1 STAFF REPORT
DATE: June 7, 2022
TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
FROM: Zizette Mullins, MMC, City Clerk
BY: Melissa Dekermenji, CMC, Administrative Analyst I
SUBJECT: Adoption of Resolutions Related to the Calling of the City of Burbank General Municipal Election to be held on Tuesday, November 8, 202 2; Requesting Election Consolidation with the Board of Supervisors of the County of Los Angeles; and Consideration of Establishing the Candidate Statement Cost
RECOMMENDATION
1. Adopt A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BURBANK
CALLING FOR THE HOLDING OF A GENERAL MUNICIPAL ELECTION FOR TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2022, FOR THE ELECTION OF THREE (3 ) MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL, ONE (1) OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK, AND ONE (1) OFFICE OF THE CITY TREASURER.
2. Adopt A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BURBANK,
REQUESTING THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF THE COUNTY OF LOS
ANGELES TO ORDER THE CONSOLIDATION OF A GENERAL MUNICIPAL ELECTION TO BE HELD ON TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2022 WITH THE
STATEWIDE GENERAL ELECTION TO BE HELD IN THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES THE SAME DAY; TO AUTHORIZE THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF
THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES TO CANVASS TH E RETURNS OF SAID GENERAL MUNICIPAL ELECTION; AND TO REQUEST THAT THE REGISTRAR-
RECORDER/COUNTY CLERK OF SAID COUNTY BE PERMITTED TO RENDER
FULL SERVICES TO THE CITY OF BURBANK RELATING TO THE CONDUCT OF
SAID GENERAL MUNICIPAL ELECTION PURSUANT TO CALIFORNIA
ELECTIONS CODE SECTIONS 10403 AND 10418.
CITY CLERK’S
OFFICE
2 3. Adopt A RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BURBANK ESTABLISHING THE COST OF CANDIDATE STATEMENT FEES FOR THE 2022 GENERAL MUNICIPAL ELECTION.
BACKGROUND
The Burbank City Charter (Section 800) and the Burbank Municipal Code (Title 2, Chapter 3 - Elections) state that the City Council shall, by resolution, order the holding of all municipal elections. Whenever two (2) or more municipal elections are consolidated, they may be ordered and consolidated by t he same resolution. Every resolution calling an election shall specify the object and time of holding the election and any other requirement as prescribed by the Los Angeles County Registrar -Recorder/County Clerk’s Office and/or State Law. Pursuant to City of Burbank Charter Section 800, “General Municipal Elections for the election of officers and for such other purposes as the Council may prescribe shall be held biennially on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November in each even-numbered year, or to coincide with any general statewide election held in November of each even-numbered year.”
Pursuant to the City of Burbank Charter Section 800 and the Burbank Municipal Code Section 2-3-113 states “Candidates to be elected to the office of Council Member, City Clerk or City Treasurer shall be elected at a General Municipal Election. The candidate who receives the highest number of votes for that office is elected.”
All Municipal Elections shall be conducted and held in compliance with the B urbank City Charter, Burbank Municipal Code, and the State Elections Code, where applicable.
DISCUSSION
Resolution Calling and Consolidating Election
Pursuant to Charter Section 800, Burbank Municipal Code Section 2- 3-117, and the California Elections Co de, elections shall be called by resolution (Attachment 1) .
Accordingly, this resolution stipulates general information regarding the date of the general municipal election, offices to be elected, and the method by which candidates shall be selected.
The City of Burbank General Municipal Election will be held on Tuesday, November 8 , 2022, and will elect candidates to the following Offices for a four (4) year term ending December 14, 2026: three (3) Offices for Member of the City Council , one (1) Office of the City Clerk, and one (1) Office of the City Treasurer.
Resolution Requesting Election Services
California Elections Code Section 10403 and Burbank Municipal Code Section 2- 3-117 permit municipal elections to be consolidated with statewide elections, and to be conducted as one election on the same day . This resolution is necessary to receive 3 approval from the County of Los Angeles Board of Supervisors (Board of Supervisors) to consolidate the election and for full election services for the General Municipal Election, to be performed by the Los Angeles County Registrar -Recorder/County Clerk (County) (Attachment 2). The Burbank City Clerk's Office will continue to perform all nomination, campaign filings, and ballot measure filing duties.
