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HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 01 Council Vacancy Charter AmendmentAGENDA ITEM SUMMARY Meeting Date: 9/20/2021 Meeting Type: Work Session/Reg. Mtg Staff Contact/Dept.: Mary Bridget Smith/CAO Staff Phone No: 541-744-4061 Estimated Time: 30 Minutes SPRINGFIELD Council Goals: Provide Financially CITY COUNCIL Responsible and Innovative Government DISCUSSION/ Services ITEM TITLE: COUNCIL VACANCY CHARTER AMENDMENT 2021 evaluating whether to put forward a charter amendment about filling council ACTION Provide direction about amending Section 20 of the Springfield Charter regarding REQUESTED: filling councilor and mayor vacancies, conducting a poll to gauge the community's interest and a proposed schedule for placing the proposed amendment on the ballot. ISSUE Should the Springfield Charter be amended to provide a time limit for the Council to STATEMENT: make an appointment for filling a vacancy and/or should the Charter allow for successor elections to occur more often than the general biennial election. ATTACHMENTS: Attachment 1: Council Briefing Memorandum Attachment 2: Review of City Charters - Vacancy Process DISCUSSION/ This item is a continuation of a Council work session discussion on February 22, FINANCIAL 2021 evaluating whether to put forward a charter amendment about filling council IMPACT: and mayor vacancies. The Council Briefing Memorandum follows up on Council direction about conducting a telephone poll to gauge public interest. It also includes a survey of charter provisions of the 25 most populous cities in Oregon and a proposed schedule for placing the amendment on the May 2022 ballot. MEMORANDUM City of Springfield Date: 9/20/2021 To: Nancy Newton, City Manager COUNCIL From: Mary Bridget Smith, City Attorney BRIEFING Subject: Council Vacancy Charter Amendment MEMORANDUM ISSUE: Should the Springfield Charter be amended to provide a time limit for the Council to make an appointment for filling a vacancy and/or should the Charter allow for successor elections to occur more often than the general biennial election. COUNCIL GOALS/ MANDATE: Provide Financially Responsible and Innovative Government Services BACKGROUND: This item is back before the Council to consider amending the Springfield Charter provision about filling mayor and councilor vacancies. This memo provides information on conducting a telephone poll to gauge the public's opinion about a proposed charter amendment, a more detailed analysis of the vacancy provisions in Charters from other jurisdictions, and a proposed schedule. Polling Information: Background: A telephone poll can provide a random sampling of the community's views on a particular topic. For this kind of poll to be statistically reliable it should have approximately 400 responses and generally only poll on one topic. The researcher contacts voters and can reach cell phone numbers. The researcher we spoke with does not recommend doing an online survey in conjunction with this type of poll because the people who would make the effort to respond to the online survey would most likely have an opinion about the topic creating a situation where the online survey results are inconsistent with the polling data. The key aspect of a telephone poll is keeping the time to a minimum. A good rule is to aim for a five minute call. It takes 6-8 weeks to conduct a poll and receive the analysis. Cost of a poll corresponds to the number of questions and is estimated to be approximately $7,000- $10,000. Process: The polling process steps include developing questions, conducting the poll and evaluating results. Developing the questions are crucial to an effective poll that the Council can rely on to make a decision. In previous City polls, staff worked with the consultant on the questions with Council providing the final approval. The Council also has the option of appointing a subcommittee to assist in developing the questions, but I would anticipate the need for a Council work session before the poll is finalized and conducted. Survey of Charter Vacancy Language in other Communities: Generally, the two main aspects of vacancy provisions in a Charter relate to a time limit to appoint an interim councilor or mayor and when the election for the successor will occur. The materials for the February 22, 2021 Work Session set out a sample of different charter vacancy provisions. The following table and Attachment 2 provide a more detailed survey of the charter vacancy provisions for the 25 most populous cities in Oregon. Attachment 1, Page 1 of 3 Appointment of interim councilor/mayor for entire Albany remaining term i.e. no election for a successor Keizer Redmond Woodburn Forest Grove Newberg Appointment of interim councilor/mayor until successor Gresham chosen at next general biennial election (November even Hillsboro year election) Bend Medford Springfield Lake Oswego Grants Pass* Oregon City McMinnville Tualatin Wilsonville Successor chosen by Special election at next May or Eugene November election West Linn Successor chosen by Special election at next available Portland* election date Salem Beaverton Corvallis Tigard No charter provision Roseburg * Grants Pass holds a special election in May if vacancy is after biennial general election. * Portland's procedure to fill vacancies is complex and depends upon whether the predecessor ran opposed or unopposed in the prior election. Table Summary: Appointing an interim Councilor or Mayor until the successor is elected at the next biennial election is the most common process for filling a vacancy among the largest Oregon cities, including Springfield. Of the twenty-five (25) most populous Oregon cities, there are eleven (11) cities that appoint someone to fill a vacancy until the next general biennial election. Six (6) other cities appoint someone to fill a vacancy for the entire remaining term, with no election to fill a vacancy regardless of how early in the term the vacancy occurs. There are seven (7) cities that call for a special election to fill a Council or Mayoral vacancy: two (2) cities call for special elections only in May or November, and five (5) cities hold a special election at the next available election date. Of these cities holding a special election, five (5) cities do not hold any election if the vacancy occurs in the last year of the term. One city, Roseburg, does not have any specific process for filling a Council vacancy in its charter. In terms of imposing a time limit on when the council must appoint an interim councilor or mayor, Bend and Gresham require appointment within 30 days and Eugene within 90 days. Some jurisdictions, such as Medford, add additional information about filing vacancies in their Municipal Code. Accompanying Code provisions can provide more direction for filling a vacancy. The downside to additional Code provisions is that it must be consistent with the Charter and state law, and the City must ensure that it follows the Code and the Charter provisions when filling a vacancy. Charter Amendment Process: Like all cities in Oregon, Springfield operates under a home rule charter and voters approved a new charter in the early 2000's. Attachment 1, Page 2 of 3 Process: The process for a city -initiated charter amendment includes developing the proposed amendment text and corresponding ballot measure, the Council passing a resolution referring the ballot measure to the voters, filing the appropriate paperwork with the County before the statutory deadline, publishing the ballot measure in the newspaper and addressing any potential appeals. This summary does not include any political advocacy activity associated with the ballot measure. Proposed Schedule for May Primary Election: September 2021: Hire researcher, develop questions September 2021: Poll approval at Council Work Session September/October 2021: Conduct Poll November/December 2021: Analyze results at Council Work Session December 2021/January 2022: Draft proposed Charter language and ballot measure January 2022: Council passes resolution referring ballot measure to voters and submits to County before February deadline May 2022: Proposed Charter Amendment on May primary ballot RECOMMENDED ACTION: Provide direction about whether to move forward with amending the Springfield Charter, including conducting a poll and the schedule for placing the amendment on the ballot. Attachment 1, Page 3 of 3 REVIEW OF CITY CHARTERS — VACANCY PROCESS Rank City Population Link to Charter 1 Portland 645,291 City of Portland Charter Special primary election and special general election held within certain time of vacancy depending on how close to next primary and general election and whether incumbent was opposed in original election (complex procedure). 2 Salem 169,259 City of Salem Charter Special Election at next available election if >1 year left in term. 3 Eugene 168,302 City of Eugene Charter Must appoint w/in 90 days. Next May or November election if >1 year left in term. 4 Gresham 110,494 City of Gresham Charter Must appoint w/in 30 days. Appointment until next general biennial election. 5 Hillsboro 106,543 City of Hillsboro Charter Appointment until next general biennial election. 6 Beaverton 97,861 City of Beaverton Charter Special Election at next available election if >1 year left in term. Run-off special election if no one receives majority of votes. 7 Bend 93,917 City of Bend Charter Must appoint w/in 30 days. Appointment until next general biennial election. 8 Medford 81,145 City of Medford Charter Appointment until next general biennial election if >30 days before general election filing deadline. 9 Springfield 62,077 City of Springfield Charter Appointment until next general biennial election. 10 Corvallis 58,028 City of Corvallis Next special election if >120 days left in term, if <120 days then person already elected assumes office right away. 11 Albany 53,521 City of Albany Charter Appointment for entire term left. 12 Tigard 53,312 City of Tigard Charter Appointment until next special election date if >1 year left in term. 13 Lake Oswego 39,127 City of Lake Oswego Charter Appointment until next general biennial election if >90 days away. 14 Keizer 38,980 City of Keizer Charter Appointment for entire term left. 15 Grants Pass 37,545 City of Grants Pass Charter Appointment until next general biennial election if >100 days, otherwise next May special election. 16 Oregon City 36,492 City of Oregon City Charter Appointment until next general biennial election. 17 McMinnville 34,010 City of McMinnville Charter Appointment until next general biennial election if >60 days away. 18 Redmond 30,167 City of Redmond Charter Appointment for entire term left. 19 Tualatin 27,527 City of Tualatin Charter Appointment until next general biennial election. 20 West Linn 26,656 City of West Linn Charter Next available May or November election if >1 year left in term. 21 Woodburn 25,738 Cit of Woodburn Charter Appointment for entire term left. 22 Forest Grove 24,457 City of Forest Grove Charter Appointment for entire term left. 23 Wilsonville 24,073 City of Wilsonville Charter Appointment until next biennial election. 24 Newberg 23,844 City of Newberq Charter Appointment for entire term left. 25 Roseburg 23,379 City of Roseburg Charter No explicit terms for filling a vacancy. Attachment 2, Page 1 of 1