1 STAFF REPORT
DATE: August 9, 2022
TO: Justin Hess, City Manager
FROM: Judie Wilke, Assistant City Manager
BY: Viviana Garzon, Administrative Analyst II
SUBJECT: Review of the 2022 Charter Review Committee Recommendations
RECOMMENDATION
1) Note and file the Charter Review Committee Recommendation Letter. 2) Provide direction to staff on next steps following the Committee’s recommendations.
BACKGROUND
Per the Charter of the City of Burbank (Charter), specifically section 1400, every five years a Committee is to be appointed by Council to review the Charter and advise the Council whether a comprehensive Charter review is necessary. In full, section 1400 of the Charter states:
Not more than f ive (5) years following completion of the previous Charter review or the completion of the citizen committee review as provided in this paragraph, whichever is most recent, the Council shall appoint a citizen committee of five (5) members, one (1) appointed by each Council Member, to consider the Charter and advise the Council whether a comprehensive Charter review is necessary. The committee may recommend a full review, a limited, focused review, or no review.
Upon such recommendation the Council may appoi nt a full Charter Review Committee, the number and appointments of which shall be determined by the Council, to determine what, if any, Charter changes should be placed before the voters.
From time to time the Council may also place other proposed Charter changes before the voters.
CITY MANAGER’S
OFFICE
2 At the March 15, 2022 City Council meeting, each Council Member appointed a representative from the public to serve on the 2022 Charter Review Committee (Committee). As stated in section 1400 of the Charter, this Committee may recommend a full review; limited, focused review; or no review. Therefore, the City Council appointed the following five members to the Committee: Gavin Cho, Alejandro Escobar, Kevin Muldoon, Christopher Rizzotti, and Gloria Salas.
Prior to the first meeting, Committee members were given a binder with various documents to use as a resource during their review of the Charter, including:
• Charter of the City of Burbank
• League of California Cities Charter City Toolkit
• National Civic League Model City Charter, 9th Edition • List of former Charter Review Committee Topics
The Committee met on six separate occasions in the spring (3/31, 4/14, 4/28, 5/12, 6/2, and 6/16). The first three meetings were held via video teleconference and the next three meetings were held in person. All the meetings were open to the public and held in accordance with the Ralph M. Brown Act , including the posting of agendas 72 hours in advance of the meetings and a public comment period allowing call -in speakers and in person speakers. The staff liaisons to the Committee were City Attorney Joe McDougall, Assistant City Manager Judie Wilke, and Administrative Analyst Viviana Garzon. At the Committee’s second meeting on April 14, 2022, Christopher Rizzotti was elected as the Committee’s Chair with Gloria Salas serving as the Vice Chair.
The first order of business for the Committee was to agree upon the group’s mission to determine the most appropriate course of action to fulfill that mission. Accordingly, the Committee voted during their first meeting to provide staff with a list of topics within the Charter for the committee to review starting at the second meeting on April 14, 2022 (Attachment 2) . Topics that were requested by Committee members included: Term Limits, social inequity and discrimination clauses, capping of election funds, continuation of the hybrid public comment period, extending the review of the Charter to longer than five years, and powers of the Police Commission.
DISCUSSION
The Commit tee engaged in productive discussions that narrowed down the items presented on the original list of Charter discussion topics. Each member was given the opportunity to ask questions and express their opinions . S taff provided additional information as requested. The Committee received presentations from City Clerk Zizette Mullins, Police Chief Mike Albanese, and engaged in a healthy discussion with two members of the Police Commission. The discussions gave the Committee members a greater understanding of t he City’s history, organization, functions, and operations. A detailed account of these discussions is captured in the minutes from each meeting (Attachment 3).
3 In alignment with the purpose of the Committee, the following question w as raised throughout the discussions: Is a Charter amendment necessary for revising/improving a procedure, position, protocol etc. identified by Committee members? The Committee’s work culminated in them writing their recommendation letter to Council (Attachment 1).
Due to the topics the Committee identified for further study , the Committee concluded that the most appropriate action would be for Council to conduct a full review on the Charter. The topics include: 1) term limits for City Council members and B oard and Commission members, 2) the addition of a social inequity and discrimination clause in the Charter, and 3) amending section 1400 of the Charter to allow a charter citizen’s committee to be appointed every eight years, and at a minimum, one year pri or to an election year.
Per section 1400 of the Charter, the Council may appoint a full Charter Review Committee, the number and appointments of which shall be determined by the Council.
The Committee respectfully requests that they be considered as members of the full charter review committee.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no immediate fiscal impact should Council decide to consider the recommendations of the Committee.
CONCLUSION
The Committee has concluded that Council consider a full review of the Charter.
ATTACHMENT
Attachment 1: Charter Review Committee Recommendation Letter Attachment 2: Charter Review Committee List of Topics
Attachment 3: Charter Review Committee Meeting Minutes