The Seal Beach City Council looked at staff-proposed changes to the City Charter at the agency’s Tuesday, May 29 meeting. The meeting was held after the print edition of the Sun went to press. For details of the meeting, visit www.sunnews.org.
The staff report, prepared by City Clerk Linda Devine, looked at seven issues, including the proposed elimination of the runoff process in city elections, tightening up the existing “revolving door” provision of the charter and adding the city manager’s duties to the Municipal Code.
Any changes to the City Charter would have to be approved by Seal Beach voters.
Election issues
“Currently, the Charter requires the city to conduct a second, ‘runoff’ election if no candidate receives 50 percent plus one of votes cast in the first election (section 509),” Devine wrote.
“Very few cities of comparable size still have runoff elections,” Devine wrote.
Seal Beach has a population of 24,168, according to the 2010 U.S. Census.
“At the last election, a candidate received 49.6 percent of the votes and the Charter required a runoff election. It cost the city $14,645 to have a runoff election in that one district,” Devine wrote.
Ellery Deaton received the majority of the votes in the 2010 race to fill the District 1 council seat. However, she did not win enough votes to take the seat under the City Charter and was forced into a runoff election against Main Street businessman Joe Kalmick. In the initial race, received 981 votes. Joe Kalmick received 657 votes or 33.2 percent. Deaton won the runoff.
Another issue is the 21-waiting period required before elected officials can be installed. “The 21-day period was adopted in 2006 because Orange County informed cities that it would take the county 21 days to canvass the election. However, since 2006, the canvassing of the runoff election does not take that long,” Devine wrote.
Her report recommended that the waiting period be eliminated so the city could immediately swear in elected officials.
The Devine report also recommended adding a tie-breaking procedure to the election process in the event two candidates receive the same number of votes. Devine offered the council three options: present a Charter amendment to voters; amend the Municipal Code to create a tie-breaking procedure or adopt a resolution before the next election.
Revolving door
“Many cities have adopted ordinances preventing the city from hiring a former council member as city manager or a department head for a specified time after that council member has vacated office,” Devine wrote.
The Seal Beach Charter only prohibits hiring a former council member as a city manager. The restriction lasts for one year after the council member leaves office.
“We recommend: expanding the provision to include department heads as well as th
e city manager and to lengthen the period of non-eligibility to three years,” Devine wrote.
City Manager
According to the Devine report, the duties of the city manager were adopted in the Charter in 1963 and amended in 1973.
“It would provide the council greater flexibility and, perhaps, enhance productivity if such duties were placed in the Municipal Code,” Devine wrote.
Finally, the Devine report recommended eliminating the section of the Charter that deals with the Board of Education. Devine said the section no longer applies because Seal Beach joined the Los Alamitos Unified School District in 1979.
