Increasing the Commission. At the general election in 2010, the city commission shall place before the voters, with conforming charter amendments, the issue of adding two members to the city commission. Should the voters approve said increase, said 166 Page 2 of 5 commission members shall be elected during the regular city election in 2011 and seated at the first regular commission meeting in January 2012. Obviously, the Bozeman City Commission is currently composed of four members with the Mayor also sitting as a voting member. Important to the required referendum is Section 2.02(c) of the Charter, which controls the composition of the commission (i.e. which dictates the number of elected commissioners). That section states: (c) Composition. The commission shall be composed of four members elected by the voters of the city at large in accordance with provisions of Article VI and the mayor. The mayor shall be elected as provided in §2.03(b). Emphasis added. The referendum required by the Charter will ask voters to decide whether to amend the language in Section 2.02(c) to replace the word “four” with the word “six.” The result of this amendment will be to increase the number of elected city commissioners by two. The purpose of Ordinance 1788, attached, is to adopt the specific ballot language for this referendum for transmittal to the Gallatin County Election Administrator. Section One of the Ordinance contains the staff’s proposed ballot language. There are several important requirements the Commission must consider in developing the ballot language. First, Section 8.01 of the Charter states that when the Commission proposes an amendment to the Charter, as required here by the Charter itself, the Commission must do so “by ordinance… containing the full text of the proposed amendment.” Ordinance 1788 satisfies this requirement. In addition, Section 7-5-134(3), MCA, requires “a local government attorney” to prepare a “concise ballot statement not exceeding 100 words.” This provision of state law also requires the “ballot statement [] be an accurate and impartial explanation of the purpose of the proposed ballot issue in plain, easily understood language” and that “the statement may not be an argument and may not be written so as to create prejudice for or against the issue.” The “ballot statement” is the paragraph in the proposed ballot language that lies beneath the referendum title and which begins with the phrase “The 2006 Bozeman City Charter requires…” Ordinance 1788 contains the City Attorney’s recommendation regarding such language. Further, Section 7-5-134(4), MCA, requires the City Attorney to “prepare a statement of the implication of a vote for and a statement of the implication of a vote against the ballot issue.” This statute also requires that “each statement of implication may be no more than 25 words and must be in simple impartial language that clearly explains the meaning of a vote for or a vote 167 Page 3 of 5 against the issue.” The statements of implication are located in Section 1 of the Ordinance under the phrase “Vote for One” and are located, as required by statute, next to the “diagram provided for marking of the ballot…” Ordinance 1788 contains the City Attorney’s recommendation regarding the statements of implication. Considering the ballot statement and the statements of implication of a vote could be drafted in numerous ways, we provide you with several options regarding the ballot language. The City Attorney states each of the following will satisfy the statutory requirements stated above except the implication of the vote FOR the referendum in Option 3 contains more than 25 words and cannot be used. We provide this language to demonstrate that incorporating the entire text of Section 2.03(c) of the Charter into the statement on the implication of the vote will violate the statutory requirement that each of these statements be no more than 25 words. Language that varies from the staff recommendation included in the Ordinance is in bold. Option 1: “A REFERENDUM ON AMENDING THE BOZEMAN CITY CHARTER TO ADD TWO MEMBERS TO THE BOZEMAN CITY COMMISSION. The 2006 Bozeman City Charter requires city voters to decide at this election whether to increase the number of city commissioners from the current four members plus the mayor to six plus the mayor. To do so, the electors must decide whether to amend Section 2.02(c) of the Charter to reflect there would be six commissioners rather than the current four. If the voters choose to amend the Charter the two additional commissioners will be elected at the general election in November, 2011 with a four year term to begin at the first commission meeting in January, 2012. Vote for One FOR amending Section 2.02(c) of the Bozeman City Charter to increase the number of elected city commissioners from four to six. AGAINST amending Section 2.02(c) of the Bozeman City Charter to increase the number of elected