CC Minutes - 09/10/07 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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5. PUBLIC HEARING: An Ordinance Concerning Initiative and Referendum Procedures; and Amending Sections 2.972 and 2.981 of the Eugene Code, 1971 City Manager Pro Tem Jones stated that the ordinance would provide a process to ensure that practices were in line with the code. She asked City Attorney Emily Jerome to speak to the ordinance. Ms. Jerome stated that the ordinance would establish the number of signatures it would take to place a referendum on the ballot. She said currently the code required that the number of signatures be equal to 10 percent of all of the votes cast for all of the candidates for mayor in the preceding election. She related that historically it included all write-in votes. She explained that recently the Circuit Court had ruled that under the code language the City could only count those write-ins for people who intended to be candidates and who were eligible to be candidates. She stated the City Attorney’s understanding that it was not the City’s intent and that it was nearly impossible to administer for that definition. She said the proposed ordinance sought to respond the Circuit Court’s interpretation of Eugene Code 2.972 and would clarify that the City should count all votes for the office of Mayor. Ms. Jerome explained that the second issue addressed by the ordinance had to do with the current code requirement that if a valid petition was filed the City must generally hold an election at the next statutory election date. She said the current code did allow for an exception so that the council could hold an earlier election but it would not allow an exception to defer it to a later election. The ordinance would change it so that a later election would be allowed. Councilor Bettman asked why the council needed that level of discretion. Ms. Jerome replied that it could be costly to refer a petition to the next election in a case where no other local government in Lane County had anything for the ballot. She said it could also be something the council would want to balance with the importance of timeliness to act on a petition. She thought it could be the preference of a petitioner to have an item matched with other items in an election. Councilor Bettman commented that she was “astounded” to see this in the packet. She recalled the discussion about the issues with the referendum and the decision to put the gas tax on the ballot. She had not seen the latter issue come up. MINUTES—Eugene City Council September 10, 2007 Page 11 Work Session