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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo - Read Before Packet - 04/01/2025 - Memorandum from Carrie Daggett re Agenda Item #28 – Charter Amendments; Updated Presentation and Additional MaterialsCity Attorney’s Office 300 LaPorte Avenue PO Box 580, Fort Collins, CO 80522 MEMORANDUM Date: April 1, 2025 To: Mayor and City Councilmembers From: Carrie Daggett, City Attorney CMD Subject: Agenda Item 28 – Charter Amendments; Updated Presentation and Additional Materials We have updated our presentation to address questions we’ve received and the updated version is attached. We also are providing the following with this memo: 1. All six proposed ballot questions consolidated together for easy reference; and 2. Two flow charts illustrating the proposed process for handling Councilmember and Mayor vacancies. Headline Copy Goes Here Special Legal Counsel Geoff Wilson Carrie Daggett & Jenny Lopez Filkins City Attorney’s Office City Charter Update and Modernization Project 04-01-25 Headline Copy Goes Here 2 Council Priority to Modernize and Update City Charter City Council Resolution 2024-024, Adopted a 2024-2026 Council Priority to Modernize and Update the City Charter: Modernize and Update the City Charter • Modernization and updating the City Charter is necessary. •A comprehensive review and update has not been completed in over 25 years. Headline Copy Goes Here 3 Overview of Presentation A.Summary of proposed Ballot Language and Amendments B.Key considerations in updating the vacancy provisions C.Numbering and Order of Amendments for the Ballot Headline Copy Goes Here 4 Council Feedback Council work session feedback requested consideration of Charter amendments to: 1) reformat the Charter for ease of reading, replacing unclear and outdated language 2) update to align with state law and legal developments 3) correct errors 4) remove inconsistencies 5) modernize requirements 6) address process and timeline improvements. Headline Copy Goes HereSummary of Proposed Amendments - Item A. Ord. 063, 2025 5 Correction of Errors: corrections that reflect Council’s intent and ensure uniformity throughout Charter in light of November 2024 amendments. Shall Articles II, IX, and X of the Charter of the City of Fort Collins, be amended to correct errors and eliminate outdated or unnecessary language in light of the Charter amendments adopted in November 2024, by: •Clarifying in Section 2(d) of Article II that a registered elector must notify the City Clerk before seeking a court determination to challenge the qualifications of any member of the Council; and •Updating language in Section 2(e)(1) of Article IX about determining the number of votes cast in a specific race to work with the new ranked voting rules that were approved in November 2024; and •Changing language in Section 2(e)(1) of Article X to restore the number of days for a signature gatherer to circulate an initiative petition by increasing it from 63 days to 77 days? Headline Copy Goes HereSummary of Proposed Amendments - Item A. Ord. 063, 2025 6 Correction of Errors: corrections that reflect Council’s intent and ensure uniformity throughout Charter in light of November 2024 amendments. Article II, Sec. 2(d) – notice to Clerk for qualifications challenge to align with revised Article VIII X, Sec. 2 (e)(1) Initiative – increase total from 63 days to 77 days to circulate petition Article IX, Sec. 2 (e)(2) Recall – corrected to % of first choice votes cast Headline Copy Goes Here 7 Summary of Proposed Amendments – Item B. Ord. 064, 2025 Align With Law and Remove Inconsistencies— Shall Articles II, IV, XIII of the Charter of the City of Fort Collins be amended to improve consistency with amended or further developed laws and removing inconsistencies, in order to minimize conflicts between the Charter legal developments, by: •Changing Section 8 of Article II about contributions to City Council elections to: o Specify which city employees are prohibited from contributing to Council elections for consistency with state law; o Continue to prohibit a political party, public service corporations, and persons or entities with city contracts from contributing to any City Council election, while recognizing that some speech is protected by the U.S. or Colorado constitution; •Adding definitions to Article XIII to correspond to the changes to Article II; and •Adding language to Section 11 of Article II incorporating state law provisions regarding City Council executive sessions; and •Clarifying language in Section 5 of Article IV that City records are available for public inspection and disclosure consistent with state open records laws? Headline Copy Goes Here 8 Summary of Proposed Amendments – Item B. Ord. 064, 2025 Align With Law and Remove Inconsistencies: Art. II, Sec. 8 – about contributions