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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOUNCIL - AGENDA ITEM - 10/05/2004 - ITEMS RELATING TO PETITIONS FOR INITIATIVE, REFERE ITEM NUMBER: 18 A-B AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY DATE: October 5, 2004 FORT COLLINS CITY COUNCIL STAFF: Steve Roy/ Wanda Krajicek SUBJECT Items Relating to Petitions for Initiative, Referendum, and Recall. RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends adoption of the Ordinances on Second Reading. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY A. Second Reading of Ordinance No. 159, 2004,Amending the General Form for Petitions for Initiative, Referendum, and Recall. B. Second Reading of Ordinance No. 160, 2004, Amending Chapter 7 of the City Code so as to Include a New Article 7 Pertaining to Election Offenses. These ordinances would, in combination, seek to ensure that persons who are asked to sign an initiative or referendum petition are properly informed of the purpose of the petition. Ordinance No. 159,2004,which was unanimously adopted on First Reading on September 21,2004, amends the standard form of the initiative,referendum or recall petition so as to include a warning on each page of the petition encouraging potential signers to read the full text of an initiated or referred measure or the purpose statement of a recall petition. Ordinance No. 160,2004,which was unanimously adopted on First Reading on September 21,2004, requires all petition circulators,upon request,to read the full text of an initiated or referred measure, or the purpose statement of a recall petition to any person requesting such assistance. ORDINANCE NO. 159, 2004 OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS AMENDING THE GENERAL FORM FOR PETITIONS FOR INITIATIVE, REFERENDUM, AND RECALL WHEREAS,the Charter of the City ofFort Collins states that the City Council is to prescribe by ordinance, upon recommendation of the City Clerk, a general form of petition for recalls, initiatives and referendums; and WHEREAS, on May 16, 1987, the Council did prescribe a general form of petition for circulation and filing by petitioners for each measure sought to be initiated or referred to the vote of the electors and for recall of elected officials,which form was subsequently amended on November 1, 1988 to remove language from the Affidavit of Circulator relating to the prohibition of payment of circulators; and WHEREAS, the general form of petition for initiative, referendum and recall was again amended on May 16, 2000 to comply to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling which held that it is impermissible to require that petition circulators be registered electors; and WHEREAS, the Council has asked the City Clerk to recommend addition modifications to the general form of petition to better ensure that potential signers of a petition are familiar with the purpose and content of a petition before signing the same; and WHEREAS, the City Clerk has recommended Council approval of the following amended general forms of petition for recall, initiative, and referendum. NOW, THEREFORE,BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS as follows: Section1. That the general form ofpetition for recall petitions,attachedhereto as Exhibit "A", is hereby approved by the Council. Section 2. That the general form of petition for initiative petitions, attached hereto as Exhibit"B", is hereby approved by the Council. Section 3. That the general form of petition for referendum petitions, attached hereto as Exhibit "C", is hereby approved by the Council. Section 4. That the City Clerk be, and hereby is, directed to have a sufficient quantity of petition forms printed for distribution,upon request,to any individual or group that has filed with the City Clerk an affidavit commencing recall proceedings,a notice of intent to circulate an initiative petition, or a notice of protest against the going into effect of an ordinance. Section 5. That the general forms ofpetition approved herein shall be used for any recall, initiative, or referendum proceedings commenced after the effective date of this ordinance. Introduced and considered favorable on first reading and ordered published this 21 st day of September,A.D. 2004, and to be presented for final passage on the 5th day of October,A.D. 2004. Mayor ATTEST: vu�. N,---"A City Clerk Passed and adopted on final reading this 5th day of October, A.D. 2004. Mayor ATTEST: City Clerk ORDINANCE NO. 160, 2004 OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS AMENDING CHAPTER 7 OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS SO AS TO INCLUDE A NEW ARTICLE 7 PERTAINING TO ELECTION OFFENSES WHEREAS,under Article 20,Section 6 of the Colorado Constitution,home rule cities such as the City of Fort Collins are authorized to legislate upon, provide, regulate, conduct and control • all matters pertaining to municipal elections within their municipal boundaries; and WHEREAS, under Article 8, Section 1 of the City Charter, the Council is to provide by ordinance for the manner of holding City elections, and,if a particular matter regarding elections is not covered by the Charter or ordinances of the City or by the State constitution, then such matter is to be governed by the laws of the State of Colorado relating to municipal elections; and WHEREAS, the City's Charter prescribes, in Article 10, the manner in which the power of initiative and referendum may be exercised with regard to City elections; and WHEREAS, such Charter provisions require that,with regard to both initiated and referred measures, petitions be circulated among registered voters to determine whether