2022 MEASURE L
Section 300. CITY COUNCIL, ATTORNEY, CLERK AND TREASURER. TERMS. The elective officers of the City shall consist of a City Council of seven members, a City Clerk, a City Treasurer and a City Attorney, all to be elected from the City at large at the times and in the manner provided in this Charter and who shall serve for terms of four years and until their respective successors qualify. Subject to the provisions of this Charter, the members of the City Council in office at the time this Charter takes effect shall continue in office until the expiration of their respective terms and until their successors are elected and qualified. Consistent with the staggered election process established in the new Charter in 1966 and reaffirmed in 2022, four members of the City Council shall be elected at the general municipal election held in 1966 2022, and each fourth year thereafter. Three members of the City Council shall be elected at the general municipal election held in 1968 2024, and each fourth year thereafter. No person shall be elected as a member of the City Council for more than two consecutive terms and no person who has been a member for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected a member shall be elected to the City Council more than one further consecutive term. Subject to the provisions of this Charter, the City Clerk, City Treasurer and City Attorney in office at the time this Charter takes effect shall continue in office until the expiration of their respective terms and the qualification of their successors. Consistent with the staggered election process established in the new Charter in 1966 and reaffirmed in 2022, a City Clerk and City Treasurer shall be elected at the general municipal election held in 1968 2024, and each fourth year thereafter. A City Attorney shall be elected in 1966 2022, and each fourth year thereafter.
The term of each member of the City Council, the City Clerk, the City Treasurer and the City Attorney shall commence on the first Monday regular City Council meeting following the certification of the election. Ties in voting among candidates for office shall be settled by the casting of lots random drawing process conducted by the City Manager during the first regular City Council meeting following the certification.
If no candidate meets the qualifications for office of the City Clerk, City Treasurer, or City Attorney, the City Council shall fill that position by appointment until the next municipal general election in which a qualified candidate is elected.
Section 303. MEETINGS AND LOCATION.
(a) Regular Meetings. The City Council shall hold regular meetings at least twice each month, unless it lacks a quorum or is canceled by the Mayor or a majority of City Council Members, at such time as it shall fix by ordinance or resolution and may adjourn or re-adjourn any regular meeting to a date and hour certain which shall be specified in the order of adjournment. and when so adjourned Each re-adjourned meeting shall be a regular meeting for all purposes. If the hour to which a meeting is adjourned is not stated in the order of adjournment, such meeting shall be held at the hour for holding regular meetings. If at any time any regular meeting falls on a holiday such regular meeting shall be held on the next business day.
Attachment 2- Proposed Changes from Measure L, 2022, with Exclusions 1 (b) Special Meetings. A special meeting may be called at any time by the Mayor, or by a majority of the members of the City Council, by written notice or current technology to each member of the City Council and to each local newspaper of general circulation, radio or television station requesting notice in writing. Such notice must be delivered personally, or by mail or by current technology at least twenty-four hours before the time of such meeting as specified in the notice.
The call and notice shall specify the time and place of the special meeting and the business to be transacted. No other business shall be considered at such meeting. If any person entitled to such written notice files a written waiver of notice with the City Clerk, it may be dispensed with. This notice requirement shall be considered fulfilled as to any person who is actually present at the meeting at the time it convenes. In the event of an emergency affecting the public peace, health or safety, a special meeting may be called as provided in this section with less than twenty-four hours written notice by the Mayor Pro Tem in the Mayor's absence or by any member of the City Council in the absence of both the Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem provided that the nature of the emergency is set forth in the minutes of the meeting.
(c) Place of Meetings. All regular meetings shall be held in the Council Chambers of the City or in such place within the City to which any such meeting may be adjourned. If, by reason of fire, flood or other emergency, it shall be unsafe to meet in the place designated, the meetings may be held for the duration of the emergency at such place within the City as is designated by the Mayor, or, if he the Mayor should fail to act, by a majority of the members of the City Council.
(d) Open Meetings. All regular and special meetings of the City Council shall be open and public, and all persons shall be permitted to attend such meetings, except that the provisions of this section shall not apply to executive closed sessions. Subject to the rules governing the conduct of City Council meetings, no person shall be denied the right to be heard by the City Council.
Section 304. QUORUMS, PROCEEDINGS AND RULES OF ORDER.
