Charter Review Commission
Meeting Minutes from February 7, 2008
8:30 AM

Attendance

Chairperson Cleveland took roll call and every member on the Commission was in attendance for this meeting.  The only member who was not present was Anton Farmby.

Election of the Vice-Chair and secretary was the next item on the agenda, Chairperson Cleveland mentioned that she would prefer that the individuals selected to these positions not be affiliated with the Council.  Law Director Robert Triozzi was elected as the Vice Chairperson for the Charter Review Commission.  This selection was motioned by Greg Huth and seconded by Colleen Gilson. The Commission members had unanimously agreed with the selection.  Chairperson Cleveland then nominated Colleen Gilson as secretary and this was also a unanimous selection by the Commission members.

Karen Martinez from the Public Administration Library spoke to the Commission and requested copies of the Commission’s proceedings. Ms. Martinez mentioned that the Public Administration Library would serve as record keeper of the Commission’s meetings as well as other documents pertaining to the charter review.  The Public Administration Library could serve as an archivist.  Ms. Martinez also mentioned how the Library has kept the records of the Citizen Leagues after the organization had ceased its operations several years ago.

Rick Horvath then provided an overview on the charter and gave each Commission member a handout on “municipal charters” and went through the document section by section to explain specific information about the charter.

Key-point (Courts are governed by the state, there are only two branches of government in local government; executive and legislative branches.)

Horvath mentioned that the City Charter provides a broad framework on how we as citizens run and manage our government.
Councilperson Kevin Kelley raised the question regarding “why some city departments are are included in certain chapters while other departments are not?  According to Rick Horvath this decision was made by previous past Mayors and City Councils.  Important departments should be in the charter, while other departments that are not as vitally important could be left to the discretion of the Mayor and Council.

At what point is something made into an ordinance was raised by a Commission member.  Rick Horvath explained to the Commission that the Charter delegates authority to the Council on how the city operates on a daily basis.  Council has legislative authority to run the city of Cleveland on a daily basis. 

A question was raised regarding specific times in the past where the charter was changed inside of the 20 year process and why was this?  Rick Horvath mentioned that in the Charter (section 200, there is a provision where the charter can be amended at any time by City Council or by a body of voters who may want to make a provision change in the charter.

Council size issue – people could put this on the ballot by getting petitions if they so desire to do so. 

Chairperson Cleveland mentioned that the Commission can make a determination as to whether the charter review process should be every 10 years instead of 20 year requirement – this is one topic that needs to be discussed and reconsidered by the Commission.

Chairperson Cleveland mentioned that the Commission needs to examine in which direction it wishes to move in regarding the charter review.  Council reduction is a major issue that many people want to discuss, but this specific issue will be examine later on in the process.  It is also possible that the Commission may decide to bring a consultant in later on to look specifically at this issue. 

Chairperson Cleveland spent some brief time looking at  chapter 1 if the Charter – city responsibilities and suggest that everyone become familiar with this section.

Rick Horvath began to talk about the technical changes in the charter – outdated laws that need to be changed.  Rick Horvath passed out document “suggested amendments to correct errors”  Horvath provided an overview on this section and spoke about establishing some ground-rules in regards to making changes in particular sections of the charter.  Gender neutral and other editing changes were mentioned and discussed.

Elections and nominating section of the charter are in need of major changes.  Rick Horvath mentioned about such items as grammar changes and gender neutral language that needs to be considered when making such amendments to the charter.

Rick Horvath spoke briefly about Charter section 3 as it pertains to the holding of local elections.
(Election shall be in every four years.)

Charter 8
(Papers filed by no later than 4 PM)

(Rick Horvath also mentioned that the Charter Review Commission may want to look at how people are elected to office)

Secretary of State governing the board of elections – does it impact Cleveland process on elections?  There is no constitutional answer to this however Courts will uphold a uniform process on how elections are held.

Horvath provided examples of technical editing changes that were made in these particular sections in the charter.

Charter section 4 amendment as suggested by the board of elections

Changing the primary election day to the second Tuesday in September would be more beneficial to the Board because it would be more uniform and reduce the cost.  Horvath suggested that the Commission may want to invite the Board of Elections to attend on the meetings to talk about this suggested change.

Filing deadline would move up by two weeks if the primary election date were to change.

This would only apply to regular elections, not to special elections such as filling an open Council position. 

Chairperson Cleveland raised the question if the Commission would like to meet with the board of elections at the next meeting, Rick and Rachel will follow-up.

Cleveland reviewed the meeting and briefly recapped what was discussed.  The Chairperson suggested that the Commission members go through the rest of the election chapters to identify any other sections that may need to be revised.  Chairperson Cleveland also briefed the Commission about looking into the possibility of setting up an electronic data base of charter review topics that would allow the Commission to effectively track charter changes and other amendments.

Robert Triozzi mentioned that the Commission needs to develop a calendar that could be useful when we plan to bring in different groups and organizations to speak to the commission about specific topics plan a calendar.

Bill Callahan raised the topic about selecting sub-committees to examine different sections of the charter and that there needs to be an online presence to increase transparency of the Commission’s proceedings and to let the public know what we are working on as well as keeping them informed.  Callahan also mentioned that we need a subgroup to discuss this on this can be put on-line via website and  suggested that we not wait too long to implement this. 

King County information on their Charter review tracker was handed out to Commission members for review.

Chairperson Cleveland mentioned that the agenda will be sent out to Commission members for next week’s meeting and would try to get it out by Friday.

Meeting was adjourned by Chairperson Cleveland at 10:15 AM.