The Pasadena City Council identified proposed topics for possible Charter study discussions to be conducted by a Charter study task force during its meeting on Monday.
The Pasadena City Charter is a legal document that outlines the organization, powers, functions, and essential procedures of the City’s government. It serves as the city’s constitution and defines the relationship between the city government and its residents. The Charter establishes the framework for the city’s governance and provides the legal basis for the city’s operations.
The Charter was passed in 1901 and any changes to it must be submitted to the voters for approval.
In February, the City Council unanimously approved a recommendation to start a Charter study review process and the formation of a Charter study task force that will study potential amendments and provide the City Council with recommendations on Charter amendments.
In August 2022, the City Council expressed interest in reviewing the city’s Charter for possible amendments to address the City Council’s appointment process due to vacancy. In December, there was a request to review the role of the Vice Mayor.
Aside from the mentioned requests, several other topics related to the Charter were raised over the years.
According to City Clerk Mark Jomsky, the current list of possible Charter amendment topics related to City Council governance include City Council vacancy appointment process and ability to call special election to fill an unanticipated Council vacancy, City Council term limits, Vice mayor appointment timing and term and timing of mayoral election in relation to Council District elections.
According to Jomsky, these amendment topics have been raised in recent years by Councilmembers.
Staff has also raised the possibility of revising the Charter language related to the annual Light and Power Fund transfer to the General Fund to use current accounting terminology, considering increases to procurement limits which do not require City Council approval and making clean-up/make corrections to the City Charter.
The city staff has no specific proposed provisions to the Measure H Charter amendment.
Jomsky said the City Council may solicit the Pasadena Rental Housing Board for their views and suggested Charter changes.
Also not included on the list of topics are the policy issues related to campaign finance and lobbyist registration that have previously been mentioned in Council discussions.
The City Council agreed that the governance topics would be discussed by a Charter study task force while the other topics suggested by city staff would be studied by City Council committees.
Councilmember Jess Rivas suggested adding two more topics to be discussed by the task force which are campaign contributions and Councilmembers compensation.
Councilmember Felicia Williams also agreed to adding campaign finance limits on the topics for Charter study discussions.
Williams also said now would be the best time to study if the number of Councilmembers Pasadena has is appropriate. “We have one of the largest City Councils for the city of our size. We really should look at what is the appropriate number of Councilmembers for the city our size. Having eight is unheard of.”
Jomsky said he will bring to the City Council the possible final scope for discussion of the task force and the proposed charge of the task force at a future meeting.
Members of the task force are targeted to be appointed in October 2023.
The task force will review issues and approve recommendations for City Council consideration from November 2023 through May 2024. It will submit its final report to the City Council by May or June 2024.
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