The following information comprises the minutes for a special meeting of the City Council, a joint meeting of the Banning City Council and Banning Utility Authority and a joint meeting of the Banning City Council and the Banning City Council sitting in its capacity as the Successor Agency Board.
MINUTES 2/6/2024
CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING
COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Council Member Sheri Flynn
Mayor Pro Tem Rick Minjares
Mayor Alberto Sanchez
Council Member Colleen Wallace
COUNCIL MEMBERS ABSENT: None
OTHERS PRESENT: Serita Young, City Attorney
Marie Calderon, City Clerk
Caroline Patton, Administrative City Clerk
1. CALL TO ORDER
Mayor Sanchez called the special meeting to order at 5:02 p.m.
1.1 Roll Call
COUNCIL MEMBER PRESENT: ABSENT
Flynn, Sheri
Minjares, Rick
Sanchez, Alberto
Wallace, Colleen
2. PUBLIC COMMENT – Agenda Items
• Frank Burgess
• Kathleen Dale
• Bill Hobbs
• Laura Leindecker
• Donald Bradshaw
• Coula Ringgold
3. WORKSHOP
3.1. Interviews of Candidates for Appointment to Fill City Council District 4 Vacancy Beverly Berry
David Happe
Kennan McCafferty
Mayor Sanchez announced a recess at 6:15 p.m. The meeting was reconvened at 6:32 p.m.
Special Meeting Minutes 2/6/2024 Page 2 of 2
Diego Rose
Richard Royce
3.2. Consideration of Resolution 2024-15, Appointing One Candidate to Fill the City Council District 4 Vacancy until a Successor has been Elected at the November 2024 General Municipal Election and Installed in Office Motion to adopt Resolution 2024-15, Appointing David Happe to fill the City Council District 4 Vacancy.
Motion by Mayor Sanchez
Seconded by Council Member Wallace
COUNCIL MEMBER YES NO ABSTAIN RECUSE ABSENT
Flynn, Sheri
Minjares, Rick
Sanchez, Alberto
Wallace, Colleen
Motion approved by a vote of 2-1-1.
4. OATH OF OFFICE
City Clerk Calderon administered the Oath of Office.
5. ADJOURNMENT
The Special City Council meeting adjourned at 7:31 p.m.
Minutes Prepared by:
Caroline Patton, Administrative City Clerk
These minutes have been prepared as Action Minutes in accordance with City Council Resolution 1995-21 and Government Code Sections 36814, 40801, and 54953(c)(2).
This entire meeting and all associated documents may be viewed here:
http://banning.ca.us/755/Agendas-and-Minutes---2024-to-Present ATTACHMENTS:
None
My: Statement to be read into the record- written and oral at the Februarv.. 6th, 2024 Workshoe_
The council seat for District 4 of the City of Banning (the "City") has been vacant for months. The City has known this for months.
While the City was obligated to publicly acknowledge and announce the vacancy, it chose not to do so. In fact, the City Council member for the Fourth District moved out of the district, perhaps as early as July 2023 to DISTRICT 5.
Around October 1st he moved to District 2 but still remains registered to vote in District 5. He informed the City Manager, City Attorney, and the Administrative City Clerk of his move. He announced to friends, family, and colleagues that he was living in a new home, in a new City Council district. The fact that he had moved from the Fourth District was known throughout the community, and notably, was known and made known to some members of the Banning City Council. But rather than declaring the seat vacant and calling for an election, the City continued to allow the council member to serve for months.
Had the City acted to fill the District 4 vacancy within the timeframe provided by law, it could have (and should have) called an election to fill that vacant seat, to be held concurrently with the Presidential Primary Election scheduled for March 5, 2024, affording Banning residents within District 4 the opportunity to elect a successor to that council seat and at very little cost. That course of action would have best served the rights of Banning's citizenry and most effectively addressed the lack of representation created when their elected council member vacated District 4.
But instead, the City chose to keep the District 4 vacancy secret, and to delay taking steps to address it, so as to create the impression that the first available election to fill that seat would not occur until the November 2024 General Election.
Simply put, the City of Banning (or those entrusted to carry out its affairs) manipulated the timeline so as to foreclose the option of placing the District 4 seat on the ballot this March, instead enabling the council to appoint a member of the council's choosing to hold office until the November, 2024 General Election.
By delaying the proceedings, the City "missed" the deadline to place the District 4 seat on the ballot, and instead created an impression that an appointment was the only viable option to fill that seat. Such actions-to take away the public's ability to vote, rendering the right to vote for their representative subservient to the council's desire to appoint a member that it finds suitable-is undemocratic and dictatorial.
Both state law and the Banning municipal code require that a council member reside within the district that he or she represents, and provide that a vacancy is created when a council member ceases to reside in the council district.
The Government Code establishes eligibility for by-district council seats (emphasis added):
A person is not eligible to hold office as a member of a municipal legislative body unless he or she is otherwise qualified, resides in the district and both resided in the geographical area making up the district from which he or she is elected and was a registered voter of the city at the time nomination papers are issued to the candidate as provided for in Section 10227 of the Elections Code.
(Gov. Code, § 34882 [emphasis added].)
The Banning Municipal Code 2.04.035 (NOT .040 or .050, as included erroneously included in the Staff report), provides further clarification that the vacancy is immediate, but allows for up to thirty days to seek a substitute residence within the required district boundary:
BMC 2.04.035: and I quote: " the council member elected to represent a district must reside in that district and be a registered voter in that district, and any candidate for city council must live in, and be a registered voter in the district in which he or she seeks election at the time nomination papers are issued, pursuant to California Government Code section 34882 and Elections Code section 10227.
It continues- 11Termination of residency in a district by a council member shall create an immediate vacancy for that council district unless a substitute residence within the district is established within thirty days after the termination of residency." The staff report has again failed to mention or attach the relevant portions of Banning's municipal code or the Government code regarding the fact that a council seat is immediately vacant if a member no longer resides in the district, and is specifically afforded 30 days to obtain a new residence within the respective district-Le., Banning Mun. Code, § 2.04.035, Again, highly pertinent information was withheld from Banning's residents, and likely from the remaining council members.
The people's rights are being abridged by the fact that the City seeks to appoint a council member to fill a vacancy when the law requires that the vacancy be filled by election and it is the ultimate RIGHT OF THE CITIZENS TO CHOOSE THEIR REPRESENTATIVE and to not do so undermines the public trust.
Given that the balance is between allowing elected officials who reside in and are elected from other districts and parts of the City, and giving the voters of the Fourth District the right to choose their own representative, the balance is decidedly in favor of promoting the right to vote whenever there is a doubt.
FOR THE FOREGOING REASONS I STRONGLY REQUEST THAT MY FELLOW
COUNCIL MEMBERS CHOOSE TO FOLLOW THE GOVERNMENT CODES AND THE
BANNING MUNICIPAL CODE AND DIRECT THE CITY TO HOLD A SPECIAL MAILED
ELECTION IN AUGUST AS PERMITTED BY THE SECRETARY OF STATE OR KEEP THE SEAT OPEN UNTIL THE NOVEMBER 2024 GENERAL ELECTION.
Sincerely,
Sheri Flynn
Banning City Council Member, District 3
2/6/2024