to Council campaigns; continues to limit contributions while recognizing that some speech is protected by law. Specify which employees are prohibited from contributing to Council elections. Art. XIII, Sec. 8 -- adds definitions to clarify which City employees are restricted from contributing to Council elections – aligns with state law (continued) Headline Copy Goes Here 9 Summary of Proposed Amendments – Item B. Ord. 064, 2025 Align With Law and Remove Inconsistencies: Art. II, Sec. 11 – allows Council to hold executive sessions for list of purposes identified in state law Art IV, Sec. 5 – clarifies that City records are available for public inspection and disclosure consistent with state open records laws Headline Copy Goes Here 10 Summary of Proposed Amendments – Item C. Ord. 065, 2025 Modernization: Shall Articles II and IV of the Charter of the City of Fort Collins, be amended to modernize publication requirements and requirements for adopting ordinances, by: •Revising Section 6 of Article II about adopting ordinances, resolutions, and motions to: o Make the provision easier to read and understand by adding subsections, subsection titles and better organizing them; o Remove language entitling any Councilmember to request that an entire ordinance be read aloud at a Council meeting; and •Revising Section 7 of Article II about publication and effective date of ordinances to: o Allow an ordinance to proceed to adoption if publication of the ordinance before adoption was not timely, so long as all other notice requirements have been met; and. o Cure late publication of ordinance after final passage if publication completed within a reasonable period of time; and o Delay the effective date of the ordinance until publication requirements are met; and o Toll the deadline to file a notice of referendum protest; and •Revising Section 7 of Article IV to require notice be published on the City’s website and posted at City Hall, instead of publishing formal legal notices in a local newspaper; and •Adding a new Section 17 to Article IV of the Charter of the City of Fort Collins about how to apply deadlines throughout the Charter in the manner already enacted for Articles VIII, IX and X? Headline Copy Goes Here 11 Summary of Proposed Amendments – Item C. Ord. 065, 2025 Modernization: Art. II, Sec. 6 – removes language entitling a Councilmember to request full reading of an ordinance aloud during meeting + adds subsections and subsection titles, reorganizes Art. II, section 7 – addresses effect of missed or late publication of ordinance and tolls deadline to file notice of referendum protest Headline Copy Goes Here 12 Summary of Proposed Amendments – Item C. Ord. 065, 2025 Modernization: Art. IV, Sec. 6 – updates publication requirements – City website, City Hall and other locations as decided by City Council rather than the local newspaper Art II, Sec. 7 – adds a computation of time provision for general application throughout Charter Headline Copy Goes Here 13 Summary of Proposed Amendments – Item D. Ord. 066, 2025 Conflicts of Interest: Shall Section 9 of Article IV of the Charter of the City of Fort Collins, regarding conflicts of interest, be amended to: •Allow City Councilmembers or the Mayor to sell real property to the city if the property is needed for a city project or public use, while retaining all requirements for disclosure and refraining from involvement that otherwise apply in the case of a conflict of interest; and •Allow City employees to rent property from the city with City Manager approval, if it is for the city’s benefit and related to the employee’s performance of their job? Headline Copy Goes Here 14 Summary of Proposed Amendments – Item D. Ord. 066, 2025 Conflicts of Interest: Art. IV, Sec. 9 – allows sale of real property by a Councilmember to the City in limited circumstances while retaining existing requirements to declare conflict and abstain from participating. Limits include: Fair market value If City needs property to carry out City purposes or projects Art IV, Sec. 9 – allows City to lease City property to City employees in narrow circumstances: City manager approval required Opportunity to lease must be related to job duties Headline Copy Goes Here 15 Summary of Proposed Amendments – Item E. Ord. 067, 2025 Modernize and Update Charter By Reformatting and Updating Language Use for Ease of Reading and Clarity: Shall the Charter of the City of Fort Collins be amended to modernize and update it by reformatting and updating language usage for ease of reading and clarity, and eliminating inapplicable and invalid provisions, without undoing any substantive Charter amendments approved by the voters at the Tuesday, November 4, 2025, municipal election, by: •Changing the words "shall" to "will," "must" or “may,” or other words to improve clarity; and •Making the language