Does Petaluma Need a Smarter Charter?

Well, if not a smarter charter, perhaps an updated one. 

In California legal parlance, Petaluma is what is known as a Charter City as opposed to a General Law City.*  According to the League of California Cities, 120 of the 480 cities in California are Charter cities.**
 
The Petaluma Charter provisions are available online but, being in a curious mood, earlier this year I asked the City Clerk, Claire Cooper, if I could see the physical document.  She asked if I wanted to see the original, and I, of course, agreed.  I drove over, half expecting to see something like the Dead Sea Scrolls or yellow parchment leather-bound documents. Of course, they were not quite that old.  But old enough.
 
Consider the Articles of Incorporation from 1858, signed by the California Secretary of State, Ferris Forman or the original City Charter of 1876, signed by Secretary of State, Thomas Beck in the slideshow.

The Petaluma Charter has been amended sporadically over the years and it is available online in its present form. (Click Here)   

However, charters need to be updated from time to time. Over the years, I have noted references during Council meetings to Charter provisions dealing with one topic or another requiring that certain action be taken or preventing an action from being taken.

Sometimes the Charter dictated outcome has been desirable and at other times there was a question whether an amendment would be desirable going forward. 

Certainly, the recent dilemma of how to fill a vacant seat on the City Council is one part of the charter that may need examining and amending to prevent future difficulties. Many cities have a regular review process performed by committees or commissions. Also, it must be kept in mind that charter amendments require voter approval. 

I wonder if we would not all be better served going forward if the Council set up some kind of review committee to collect all the creaky, outdated parts of the City Charter, to suggest revisions, and to submit them to the voters as part of an ongoing review process. 

Some may argue that it would be too expensive, time-consuming, and politically impossible to devote any time to working on proposed charter revisions, particularly in these tough budgetary times.  I fully appreciate these objections. However, when will it ever be done?

Consider... 

• Setting up a small commission or committee–and I mean small–of perhaps five people involves no significant cash outlay.
• I suggest that it be a regular body, much like the other volunteer city boards, with a charge to working out and proposing amendments in stages. 

It is tempting to go for a total charter rewrite; but, I fear that would just fall into a political morass of never-ending discussion, debate, and argument serving only to provide general fodder for the press.  I think it is far better to start out with small technical clean-up changes that would be presented to the voters every four years as funds permit. This would get people used to the process and eventually we could work towards larger changes if needs be.  

NOTES

*Background as to the difference between the two forms of California municipal government:

• “Well, basically it’s a “home rule” doctrine from the California State Constitution that reserves to Charter Cities the right to adopt local ordinances that conflict with state laws, provided that the subject ordinance is strictly a municipal affair.  So, it doesn’t allow cities to do “whatever they want”, but it does give them a lot of flexiblity.  If you want more info, check out the Article 11 of the State Constitution (especially Section 5a) by clicking on the link below”  http://monterey.freeshell.org/chartercity/index.html
• League of California Cities  http://www.cacities.org/chartercities/
• Fresno charter review committee http://fresnobeehive.com/news/2010/12/mayor_to_appoint_members_to_ch.html
• Wikipedia  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charter_city 

** Callifornia Charter Cities

• Adelanto
• Alameda
• Albany
• Alhambra
• Anaheim
• Arcadia
• Bakersfield
• Bell
• Berkeley
• Big Bear Lake
• Buena Park
• Burbank
• Carlsbad
• Cerritos
• Chico
• Chula Vista
• Compton
• Culver City
• Cypress
• Del Mar
• Desert Hot Springs
• Dinuba
• Downey
• El Centro
• Eureka
• Exeter
• Folsom
• Fortuna
• Fresno
• Gilroy
• Glendale
• Grass Valley
• Hayward
• Huntington Beach
• Indian Wells
• Industry
• Inglewood
• Irvine
• Irwindale
• King City
• Kingsburg
• Lancaster
• La Quinta
• Lemoore
• Lindsay
• Loma Linda
• Long Beach
• Los Alamitos
• Los Angeles
• Marina
• Marysville
• Merced
• Modesto
• Monterey
• Mountain View
• Napa
• Needles
• Newport Beach
• Norco
• Oakland
• Oceanside
• Oroville
• Pacific Grove
• Palm Desert
• Palm Springs
• Palmdale
• Palo Alto
• Pasadena
• Petaluma
• Piedmont
• Placentia
• Pomona
• Port Hueneme
• Porterville
• Rancho Mirage
• Redondo Beach
• Redwood City
• Richmond
• Riverside
• Roseville
• Sacramento
• Salinas
• San Bernardino
• San Diego
• San Francisco
• San Jose
• San Leandro
• San Luis Obispo
• San Marcos
• San Mateo
• San Rafael
• San Ramon
• Sand City
• Santa Ana
• Santa Barbara
• Santa Clara
• Santa Cruz
• Santa Maria
• Santa Monica
• Santa Rosa
• Santee
• Seal Beach
• Shafter
• Signal Hill
• Solvang
• Stockton
• Sunnyvale
• Temple City
• Torrance
• Truckee
• Tulare
• Vallejo
• Ventura
• Vernon
• Victorville
• Visalia
• Vista
• Watsonville
• Whittier
• Woodlake