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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Election Code Committee - 10/5/2017 -City of Fort Collins Page 1 October 5, 2017 ELECTION CODE COMMITTEE MEETING 12:00 PM COUNCILMEMBERS PRESENT: Overbeck, Stephens, Cunniff, Horak Staff Present: Coldiron, Knoll, Daggett, Malarky, Gonzales, Bodig Others Present: Marge Norskog, Karen Wagner, Robbie Moreland, Jody Deschenes, Elizabeth Hudetz, Jan Rossi, Kevin Jones 1. CALL MEETING TO ORDER Councilmember Stephens called the meeting to order. 2. CITIZEN COMMENT Marge Norskog stated she filed a notice of election complaint regarding financial reports for the April election. She stated active committees did not file financial reports. Registered committees should be required to report and penalties should be imposed if they do not. Ms. Norskog suggested an independent group, such as a citizen oversight group, should be formed that would be responsible for verifying the accuracy of election-related reports and have the authority to initiate appropriate action when false reporting or violations are observed. Karen Wagner provided an article from the Denver Post regarding proposed City of Denver ordinances related to campaign finance and greater transparency. Robbie Moreland, Jody Deschenes, Elizabeth Hudetz, and Jan Rossi identified themselves as being in support of Ms. Norskog and Ms. Wagner’s comments. Councilmember Cunniff asked if the suggested committee would be Council-appointed. Ms. Norskog replied the committee should be citizen-based and appointed in some way. Ms. Norskog asked if there is an audit function for municipal elections to ensure candidates are following election procedures and reports are being submitted appropriately. Chief Deputy City Clerk Knoll replied reports are not reviewed and issues are identified on a complaint basis. Councilmembers Cunniff and Overbeck thanked the citizens for their work on this issue. 3. APPROVAL OF JULY 20, 2017 COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES Councilmember Overbeck made a motion, seconded by Councilmember Cunniff, to adopt the July 20, 2017 Committee meeting minutes. The motion was adopted unanimously. 4. ELECTION-RELATED CHANGES FOR DISCUSSION a. Designate the City Clerk to serve as the Designated Election Official Rita Knoll, Chief Deputy City Clerk, stated there is a State Statute that calls for the governing body to designate the City’s designated election official. This has typically been done through an intergovernmental agreement with the County, but this designation in the City Code seems a better option. The Committee agreed to move forward with the suggested language. b. Remove the “two signature requirement” on checks from couples for campaign contributions Knoll stated in past elections, complaints were received when a contribution from a couple was in an amount greater than the limit for individual contributors; therefore, a requirement was added to October 5, 2017 City of Fort Collins Page 2 City Code that both parties sign a joint check to ensure clarity that they both intended to make the contribution. Knoll stated Councilmember Summers has brought forth the issue as being an onerous requirement. Councilmember Stephens asked if two signatures are required at the state level or in other jurisdictions. Knoll replied it is not required at the state level. Ryan Malarky, Assistant City Attorney, replied the Secretary of State has a rule that it is up to the candidate or committee on how to apportion the contribution if the contributor is not specifically identified in a joint account check. Knoll noted state rules do not apply to home-rule municipalities; therefore, Fort Collins will need to address the issue if a change is desired. Councilmember Stephens stated she does not feel this is an onerous requirement. Councilmember Cunniff stated the current practice is not that inconsistent with the state rules and suggested Councilmember Summers could bring the issue up under Other Business at a Regular Council meeting, if he would like it considered further. Knoll noted no complaints or questions have been received regarding the practice. The Committee recommends no change based on the Secretary of State regulations. c. Can a felony received as a minor be used to disqualify a Council candidate? Malarky discussed the two tracks a juvenile charged with a felony may take. A juvenile may be adjudicated, which is different from a felony conviction. Carrie Daggett, City Attorney, stated the question relates to whether there is a desire to add some clarifying language to eliminate questions from potential candidates related to adjudication. Councilmember Stephens asked if an adjudication would need to be disclosed on a job application. Daggett replied it would depend on how the question was phrased. Malarky replied it may also depend on whether records were sealed. Councilmember Overbeck asked if other municipalities have been contacted. Daggett replied in the negative given this is an interpretation issue for the City Code. Councilmember Overbeck asked if a restorative justice process would have any bearing on this. Daggett replied in the negative. Daggett stated this change would not require much rewording; however, it is a Charter change and would therefore require a vote of the people. Councilmember Cunniff stated he would not call an election just for this item. Councilmember Cunniff stated the Charter language appears to apply if an individual was convicted as a minor in criminal court. Mayor Pro Tem Horak asked if other details are verified, such as address and age. Knoll replied voter registration and addresses are verified. Councilmember Cunniff stated he would like to see more information regarding other municipalities and issues with federal security clearance. Knoll stated if this item comes back before the Committee, staff will bring additional information. October 5, 2017 City of Fort Collins Page 3 d. Value of campaign ads on websites Daggett stated City Attorney staff is working on this issue and will be providing more information. Knoll stated this item will be moved to the next