more inclusive by taking out words "he” and “she” and related word forms; and •Dividing sections into subsections and adding titles to subsections to make them easier to read and understand; and•Eliminating transitional provisions that o Address residency requirements for City department heads appointed prior to March 6, 1985 (Section 3 of Article IV); and o Set a mill levy cap on Council’s adoption of taxes (Section 6 of Article IV), which Council must now adopt only with voter approval; and o Provide for transition from the prior Charter when the Charter was adopted (Article XIV); and •Renumbering and updating section cross-references throughout the Charter? Headline Copy Goes Here 16 Summary of Proposed Amendments – Item E. Ord. 067, 2025 Reformatting and Updating Entire Charter: Exhibit A to Ordinance – reformatted for readability replace outdated language for gender neutrality eliminate unclear use of the word “shall” divide lengthy sections into subsections and subsection titles Headline Copy Goes Here 17 Summary of Proposed Amendments – Item E. Ord. 067, 2025 Eliminates Obsolete Provisions : Residency requirement for department heads for City department heads appointed prior to March 6, 1983 – no employee fits this category Mill levy cap on Council’s adoption of taxes that Council must now adopt with voter approval Provide for transition from the prior Charter when the Charter was adopted Headline Copy Goes Here 18 Summary of Proposed Amendments – Item F. Ord. 068, 2025 District Councilmember and Mayor Vacancies– Process: Vacancy promptly and publicly announced On City website Headline Copy Goes Here 19 Summary of Proposed Amendments – Item F. Ord. 068, 2025 Updating Vacancy Provisions— Shall the Charter of the City of Fort Collins be amended to update the process for filling a vacant Council or Mayoral office and to clarify how existing term limits apply to partial terms to fill a vacancy, by: •Requiring the Council to appoint a replacement to fill a District Councilmember vacancy within 40 business days, unless there are fewer than 98 days (14 weeks) left in the term that was vacated, or unless the vacancy comes up so close to an election that it’s too late for the voters to elect a replacement (in which case the newly seated Council will fill the vacancy after it takes office); and •Continuing the requirement that if the Mayor office is vacated, the Mayor Pro Tem becomes the Acting Mayor; and •Requiring that if the Acting Mayor will be in that role for 98 days (14 weeks) or more, the Council will appoint a replacement District Councilmember to serve in the seat while the Acting Mayor is Acting Mayor; and •Establishing that when a member of Council is elected or appointed to fill a vacancy and serves in that office for at least half of the term of office, that service will count as a full term when applying the applicable term limits (which are currently the term limits provided in the Colorado constitution)? Headline Copy Goes Here 20 Summary of Proposed Amendments – Item F. Ord. 068, 2025 District Councilmember Vacancy— Council has 40 business days to choose and appoint new member If less than 98 days/14 weeks in term of vacating Councilmember, the Council will consist of six members until the beginning of the term of the newly elected district Councilmember after the election. Headline Copy Goes Here 21 Summary of Proposed Amendments – Item F. Ord. 068, 2025 District Councilmember Vacancy— If seat scheduled on ballot OR if vacancy arises when at least 10 days to collect nominating signatures, then: The district seat will be on the ballot If too late to be on ballot for next election, Council will choose and appoint after the new Council begins term Headline Copy Goes Here 22 Headline Copy Goes Here 23 Headline Copy Goes Here 24 Summary of Proposed Amendments – Item F. Ord. 068, 2025 Mayor Vacancy— Mayor Pro Tem becomes Acting Mayor on date of vacancy Council elects an Interim Mayor Pro Tem @ next meeting Headline Copy Goes Here 25 Summary of Proposed Amendments – Item F. Ord. 068, 2025 Mayor Vacancy— If less than 98 days/14 weeks in term of Acting Mayor, the Council will consist of six members until the beginning of the term of the newly elected district Councilmember after the election. Headline Copy Goes Here 26 Summary of Proposed Amendments – Item F. Ord. 068, 2025 Mayor Vacancy— If at least 98 days/14 weeks left in term of Acting Mayor: 1)Council will fill District Council seat temporarily open due to switch to Acting Mayor 2)Term of appointed replacement district Councilmember will continue until either Acting Mayor returns to original seat OR their original term ends Headline Copy Goes Here 27 Headline Copy Goes Here 28 Headline Copy Goes Here 29 Headline Copy Goes Here 30 Summary of Proposed Amendments – Item F. Ord. 068, 2025 Vacancy Provisions— Key Questions 1.Is 40 business days the right timeframe for Council to make an appointment? 