(a) Quorum. A majority of the members of the City Council shall constitute a quorum to do business but a lesser number may adjourn from time to time. In the absence of all the members of the City Council from any regular meeting or adjourned regular meeting, the City Clerk may declare the same adjourned to a stated day and hour. The City Clerk shall cause written notice of a meeting adjourned by less than a quorum or by the City Clerk to be delivered personally, or by mail or by current technology to each Council member at least twenty-four hours before the time to which the meeting is adjourned, or such notice may be dispensed with in the same manner as specified in this Charter for dispensing with notice of special meetings of the City Council.
Section 311. CITY TREASURER. POWERS AND DUTIES.
(d) Prepare and submit to the Director of Finance Chief Financial Officer monthly written reports of all receipts, disbursements and fund balances, and shall file copies of such reports with the City Manager and City Council.
Attachment 2- Proposed Changes from Measure L, 2022, with Exclusions 2 Section 312. VACANCIES, FORFEITURES AND REPLACEMENT.
(c) Replacement. In the event it the City Council shall fail to fill a vacancy by appointment within sixty days after such office shall become vacant, the City Council shall forthwith cause an election to be held to fill such vacancy for the remainder of the unexpired term.
Section 400. CITY MANAGER. COMPOSITION, TERM, ELIGIBILITY, REMOVAL. (d) Removal. The City Manager shall not be removed from office during or within a period of ninety days next succeeding any municipal election at which a member of the City Council is elected. At any other time the City Manager may be removed only at a regular meeting of the City Council and upon the affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the City Council. At least thirty days prior to the effective date of removal, the City Manager shall be furnished with a written notice stating the Council's intentions and, if requested by the City Manager, the reasons therefor. Within seven days after receipt of such notice, the City Manager may by written notification to the City Clerk request a public hearing before the City Council, in which event the Council shall fix a time for a public hearing which shall be held at its regular meeting place before the expiration of the thirty-day period above referred to. The City Manager shall appear and be heard at such hearing. After furnishing the City Manager with written notice of the intended removal, the City Council may suspend the City Manager from duty, but his the City Manager’s compensation shall continue until removal as herein provided. In removing the City Manager, the City Council shall use its uncontrolled discretion and its action shall be final and shall not depend upon any particular showing or degree of proof at the hearing, the purpose of which is to allow the City Council and the City Manager to present to each other and to the public all pertinent facts prior to the final action of removal.
Section 601. ANNUAL BUDGET, PREPARATION BY THE CITY MANAGER. At such date as the City Manager shall determine, each board or commission and each department head shall furnish to the City Manager, personally, or through the Director of Finance Chief Financial Officer, estimates of the department's, board's or commission's revenue and expenditures for the ensuing fiscal year, detailed in such manner as may be prescribed by the City Manager. In preparing the proposed budget, the City Manager shall review the estimates, hold conferences thereon with the respective department heads, boards or commissions as necessary, and may revise the estimates as may be deemed advisable.
Section 604. ANNUAL BUDGET. FURTHER CONSIDERATION AND ADOPTION. At the conclusion of the public hearing the City Council shall further consider the proposed budget and make any revisions thereof that it may deem advisable and on or before the last day of the fiscal year it shall adopt the budget with revisions, if any, by the affirmative vote of at least a majority of the total members of the Council. Upon final adoption, the budget shall be in effect for the ensuing fiscal year. Copies thereof, certified by the City Clerk, shall be filed with the City Manager, Director of Finance Chief Financial Officer, City Treasurer and the person retained by the City Council to perform the post audit function, and a further copy shall be placed, and shall remain on file in the office of the City Clerk where it shall be available for public inspection. The Attachment 2- Proposed Changes from Measure L, 2022, with Exclusions 3 budget so certified shall be reproduced and copies made available for the use of the public and of departments, offices and agencies of the City.
Section 801. DEFINITIONS. Unless the provisions or the context otherwise requires, as used in this Charter:
(a) "Shall" is mandatory, and "may" is permissive.
(b) "City" is the City of Huntington Beach and "department," "board," "commission," "agency," "officer," or "employee" is a department, board, commission, agency, officer or employee, as the case may be, of the City of Huntington Beach. (c) "County" is the County of Orange.
(d) "State" is the State of California.
(e) The masculine includes the feminine and the feminine includes the masculine. (f e) The singular includes the plural and the plural the singular. (g f) "Person" includes firm and corporation.
Section 804. CHARTER REVIEW. The City Council shall determine if there is a need to convene a citizen’s Charter Review Commission to conduct a review of the City Charter no less frequently than every ten years from the most recent formal Charter review conducted by a Charter Revision Commission, City Council, or City staff.
Attachment 2- Proposed Changes from Measure L, 2022, with Exclusions 4