agenda. e. Terminating inactive Issue and Political Committees Knoll stated staff has provided some suggested language to address the issue. Once the language is determined, forms will be amended accordingly. Daggett stated political committees sometimes form in anticipation of an issue coming forward. If that does not occur, it is not surprising that a committee dissolves. This combination of changes is intended to keep the election committee’s life tied to the particular election around which the committee is formed. Knoll noted the language does not currently include political committees because they sometimes register with much broader purposes than for an issue on a ballot. However, that is an issue for this Committee to address. Councilmember Overbeck asked if a committee could reregister. Knoll replied it is possible to require reregistration of committees. Daggett stated the logic of staff’s proposal is that, by compressing the time frame, it makes it less likely that someone will move or become unreachable. Councilmember Cunniff supported adding political committees to this proposal and stated termination reports should be required of all committees. Knoll stated the compressed cycle will necessitate additional up-front education related to the filing requirements. Councilmember Overbeck supported the change as offering clarity and transparency. Knoll stated this will be added to the list of items to bring forward. f. Candidate political signs Knoll stated staff has included a suggested amendment that might provide clarity based on discussion at the last meeting. Councilmember Cunniff supported the proposed language. Councilmember Overbeck supported the addition of social media. Knoll stated this item will be added to the list of items to bring forward. g. Preliminary discussion of redistricting issues Knoll summarized the information presented to the Committee and noted Larimer County re- precincted, which is a trigger recently added to the City Code to require Fort Collins to look at the deviation of population between districts. It was found that the City is well outside the 10% deviation threshold, primarily because of growth in District 1. Marcus Bodig, GIS Manager, stated the bigger issue is the explosive growth of the entire city. Councilmember Cunniff asked if the City precincts must, by Charter, align with County precincts. October 5, 2017 City of Fort Collins Page 4 Daggett replied they need to align for practical reasons. Councilmember Cunniff asked if multiple City precincts could map into one County precinct. Knoll replied the difficultly lies in getting data from the County. She noted the County is required to take the City’s district boundaries into consideration, so to the extent they can avoid making a change that would alter a district boundary, they avoid it. Councilmember Stephens asked if there is a fix that would ensure redistricting does not have to occur every couple of years. Knoll stated the more common practice is to redistrict after census data is received every ten years. Jan Rossi, Fort Collins citizen, asked if it would be possible to have a dialogue with the Futures Committee and the possibility of adding additional districts. Mayor Pro Tem Horak replied that would be a much larger discussion related to Charter changes. Councilmember Stephens stated her inclination is to redistrict based on the census as it seems impractical to redistrict every two years. Knoll noted a Code amendment would be required, but that change is possible. Bodig stated he could look into doing some modeling related to using the census as the trigger to redistrict. Councilmember Stephens stated some of that modeling could be helpful. Councilmember Cunniff supported narrowing the options to two: basing redistricting on the census or going through the process every two years. The Committee supported doing modeling to gain more information. Daggett stated the formalization of a more consistent process ensuring no question of manipulation is also a goal. Knoll suggested the possibility of bringing a precinct alignment item to Council now to address the County reprecincting. The Committee agreed that is a good step. 5. NEXT MEETING a. Determine Next Meeting Date/Time Daggett stated staff could use several weeks for more research on some of the items discussed. The group decided to look at December or January for a possible next meeting date. b. Holdover Items The group agreed the value of ads on websites is a holdover item. 6. OTHER BUSINESS Councilmember Cunniff requested a reiteration of information regarding “paid for by” statements. He asked about requiring committees to file sufficient descriptions of expenditures. Knoll stated independent expenditure reporting has been beefed up to make it very clear that documentation must be attached. However, she stated there may not be enough staff capacity to review documentation to determine adequacy. October 5, 2017 City of Fort Collins Page 5 Councilmember Cunniff asked if the new Code section regarding penalties applies to violations of independent expenditure reporting. Daggett replied in the affirmative and noted there is a one-year statute of limitations under the Code; therefore, a 24-month time period to file a complaint as requested by Ms. Norskog could be problematic. She clarified the current 60-day limit is not a limit on enforcement of the provision, it is just a limit on triggering a review via a formal complaint. Councilmember Stephens supported the idea of an independent election group. Councilmember Cunniff suggested the group should be Council-authorized and appointed with one duty being the oversight of committee and candidate reporting conduct. Daggett asked Ms. Norskog if she knows of other jurisdictions that have an independent election review committee. Ms. Norskog replied she did not conduct that type of research. Councilmember Cunniff requested that research in anticipation of possibly forming the independent committee. 7. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 1:30 PM. Attachments: Marge Norskog comments Denver Post article, September 4, 2017 MINUTES APPROVED March 1, 2018