2.Is 10 days remaining to circulate nominating petitions the right cutoff for placing the office on the ballot? 3.What is the minimum amount of time an appointee should be in office (and when should the position just stay vacant for the remainder of the term)? Headline Copy Goes Here 31 Headline Copy Goes Here 32 Summary of Proposed Amendments – Item F. Ord. 068, 2025 Clarify application of term limit to Councilmember appointed or elected to fill vacated term of office— Any person appointed or elected to fill vacancy on Council and who serves at least one-half of term has served that office term when applying applicable term limit. Headline Copy Goes Here 33 Numbering of Amendments On April 15, Council will establish the order of the amendments to be presented on the ballot by motion prepared by staff. prepare the motion. Headline Copy Goes Here 34 PROPOSED BALLOT QUESTIONS CONSOLIDATED FOR REFERENCE Ordinance No. 63 — A PROPOSED CHARTER AMENDMENT AMENDING ARTICLES II, IX, AND X OF THE CITY CHARTER TO CORRECT ERRORS AND CONFORM TO AMENDMENTS ADOPTED IN NOVEMBER 2024: Shall Articles II, IX, and X of the Charter of the City of Fort Collins, be amended to correct errors and eliminate outdated or unnecessary language in light of the Charter amendments adopted in November 2024, by:  Clarifying in Section 2(d) of Article II that a registered elector must notify the City Clerk before seeking a court determination to challenge the qualifications of any member of the Council; and  Updating language in Section 2(e)(1) of Article IX about determining the number of votes cast in a specific race to work with the new ranked voting rules that were approved in November 2024; and  Changing language in Section 2(e)(1) of Article X to restore the number of days for a signature gatherer to circulate an initiative petition by increasing it from 63 days to 77 days? Ordinance No. 64 — A PROPOSED CHARTER AMENDMENT AMENDING ARTICLES II, IV AND XIII OF THE CITY CHARTER RELATED TO ALIGNMENT WITH AMENDED OR FURTHER DEVELOPED LAWS AND REMOVING INCONSISTENCIES: Shall Articles II, IV, XIII of the Charter of the City of Fort Collins be amended to improve consistency with amended or further developed laws and removing inconsistencies, in order to minimize conflicts between the Charter legal developments, by:  Changing Section 8 of Article II about contributions to City Council elections to: o Specify which city employees are prohibited from contributing to Council elections for consistency with state law; o Continue to prohibit a political party, public service corporations, and persons or entities with city contracts from contributing to any City Council election, while recognizing that some speech is protected by the U.S. or Colorado constitution;  Adding definitions to Article XIII to correspond to the changes to Article II; and  Adding language to Section 11 of Article II incorporating state law pro visions regarding City Council executive sessions; and  Clarifying language in Section 5 of Article IV that City records are available for public inspection and disclosure consistent with state open records laws? Ordinance No. 65 — A PROPOSED CHARTER AMENDMENT AMENDING ARTICLES II AND IV OF THE CITY CHARTER TO MODERNIZE CERTAIN PROVISIONS: Shall Articles II and IV of the Charter of the City of Fort Collins, be amended to modernize publication requirements and requirements for adopting ordinances, by:  Revising Section 6 of Article II about adopting ordinances, resolutions, and motions to: o Make the provision easier to read and understand by adding subsections, subsection titles and better organizing them; o Remove language entitling any Councilmember to request that an entire ordinance be read aloud at a Council meeting; and  Revising Section 7 of Article II about publication and effective date of ordinances to: o Allow an ordinance to proceed to adoption if publication of the ordinance before adoption was not timely, so long as all other notice requirements have been met; and. o Cure late publication of ordinance after final passage if publication completed within a reasonable period of time; and o Delay the effective date of the ordinance until publication requirements are met; and o Toll the deadline to file a notice of referendum protest; and  Revising Section 7 of Article IV to require notice be published on the City’s website and posted at City Hall, instead of publishing formal legal notices in a local newspaper; and  Adding a new Section 17 to Article IV of the Charter of the City of Fort Collins about how to apply deadlines throughout the Charter in the manner already enacted for Articles VIII, IX and X? Ordinance No. 66 — A PROPOSED CHARTER AMENDMENT AMENDING ARTICLE IV OF THE CITY CHARTER RELATED TO CONFLICTS OF INTEREST: Shall Section 9 of