Voters to decide on changes to City Charter

By Cassie Tomlin

Monday, Jan. 19, 2009 | 10:21 a.m.

In June, voters will decide whether to define term limits in the City Charter to allow a person to serve as mayor for 12 years, and as a City Council member for 12 years.

Residents will also decide in this year's municipal election whether to formally add into the city's boundaries the Western Area Power Administration corridor.

However, they won't vote on changes to the charter that would further define relationships between council members and city staff.

The City Council Jan. 13 voted to approve the two ballot questions and table the third, citing time constraints in printing the ballot.

With the vote, six questions will now go to voters when they choose two new council members in June.

The council approved the other questions in November — whether to allow geothermal power generation in the Eldorado Valley, whether advisory questions should be considered only during general elections, 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.

One charter question approved for the ballot Tuesday, recommended by the Charter Commission, will clarify that the positions of mayor and City Council member are separate offices subject to individual term limits. A 1996 voter initiative instituted 12-year term limits for local elective offices. The term limit explanation, if passed, would specify that a person could serve a total of 24 years on the council between the two offices.

An opinion by Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto issued in August already has interpreted the state law that way, City Attorney Dave Olsen said. The charter change would be "housekeeping," he said.

The council approved the question for the ballot 4-1. Councilwoman Linda Strickland voted no.

Residents will also be asked to change the City Charter to include in Boulder City's borders the WAPA land, which was annexed last year.

The land south of the city is managed by the Los Angeles Water and Power Administration, but needs to be legally declared inside Boulder City in the charter.

A ballot question asking voters to change the portion of the charter that defines council members' responsibility will wait until at least the next election.

The Charter Commission in December voted to recommend to change the title of the section "Council not to interfere in appointments or removals" to "Prohibition against interference by council members or mayor regarding administrative action."

It also recommended a change in the section to require council members to interact only with the city manager, "except for the purpose of inquiry."

Strickland had asked the Charter Commission to consider clarifying the section last fall after a city employee filed a criminal complaint against her saying she violated the charter by giving him an order directly. Strickland said she had not ordered the employee, but made a request to him, and argued that the charter section was irrelevant because the title of the section applied only to the hiring and firing of city staff.

The charges against Strickland were dropped by the Attorney General, who said the section was ambiguous.

Strickland said the changes recommended by the Charter Commission wouldn't resolve the problems. She said she had come up with new wording, which she didn't present to the council, "to cover as many bases as possible to make sure communication between staff and council doesn't come to a halt," and "to make sure this doesn't happen to someone in the future."

City Clerk Pamella Malmstrom said all ballot questions should be approved by Jan. 27 so ballot committees can draft arguments, and the council agreed to table the question until the next election.

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