1 STAFF REPORT
DATE: June 4, 2024
TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
FROM: Kimberley Clark, City Clerk
BY: Linda Thai, Assistant City Clerk
SUBJECT: Adoption of Resolutions Related to the Calling of the City of Burbank General Municipal Election to be held on Tuesday, November 5, 202 4; Requesting Election Consolidation with the Board of Supervisors of the County of Los Angeles; and Consideration of Est ablishing 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 5, 2024, FOR THE ELECTION OF TWO (2) MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL.
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 5, 202 4, 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 THE 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.
2 3. Adopt A RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BURBAN K ESTABLISHING THE COST OF CANDIDATE STATEMENT FEES FOR THE 202 4 GENERAL MUNICIPAL ELECTION.
BACKGROUND
The Burbank City Charter (Section 800) and the Burbank Municipal Code (Title 2, Chapter 3 - Elections) state that 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 the 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 (Charter) § 800 and the Burbank Municipal Code (BMC) § 2-3-113, “Candidates to be elected to the office of Council Member, City Clerk or City Treasurer shall be elected at a General Municipal Election. The candi date who receives the highest number of votes for that office is elected.”
All Municipal Elections shall be conducted and held in compliance with the Charter, BMC, and the State Elections Code, where applicable.
DISCUSSION
Resolution Calling and Consolidating Election
Pursuant to Charter § 800, BMC § 2-3-117, and the California Elections Code, 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 5, 2024, and will elect candidates to the following offices for a four -year term ending December 18, 2028: two Offices for Member of the City Council.
Resolution Requesting Election Services
California Elections Code § 10403 and BMC § 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 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 3 County Registrar -Recorder/County (County) Clerk (Attachment 2). The Burbank City Clerk's Office will continue to perform all nomination, campaign filing, 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 § 15372. The Burbank City Clerk shall present the results of the election to Council at the first City Council Regular meeting following receipt of the official election certification pursuant to BMC § 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 cons olidation, the City of Burbank agrees to reimburse the County for said costs.
Nomination Period
Pursuant to the BMC § 2-3-124 and California Elections Code §§ 10220, 10224, and 10407, t he Nomination Period for the City of Burbank November 5, 202 4, General Municipal Election will begin on Monday, July 15, 2024, at 8:00 a.m. and close on Friday, August 9, 2024 , at 5:00 p.m. In the event an incumbent does not file, the Nomination Period will be extended until Wednesday, August 14, 2024, at 5:00 p.m., for that seat only.
Candidate Statements
This resolution sets forth regulations pertaining to a candidate statement for the November 5, 2024, City of Burbank General Municipal Election. Pursuant to California Elections Code § 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 conditio n of having his or her statement included in the county voter information guide or electronically distributed.”
For the General Election scheduled for November 5, 2024 , the 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, 4 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 uses 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, the regulatory requirements of Assembly Bill 918 (AB 918) and the California Elections Code §§ 14201(d) and 12303(c) expand the availability of language assistance and election materials in languages other than English. The County analyzes the data and determines where individual minority language support is needed at the Vote Center level. Per the County Clerk, if a voter is registered to receive their election materials 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.) be cause each jurisdiction pays a prorated portion.
Pursuant to BMC § 2-3-143, each candidate for elective office may prepare a candidate statement of no more than two hundred (200) words to be printed in the Official Sample Ballot Booklet. A candidate also has the option to not provide a candidate statement. In addition, 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 § 13307(f) states this decision cannot be revoked or modified after the seventh day prior to the opening of the Nomination Period.
The cost of the candidate s tatement may be paid either partially or entirely by the candidates or the City. In 2020, Council determined it no longer wished to subsidize any portion of the English language candidate statement fees. For the City of Burbank November 5, 2024, General Municipal Election, a preliminary estimate provided by the County for a one-column (200 word) 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 either will bill the candidate for any additional cost, or refund any amount overpaid by the candidate for the candidate statement upon receipt of the final invoice from the County.
BMC § 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 the candidate is eligible to submit a statement without payment of the fee in advance. If it is determined that the candidate is indigent, the City Clerk shall print and mail the statement.”
5 ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
This activity has no potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment and, as such, is not a “project” subject to the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) 14 Cal. Code Regs. § 15378.
FISCAL IMPACT
Per the County, the current election cost estimate of $300,000 is based on 10 candidates for the two elective offices. This amount is for the County Election services only. Additional funding is needed for mandated legal notices, translation costs, and voter outreach material. As part of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2024-25 Proposed Budget, the City Clerk’s Office has requested an appropriation of $325,979 for the election cost and will request to carryover the funds from the FY 2024-25 Budget of approximately $360,000. 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 Council adopt the following resolutions:
1. Calling for the General Municipal Election of November 5, 2024;
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