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| IMPARTIAL
ANALYSIS BY THE CITY ATTORNEY |
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This measure would significantly change City Charter provisions governing
City Council elections, the powers of the Mayor, and the process for
adopting municipal legislation, and would also amend the Municipal Code. The
measure would create a new position of elected mayor, elected city-wide.
The mayor would preside over and participate in Council meetings but
would usually not vote. The
mayor would vote only in case of a tie or if the vote concerned removal of
the City Manager or City Attorney. The
Mayor’s most significant power would be the power to veto ordinances
adopted by the Council. The
Mayor’s other powers and duties would include serving as the Council’s
liaison with the City Manager, representing the City in intergovernmental
matters, supervising the City’s intergovernmental functions, and
appointing and removing the Mayor Pro Tempore. If the office of Mayor were vacated, the Council would be
required to call an election within ninety days. If no candidate received more than 50% of the votes,
there would be a runoff between the two candidates receiving the most
votes. The
measure would significantly change the process for adopting ordinances.
Every newly adopted ordinance would be presented to the Mayor for approval. The
Mayor could veto the ordinance by providing a written statement of
objections. Ordinances not
approved or vetoed within ten
days would then take effect. After
the mayor vetoed an ordinance, the clerk would present it at the next
Council meeting with the Mayor’s objections. The
Council could pass an ordinance over a veto within 30 days.
However, if the ordinance was adopted by four votes, five votes would
be necessary to override the veto. If
five votes were required to pass the ordinance, the same number of votes
would be sufficient to override. At
present, regular ordinances go to the Council twice, require four votes at both of the
Council meetings, and take effect thirty days after the second vote.
However, at present, ordinances designated as “emergency
ordinances” require five votes, need only go to Council once, and become
effective immediately upon adoption. The
veto and override process in the proposed measure could thus lengthen the
time necessary to adopt regular ordinances and significantly lengthen the
time necessary to adopt emergency ordinances. The
process for electing Council members would also be significantly changed.
Council members would be elected from districts and would be subject
to term limits. There would be
a primary held on the date of the state primary.
If no Council candidate received a majority of votes in a district,
there would be a November runoff for the
two candidates receiving the most votes. Council
district boundaries are specified by the measure and denominated as: City
Center-North of Wilshire, North of Montana, Wilshire Corridor, Mid-City
Area, Ocean Park, Pico Neighborhood, and Sunset Park.
The measure includes a process for redrawing boundaries following
each census. PREPARED
BY: Marsha Jones Moutrie WORD
COUNT: 490 Back to Election 2002 Main Page
This page was last modified on 01/23/2008 |
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