Item 127

[Colleen Pate]

Colleagues,

Item 127 on the May 30th agenda is a discussion and possible action related to placing proposed City Charter amendments on the ballot for a November 2024 special election.

As you know, there are nine charter amendment recommendations from the Charter Review Committee and about 16 charter amendment recommendations from staff’s review. In a May 10th memo to Council, City legal has informed Council that some of these proposed amendments could be achieved through ordinance or resolution.

My recommendation is for Council to receive a briefing from staff with discussion by Council at the Tuesday, May 28th Work Session. At the May 30th Council meeting, Council can vote for staff to return to Council on July 18, 2024, with ballot language and any additional backup material needed for Council to vote to place any or all of the proposed amendments on the November 5, 2024, General Election ballot.

To be clear, the Council vote on May 30th will be only for staff to bring the potential amendments back to us on July 18th in a form that we can then vote to place them on the ballot if so desired.
At the July 18th meeting, Council may not vote to send all these proposed amendments to the voters, but I believe Council needs to spend the next 6-weeks reviewing these proposed amendments and ordinances and make a final decision on July 18th.

Thanks,
Kirk

On behalf of Mayor Watson