enough registered voters wish to have the initiated or referred measure placed on the ballot at a City election; and WHEREAS, Article 10, Section 5 of the Charter establishes certain regulations and requirements pertaining to the content and circulation of petitions and the affidavits of petition circulators; and WHEREAS, neither the City Charter, nor the State election laws, prohibits the circulators of petitions from misrepresenting the purpose of the petition; and WHEREAS, this same date, the City Council has approved on first reading Ordinance No.159, 2004 amending the standard form of petition to include on each page of the petition a warning to all persons to read the full text of the proposed measure before signing the petition; and WHEREAS,the City Council believes it to be in the best interests of the residents of the City to also require, by ordinance, that all petition circulators, upon request, read to any person who is asked to sign the petition, the purpose statement of the proposed measure or the full text of said measure. NOW,THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS that a new Article VI is hereby added to Chapter 7 of the City Code to read in its entirety as follows: ARTICLE VII. ELECTION OFFENSES Sec. 7-165. Obligations of petition circulators. Any person circulating a petition approved for circulation by the City Clerk shall, upon the request of any person to whom the petition is presented,read aloud to such person the entire text of the initiated or referred measure that is the subject of the petition or,in the case of a recall petition,the statement of charges and statement of defenses. Introduced and considered favorably on first reading and ordered published this 21 st day of September, A.D. 2004, and to be presented for final passage on the 5th day of October,A.D. 2004. Mayor d ATTEST: City Clerk Passed and adopted on final reading this 5th day of October, A.D. 2004. Mayor ATTEST: City Clerk ITEM NUMBER: 19 A-B AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY DATE: September 21, 2004 FORT COLLINS CITY COUNCIL STAFF: Steve Roy/ Wanda Krajicek SUBJECT Items Relating to Petitions for Initiative,Referendum, and Recall. C P RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends adoption of the Ordinances on First Reading. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY A. First Reading of Ordinance No. 159, 2004, Amending the General Form for Petitions for Initiative, Referendum, and Recall. Cetai B. First Reading of Ordi00,, 20 din apter 7 of the City Code so as to Include a New Articleit Offense These ordinances would, in combination, seek to ensure that persons who are asked to sign an initiative or referendum petition are properly informed of the purpose of the petition. BACKGROUND Under the State Constitution, home rule municipalities ma ado t local laws governing matters related to local elections. Th ity er ui s t h ' ttiative or referendum petition contain a purpose statement a that th ntire t initt d or referred measure be attached to the petition. However, nei r the p ose at ent nor entire measure appears on each signature page of the petition. T ore,it post e that persons signing a petition may not fully understand the purpose of the measure and may be misled by representations of the petition circulator. An issue arose during a recent local election in which representations made by the circulator of an initiative petition were arguably inconsistent with the stated purposes of the petition. Three Councilmembers requested that an ordinance be prepared which would prohibit such misrepresentations. In response, staff presented to Council at its August 17, 2004 meeting, an ordinance which, if enacted by the Council, would have prohibited any petition circulator from knowingly and wilfully misrepresenting the purpose of an initiated or referred measure that is the subject of the petition, or the issues to be submitted to the electorate regarding the initiated or referred measure. September 21, 2004 -2. Item No. 19 A-B After discussing the proposed ordinance, however, the Council declined to adopt the ordinance, primarily because of the problems of proof that could arise in attempting to enforce the ordinance, namely,proving what was said or not said by a petition circulator and whether such statements were misleading. As an alternative,Council directed staff to prepare two different kinds of ordinances. The first(Item A)would amend the standard form of the initiative,referendum or recall petition(which, under the City Charter, must be approved by ordinance) so as to include the following warning on each page of the petition encouraging potential signers to read the full text of an initiated or referred measure or the purpose statement of aC*on, you iti Before signing this pe a encPrd re he full text of the initiated or referred measure, po ahe of a recall peition, which immediately precedes these signature pages. In addition, minor wording changes have been made to the instructions at the top of each page of the petition to better define who is eligible to sign a petition. The second ordinance(Item B)would require all petition circulators, upon request, to read the full text of an initiated or referred measure, or the purpose statement of a recall petition to any person requesting such assistance. Although proving a violation of this ordinance would still require evidence that a petition circul fay d pro rl es a quest to have the petition read, proving that fact would likely easier pro er tement made about the substance of the petition was misleading ere o this - nce shou be more readily enforceable than the ordinance previously present or Co s c sideration.