city commissioners from four to six.” Option 2: “REFERENDUM ON AMENDING THE BOZEMAN CITY CHARTER TO ADD TWO MEMBERS TO THE BOZEMAN CITY COMMISSION TO BE ELECTED AT THE GENERAL ELECTION IN 2011. [Insert Ballot Statement from staff preferred or Option 1 here] Vote for One 168 Page 4 of 5 FOR amending Section 2.02(c) of the Bozeman City Charter to add two members to the Bozeman City Commission which will increase the number of Commissioners from four to six. AGAINST amending Section 2.02(c) of the Bozeman City Charter which would maintain the current number of elected city commissioners.” Option 3: “REFERENDUM ON AMENDING THE BOZEMAN CITY CHARTER TO ADD TWO MEMBERS TO THE BOZEMAN CITY COMMISSION. [Insert Ballot Statement from staff preferred or Option 1here] Vote for One For amending Section 2.02(c) of the Bozeman City Charter to read as follows: “The Commission shall be composed of four six members elected by voters of the city at large in accordance with the provisions of Article VI and the mayor. The mayor shall be elected as provided in §2.03(b).” Against amending Section 2.02(c) of the Bozeman City Charter. Should you adopt Ordinance 1788 at the meeting on May 3, 2010 final reading will occur on May 17, 2010 with an effective date of June 16, 2010. UNRESOLVED ISSUES: There are no identified unresolved issues. FISCAL EFFECTS: The only costs directly related to adoption of Ordinance 1788 will be the costs associated with having this referendum on the ballot. As with other elections, the Gallatin County Election Administrator will require the City to pay for costs directly associated with this ballot question. The Election Administrator estimates the costs will be approximately $5,000 - $8,000. These costs exist because the Election Administrator must create an additional “ballot face” for distribution to city voters. Several precincts include land within and without the city. For those precincts, a separate ballot face must be developed. Thus, the city will be required to pay for programming, layout and printing costs for this additional ballot face. In addition, adding two Commissioners will require $44,036 per year (FY11 estimate) for salary, PERS (public employee retirement system) and health insurance. If a new Commissioner decides not to accept City health insurance the cost per commissioner per year in FY11 numbers would be approximately $13,922. Assuming each new Commissioner elects to obtain city health insurance the total cost for two new commissioners over a four-year term will be, using FY11 costs, $176,144. 169 Page 5 of 5 Additional costs of the new commissioners should also be considered. These include costs associated with providing a laptop, a blackberry, internet service, meals, travel, training, etc… Those costs are estimated to be approximately $2,200 per year per Commissioner using FY11 costs. ALTERNATIVES: As the Commission is required by the Charter to transmit ballot language regarding the referendum to the Election Administrator the Commission’s only alternative is to review the optional language for Section 1 of Ordinance 1788. Attachments: Ordinance 1788 Report compiled on: April 28, 2010 170 ORDINANCE NO. 1788 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF BOZEMAN, MONTANA TRANSMITTING TO THE GALLATIN COUNTY ELECTION ADMINISTRATOR FOR PLACEMENT ON THE GENERAL ELECTION BALLOT FOR NOVEMBER 2, 2010 A REFERENDUM ON INCREASING BY TWO THE NUMBER OF ELECTED CITY COMMISSIONERS AS REQUIRED BY SECTION 9.02(b) OF THE BOZEMAN CITY CHARTER. WHEREAS, the voters of the City of Bozeman adopted the Bozeman City Charter at the general election in 2006 for the purpose of securing the benefits of local self government powers and to provide for an honest and accountable commission-manager form of government; and WHEREAS, Section 9.02(b) of the Charter contains a requirement that the Bozeman City Commission shall place before the voters at the general election in November, 2010, with conforming charter amendments, the issue of adding two members to the city commission; and WHEREAS, Section 9.02(b) of the Charter also states that should the voters approve this increase the new commission members shall be elected during the regular city election in 2011 and seated at the first regular commission meeting in January 2012; and WHEREAS, Section 8.01 of the Charter states that amendments to the Charter may be framed and proposed by ordinance of the commission containing the full text of the proposed amendment; and WHEREAS, Section 2.02(c) Charter the City Commission currently states, “Composition. The commission shall be composed of four members elected by the voters of the city at large in accordance with the provisions of Article VI and the mayor. The mayor shall be elected as provided in §2.03(b);” and WHEREAS, should the voters adopt the increase from four to six commissioners Section 2.02(c) of the Charter will be amended as follows: “Composition. The