Article IV of the Charter of the City of Fort Collins, regarding conflicts of interest, be amended to:  Allow City Councilmembers or the Mayor to sell real property to the city if the property is needed for a city project or public use, while retaining all requirements for disclosure and refraining from involvement that otherwise apply in the case of a conflict of interest; and  Allow City employees to rent property from the city with City Manager approval, if it is for the city’s benefit and related to the employee’s performance of their job? Ordinance No. 67 — A PROPOSED CHARTER AMENDMENT AMENDING THE CITY CHARTER TO MODERNIZE AND UPDATE IT BY REFORMATTING AND UPDATING LANGUAGE USAGE FOR EASE OF READING AND CLARITY AND ELIMINATING INAPPLICABLE AND INVALID PROVISIONS: Shall the Charter of the City of Fort Collins be amended to modernize and update it by reformatting and updating language usage for ease of reading and clarity, and eliminating inapplicable and invalid provisions, without undoing any substantive Charter amendments approved by the voters at the Tuesday, November 4, 2025, municipal election, by:  Changing the words "shall" to "will," "must" or “may,” or other words to improve clarity; and  Making the language more inclusive by taking out words "he ” and “she” and related word forms; and  Dividing sections into subsections and adding titles to subsections to make them easier to read and understand; and  Eliminating transitional provisions that o Address residency requirements for City department heads appointed prior to March 6, 1985 (Section 3 of Article IV); and o Set a mill levy cap on Council’s adoption of taxes (Section 6 of Article IV), which Council must now adopt only with voter approval; and o Provide for transition from the prior Charter when the Charter was adopted (Article XIV); and  Renumbering and updating section cross-references throughout the Charter? Ordinance No. 68 — A PROPOSED CHARTER AMENDMENT AMENDING SECTION 1 AND 18 OF ARTICLE II OF THE CITY CHARTER RELATED TO VACANCIES AND APPLICATION OF TERM LIMITS TO PARTIAL TERMS: Shall the Charter of the City of Fort Collins be amended to update the process for filling a vacant Council or Mayoral office and to clarify how existing term limits apply to partial terms to fill a vacancy, by:  Requiring the Council to appoint a replacement to fill a District Councilmember vacancy within 40 business days, unless there are fewer than 98 days (14 weeks) left in the term that was vacated, or unless the vacancy comes up so close to an election that it’s too late for the voters to elect a replacement (in which case the newly seated Council will fill the vacancy after it takes office); and  Continuing the requirement that if the Mayor office is vacated, the Mayor Pro Tem becomes the Acting Mayor; and  Requiring that if the Acting Mayor will be in that role for 98 days (14 weeks) or more, the Council will appoint a replacement District Councilmember to serve in the seat while the Acting Mayor is Acting Mayor; and  Establishing that when a member of Council is elected or appointed to fill a vacancy and serves in that office for at least half of the term of office, that service will count as a full term when applying the applicable term limits (which are currently the term limits provided in the Colorado constitution )? Vacancy occurs in District Councilmember office when announced on City website. Council has 40 business days to choose a new member. No replacement appointment is made if the vacancy arises less than 98 days/14 weeks before the end of the term of the vacated office. If District Councilmember seat is already scheduled to be on ballot: If vacancy arises when there are at least 10 days to collect nominating signatures before City elections begin: The District Councilmember office remains on the ballot. If it is too late for vacated District Councilmember office to be added to the ballot: Council chooses a new District Councilmember after the new Council begins its term. Vacancy of District Councilmember Vacancy occurs in office of Mayor when announced on City website. Mayor Pro Tem becomes Acting Mayor. Council elects a new interim Mayor Pro Tem at their next meeting. If at least 98 days/14 weeks remain in District office of Acting Mayor: If fewer than 98 days/14 weeks remain in District office of Acting Mayor: Council will fill vacant District Council seat that is temporarily open due to Mayor Pro Tem assuming office of Acting Mayor. The Council will consist of 6 members until the beginning of the term of the newly elected district Councilmember after the election Interim Mayor Pro Tem continues their term until the earlier of: The return of the Acting Mayor to the original District Councilmember office, and selected District replacement term ends. The end of the original District term of office. Vacancy of Mayor