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City to hold meeting on charter proposal Sept. 28
By Bruce Sims
September 14, 2011 (Escondido)--The City of Escondido has been weighing the option of becoming a charter city and plans a September 28 public meeting on the issue. Now a citizens’ group is preparing an education campaign against the change.
Escondido Citizens Charter Watch, previously known as the Citizens Charter Coalition, is a non-partisan, grass-roots group of individuals and organizations opposed to a proposal by City Councilmembers Mari Waldron, Ed Gallo, and Mayor Abed--all Republicans--to change Escondido from a general law city to a ‘charter city.' The Escondido Citizens Charter Watch website is http://www.escondidocharterwatch.org/
"We have carefully studied this proposal, and city charters in general, and we do not see a compelling need for Escondido to make this costly change at this time," said Rick Moore, spokesman for the group.
Councilmember Waldron has stated that having charter city status would allow the city to save money. Escondido council members say they want to change from a ‘general law’ city to a charter city primarily so the city can avoid payment of “prevailing wages” on construction projects.
However, the draft charter the council has provided the public goes beyond saving money and reflects a strong anti-union bias, opponents say, as evidenced by Section 305 of the draft which can be viewed on the Escondido Citizens Charter Watch website.
Moore countered Waldron by saying, “We see only costs -- costs to put the measure on the ballot, costs to educate the public about it, and then potential costs of implementation. And it is not necessary. Escondido is functioning just fine as a general law city. We say 'If it isn't broken, don't fix it.'"
At the Mayor's Town Hall meeting, Mayor Abed could not answer questions from the audience about what projects Escondido has planned that would save money by not having contracts specify a 'prevailing wage' (otherwise known as PLA's ,project labor agreements)/ Charter city status also could allow the city to ignore its general plan to change zoning, create district elections, and limit the terms of Council members, opponents contend. The NCTimes reports that Councilmember Olga Diaz has repeatedly asked for a list of projects that would provide savings, but never received it.
Moore pointed to estimates from the Escondido City Clerk's office that indicated the cost of placing the measure on the June 2012 ballot, as Waldron proposes, would be approximately $80,000, plus additional costs for public education about the proposal. When placing Proposition P on the ballot in 2004 to fund public safety facilities, the city spent approximately $100,000 on public information. In addition, the North County Times reports that City Clerk Marsha Whalen indicated putting the charter on the June 2012 ballot would cost between $56,000 and $83,000, because Escondido would share the election costs with the rest of the state.
Waiting till November 2012 would cost even less because that is a presidential election. Whalen, who said her estimates were based on information from the county registrar of voters office, estimated those costs at between $26,000 and $31,000.
"So in this time of severe budget cuts, when we have eliminated a branch library, raised fees for recreation programs, and cut funding to a variety of civic groups, do we need to spend $180,000 on this unnecessary proposal? We think not." said Moore. He noted that $180,000 would have been early enough to keep the East Valley branch of the city's library open.
The North County Times has also reported that added powers provided to charter cities can be a double-edged sword. Critics say such power can be dangerous. The Times noted that opponents contend that “ the absence of competitive bidding can lead to sweetheart deals for developers, and that the salary-setting powers can lead to corruption similar to the kind discovered last year in the city of Bell in Los Angeles County. “
Moore said the Charter Watch group will present its position at the scheduled Sept. 28 "educational forum" on the proposed charter Councilmember Waldron has spearheaded since March, which would focus primarily on reducing the cost of city construction projects “by exempting Escondido from paying union wages “. The Charter Watch group is preparing a campaign to inform the public about what charter city status could mean for Escondido. "There are quite a lot of reasons to be leery of charter city status," he concluded. "Escondido Citizens Charter Watch will work to educate Escondido voters that now is not the time for this costly change."
The online version of the UnionTribune -signonsandiego.com- reported that “according to the San Diego County Grand Jury, charters often need amending due to abuse of public officials. Amendments can cost $100,000 and more because they must go to a vote of the citizens.”
A new situation has occurred with the passage of SB922 in the Legislature, awaiting Governor Brown's signature. It would move all such initiatives to the November ballot. According to the Sacramento Bee, Democratic Sen. Loni Hancock, who authored the measure, said putting initiatives in front of the people in the elections that generally see higher turnout is "good government." "Low turnout elections do not represent the needs, priorities and desires of the larger electorate," the Democrat said, noting that 75 percent of states with an initiative process limit measures to the November ballot.
Republicans blasted the bill as an eleventh-hour effort by Democrats to aid their labor union allies, whose political efforts typically benefit from higher voter turnout in the state.
The Press Enterprise reported, “Democrats argued that pushing all initiatives to general election ballots ensures more Californians get to vote on them, because turnout is generally much higher than for primary contests.
For example, 44 percent of eligible voters cast ballots in last year's November election for governor, but only 24 percent for the June gubernatorial primary. Turnout typically spikes even higher during presidential election years; it reached 59 percent in November 2008.”
Escondido's City Attorney, Jeffrey Epp, has issued a statement to the council and city staff that, with regard to PLAs and SB922, that the city either needs to remove the PLA (prevailing wage) language from the draft charter or decide to not be eligible for State funding.
East County Magazine reporter Bruce Sims has issued a California Public Records Request seeking information related to the City Council members and Staff analysis, contacts, and considerations done regarding such a charter city initiative.
Stay tuned.
The charter meeting is scheduled for September 28 at 4:30 p.m. in the Mitchell Room at Escondido’s Cit Hall, 201 North Broadway in Escondido.
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