Cotati City Council
Agenda Staff Report
Item type: REGULAR AGENDA (ACTION)
To: City Council
Subject: Resolution Cancelling the November 8, 2022 General Municipal Election and Appointing the Nominated Candidates to the City Council Date: August 23, 2022
Written by: Kevin Patterson, Deputy City Clerk
Recommendation
It is recommended that the City Council adopt a Resolution cancelling the November 8, 2022 General Municipal Election and appoint Kathleen Rivers and Sylvia Lemus to the City Council for full four-year terms.
Background
At the June 14, 2022 City Council meeting, the Council adopted Resolution 2022-24 calling for the November 8, 2022 General Municipal Election and requested that the City consolidate with the Statewide General Election. The municipal election is for the election of two Councilmembers for full four-year terms. The initial nomination period ran from July 18, 2022, through August 12, 2022, and was extended to August 17, 2022, pursuant to Elections Code § 10225, after no incumbent filed papers for re-election. As of the close of the nomination period, Kathleen Rivers and Sylvia Lemus had been nominated.
Analysis/Discussion
As provided in Elections Code § 10229, the City Council may consider one of the following courses of action:
1. Appoint to the office the persons who have been nominated.
2. Appoint to the office any eligible voter if no one has been nominated.
3. Hold the election if either no one or only one person has been nominated.
A statement presenting the fact that there are no more candidates than offices to be elected and outlining the optional courses of action available to the Council is attached and has been formally presented to the City Council. A notice was also published in the Community Voice on August 19, 2022 pursuant to Elections Code § 10229(a)(3) and also published in three public places in the City on August 18, 2022. A decision to cancel the election and make the appointments must be made by the 75th day before the election (i.e. August 25, 2022); otherwise, the election shall be held. (Elections Code § 10229(a)(3)).
If the Council makes appointments pursuant to Elections Code § 10229, the Deputy City Clerk shall not accept for filing any statement of write-in candidacy, which is submitted after the appointment is made.
To cancel the election and appoint the two qualified candidates, the attached resolution would need to be adopted, which would seat the new council members as if there had been an election (i.e. swearing in on December 13, 2022). The resolution would need to be delivered to the Sonoma County Registrar of Voters by 5:00pm on Thursday, August 25, 2022.
Financial Considerations
The estimated cost of conducting an election when there are only two candidates for two seats, for the City of Cotati, is between $11,259 and $33,776. Should the Council decide to cancel the election, the only costs incurred would be for checking signatures on Nomination Papers. These nominal costs will not be known until calculated by the Registrar of Voters after the election, but they will be substantially less than the cost of holding the election.
Environmental Issues
This action does not qualify as a “Project” as defined in California Government Code § 15378(b) of the Guidelines for the California Environmental Quality Act.