commission shall be composed of four six members elected by the voters of the city at large in accordance with the provisions of Article VI and the mayor. The mayor shall be elected as provided in §2.03(b);” and 171 Ordinance No. 1788, Increasing Number of Elected Officials Page 2 of 5 WHEREAS, the Commission discussed this referendum at a public meeting on April 19, 2010 and instructed staff to bring an ordinance before the Commission that would place the decision whether to amend Section 2.02(b) of the Charter before the voters and that would contain the specific ballot language; and WHEREAS, the Commission, having heard public testimony, determines the ballot statement language included in Section 1 of this ordinance is an accurate and impartial explanation of the purpose of the proposed referendum and is drafted in plain, easily understood language; and WHEREAS, the Commission also finds the statement of the implication of the vote for and the statement of the implication of the vote against the referendum is written using simple, impartial language that clearly explains the meaning of a vote. NOW THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF BOZEMAN, MONTANA: Section 1 Pursuant to Section 9.02(b) of the Bozeman City Charter, and in compliance with the requirements of Title 7, Chpt. 5, Part 1, MCA, the City Commission hereby adopts the following ballot language to appear on the November 2, 2010 general election ballot for qualified electors residing within the jurisdictional limits of the City of Bozeman: “A REFERENDUM ON AMENDING THE BOZEMAN CITY CHARTER TO ADD TWO MEMBERS TO THE BOZEMAN CITY COMMISSION. The 2006 Bozeman City Charter requires city of Bozeman voters to decide at this election whether to amend the Charter to increase the number of city commissioners from the current four commissioners plus the mayor to six plus the mayor. To increase the number of commissioners, the voters must decide whether to amend Section 2.02(c) (Composition) of the Charter. If the voters choose to amend the Charter the two additional commissioners will be elected at the general election in November, 2011 with a four year term to begin at the first commission meeting in January, 2012. 172 Ordinance No. 1788, Increasing Number of Elected Officials Page 3 of 5 Vote for One FOR amending Section 2.02(c) of the Bozeman City Charter to increase the number of elected city commissioners from four to six. AGAINST amending Section 2.02(c) of the Bozeman City Charter to increase the number of elected city commissioners from four to six.” Section 2 Transmittal to Gallatin County Clerk and Recorder. Upon the effective date of this Ordinance, the Bozeman City Attorney shall transmit this ordinance to the Gallatin County Clerk and Recorder for placement of the ballot language included in Section 1 on the general election ballot for November 2, 2010. Section 3 Savings Provision. This ordinance does not affect the rights and duties that matured, penalties that were incurred or proceedings that were begun before the effective date of this ordinance. Section 4 Severability. That should any sentence, paragraph, subdivision, clause, phrase or section of this ordinance be adjudged or held to be unconstitutional, illegal, or invalid, the same shall not affect the validity of this ordinance as a whole, or any part or provision thereof, other than the part so decided to be invalid, illegal or unconstitutional, and shall not affect the validity of the Bozeman Municipal Code as a whole. 173 Ordinance No. 1788, Increasing Number of Elected Officials Page 4 of 5 Section 5 Codification Instruction. The provisions of this Ordinance shall not be codified in the Bozeman Municipal Code but shall amend Section 2.02(c) of the Bozeman City Charter if approved by the qualified voters of the City of Bozeman. No further action on the part of the City Commission shall be necessary to amend the Charter. Section 6 Effective Date. This ordinance shall be in full force and effect on _____ day of _____________, 2010. PROVISIONALLY PASSED by the City Commission of the City of Bozeman, Montana, on first reading at a regular session held on the 3RD day of May, 2010. ____________________________________ JEFFREY K. KRAUSS Mayor ATTEST: _______________________________ STACY ULMEN, CMC City Clerk APPROVED AS TO FORM: _________________________________ GREG SULLIVAN City Attorney 174 Ordinance No. 1788, Increasing Number of Elected Officials Page 5 of 5 FINALLY PASSED, ADOPTED AND APPROVED by the City Commission of the City of Bozeman, Montana on second reading at a regular session thereof held on the ____ day of _______________, 2010. The effective date of this ordinance is _____ day of ________________, 2010. _________________________________ JEFFREY K. KRAUSS Mayor ATTEST: _______________________________ STACY ULMEN, CMC City Clerk APPROVED AS TO FORM: _________________________________ GREG SULLIVAN City Attorney 175