Furthermore, the consolidation allows for the election precincts, vote centers, and election officers be the same, and the County Elections Department to canvass the returns of the Election to be certified and provided to the Burbank City Clerk within 30 days of the Election pursuant to California Elections Code Section 15372. The Burbank City Clerk shall present the results of the election to the City Council at the first City Council Regular meeting following receipt of the official election certification pursuant to Burbank Municipal Code Section 2-3-146.
The Board of Supervisors is requested to issue any necessary instruction to the County Elections Department to take any and all steps necessary for the holding of the consolidated election. The Burbank City Clerk serves as the City’s Elections Official and is authorized and directed to work with the County Elections Department as necessary and appropriate.
If additional costs are incurred by the County for the purpose of this consolidation, the City of Burbank agrees to reimburse the County for said costs.
Candidate Statements
This resolution sets forth regulations pertaining to a candidate statement for the November 8, 2022 City of Burbank General Municipal Election. Pursuant to California Elections Code Section 13307(d) “the local agency may estimate the total cost of printing, handling, translating, mailing, and electronically distributing candidate’s statements filed pursuant to this section, including costs incurred as a result of complying with the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended. The local agency may require each candidate filing a statement to pay in advance to the local agency his or her estimated pro rata share as a condition of having his or her statement included in the county voter information guide or electronically distributed.”
Since 2007, the City Council had selected a subsidy of $300 towards each candidate statement for candidates running in the City of Burbank elections. Each candidate ha d paid an estimated pro rata share of the total cost as a condition for having their candidate statement included in the Official Sample Ballot Booklet (Sample Ballot).
Beginning with the 2006 Special Election, pursuant to the Federal Voting Rights Act (Act), the City of Burbank has been required to print an entirely bilingual Sample Ballot in English and Spanish. Furthermore, in addition to paying the subsid y of the English 4 candidate statement in the amount of $300 prior to the November 2020 Election, the City of Burbank has paid for the entire cost of printing and translating the candidate statements in Spanish for the bilingual Sample Ballot.
For the November 2020 Election, in addition to printing English and Spanish languages the City was required to print a multilingual Sample Ballot in Armenian and Thai. The City did not provide a subsidy for the English and the Spanish version of each candidate statement submitted to the City Clerk ; therefore, the candidates paid the full cost. The City translated and printed candidate statements for the voters who registered to receive their sample ballot in Armenian and Thai at no cost to the candidates.
For the November 8, 2022 General Election, t he Los Angeles County Registrar - Recorder/County Clerk has determined that, in addition to English, there are 18 mandated languages throughout the County of Los Angeles as follows : Armenian, Bengali, Burmese, Chinese, Farsi, Gujarati, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Mongolian, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, Telugu, Thai, and Vietnamese. The County no longer uses voting precincts to determine language requirements. The County use s Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analysis combined with the United States Census Bureau data to determine the demographic analysis to support election operations. This is due to California Senate Bill 450 which transformed the way elections are conducted in the state. In addition, due to the regulatory requirements of Assembly bill 918 (AB 918) and the California Election Code Sections 14201(d) and 12303(c). The County analyzes the data and determines where individual minority language support is needed at the Vote Center level. Per the Los Angeles County Registrar -Recorder/County Clerk, if a voter is registered to receive their election material in these mandated languages, the County will translate and print the requested Sample Ballot. The cost of the translation and printing of the sample ballots in the mandated languages is built into the overall cost of the election for each jurisdiction (includes Cities, Unified School Districts, Community College Districts, Water Districts, etc.) because each jurisdiction pays a prorated portion.
