Council asks residents for input on ballot questions

By Cassie Tomlin

Friday, Feb. 13, 2009 | 2:21 p.m.

The Boulder City Council has appointed residents to draft arguments for and against four ballot questions in the June municipal election.

The arguments will appear alongside the questions on the ballot.

For the question asking whether to amend the City Charter to include 12-year term limits for the separate offices of council member and mayor, Dave Nelson will draft a supporting argument, and Nancy Nolette will draft the opposing argument.

A 1996 voter initiative instituted 12-year term limits for local elective offices, and the term limit clarification, if passed, would specify that a person could serve a total of 24 years on the council between the two offices.

For the ballot question asking whether to amend the city’s charter to outlaw primary election voting on advisory questions, to bring the City Charter in line with state law, Amy Carvalho will draft the supporting argument, and Nancy Nolette and Bruce Thomsen will draft the opposing argument.

The city’s charter allows asking voters advisory questions about Capital Fund Expenditures in primary elections, but state law allows such questions only in general state or general municipal elections.

For the ballot question asking whether the city should allow geothermal energy plants in the Eldorado Valley’s Energy Zone, Dave Nelson will draft the supporting argument.

Since there were no volunteers to draft the opposing argument, City Clerk Pamella Malmstrom will write it.

Malmstrom will also draft both supporting and opposing arguments for the ballot question asking whether the city should change its charter to include in city limits the previously annexed Western Area Power Administration corridor land in the Eldorado Valley. The land south of the city is managed by the Los Angeles Water and Power Department, but needs to be legally declared inside Boulder City in the charter.

Voters will decide on six ballot questions, but arguments for two of them have already been written: whether to make the charter gender neutral and whether meetings to discuss the dismissal of a public official should be public, to comply with state law. The last two questions were approved in November, and need another yes vote to pass.

Cassie Tomlin can be reached at 948-2073 or [email protected].