Pursuant to Burbank Municipal Code Section 2- 3-143, each candidate for an elective office may prepare a candidate statement of no more than two hundred (200) words . A candidate may choose to not provide a candidate statement to be printed in the Official Sample Ballot Booklet. In addition, the City Council is required to determine, by resolution, whether charges shall be levied against candidates for the cost of printing the candidate statement in the Sample Ballot . California Elections Code Section 13307 (f) states this decision cannot be revoked or modified after the seventh day prior to the opening of the Nomination Period. Pursuant to the Burbank Municipal Code Section 2- 3-124 and California Elections Code Sections 10220, 10224, and 10407, the Nomination Period for the City of Burbank November 8, 2022 General Municipal Election will begin on Monday, July 18, 2022, at 8:00 a.m. and close on Friday, August 12, 2022, at 5:00 p.m. 5 In the event an incumbent does not file, the Nomination Period will be extended until Wednesday, August 17, 2022, at 5:00 p.m., for that seat only. There will be three (3) full four (4) year term seats open for City Council, and one (1) full four (4) year term seat open for the Office of City Clerk, and one (1) full four (4) year term seat open for the Office of City Treasurer.
The cost of the candidate s tatement may be paid either partially or entirely by the candidates or the City. For the City of Burbank November 8 , 2022 General Municipal Election, a preliminary estimate provided by the County, for a one column ( 200 words) candidate statement is approximately $1,600 for the English Statement. The estimated cost is based on the number of registered voters to whom the Sample Ballot is sent and the number of pages in the Sample Ballot. The City of Burbank will either bill the additional cost or refund any amount overpaid by the candidates for the candidate statement upon receipt of the final billing from the County. Burbank Municipal Code Section 2-3-144 states that “if a candidate claims to be indigent and unable to pay in advance the requisite fee for submitting a candidate’s statement, the candidate shall submit to the City Clerk a Statement of Financial Worth to be used in determining whether or not he or she is eligible to submit a candidate’s statement with out payment of the fee in advance…If it is determined that the candidate is indigent, the City Clerk shall print and mail the statement.”
The City Council is being asked to consider the following options:
Option 1:
Adopt a resolution approving a subsidy in the amount of $300 toward the English language candidate statement fee. (Attachment 3)
Option 2:
Adopt a resolution setting the candidate statement fees at the full estimated amount of printing, handling, mailing, and electronically distributing the candidate statement and determining that the City Council no longer wishes to subsidize any portion of the English language candidate statement fees. (Attachment 4)
In 2020, the City Clerk’s Office conducted a City Clerk Listserv Query and out of the 41 cities that responded, it was found that 35 cities do not provide any subsidies and the candidate is required to pay the full cost for the candidate statement . The City Clerk’s Office will require a deposit from each candidate submitting a candidate statement with their Nomination Papers, based on the amount decided upon by the City Council. The City Clerk will also provide each candidate with a copy of the adopted R esolution at the time the candidates are issued their Nomination Papers.
6 FISCAL IMPACT
Per the County, t he current election cost estimate of $400,000 is based on the June 7, 2022 Statewide Direct Primary Election consisting of eighteen (18) candidates for the five (5) elective office s. This amount is for the County Election services only. Additional funding is needed for mandated legal notices, translation costs, and voter outreach material. The City Council appropriated $576,508 for the election cost at the May 24, 2022 City Council Joint Meeting Budget Public Hearing. The City Clerk’s Office will request to carryover the funds from the Fiscal Year 2021-22 Budget of approximately $253,000. As previously stated, if additional costs are incurred from the County by reason of this consolidation, the City agrees to reimburse the County for any costs.
CONCLUSION:
Staff is recommending City Council adopt the following resolutions:
1. Calling for the General Municipal Election for November 8, 2022;
2. Requesting Election Consolidation with the Board of Supervisors of the County of Los Angeles; and,
3. Establishing the Candidate Statement Fee.
ATTACHMENT
Attachment 1 – Resolution Calling the Election
Attachment 2 – Resolution Requesting Election Consolidation with the Board of Supervisors of the County of Los Angeles
Attachment 3 – Resolution Establishing the Candidate Statement Fee (Option 1) Attachment 4 – Resolution Establishing the Candidate Statement Fee (Option 2)