Elk Grove City Council To Review Draft Charter Tomorrow Night

Proposed charter would change how council members, mayor are elected The Elk Grove City Council will hear a report tomorrow night from the c...




Proposed charter would change how council members, mayor are elected


The Elk Grove City Council will hear a report tomorrow night from the city attorney on a draft of a proposed city charter.

The seven-person commission, which was formed a little more than a year ago, was charged with presenting a draft proposal so that Elk Grove could become a charter city. Currently the city operates as general law city.

Once the proposal is received by the city council, they will review it, gather public input and decide whether or not to put on the question of becoming a charter city to the voters during the November 2010 General Election.

According to a timeline on the city’s website, between June and November of this year the city council is to receive public input on the drafted charter.

Charter highlights in 25 page report

Among the highlights in the 25 page report being presented city attorney Susan Cochran include elements on how the city council members and the mayor are elected. Under the current general charter, members are elected by district by all voters of the city and the mayor is elected by fellow council members for a one year term.


In the draft, the city would be divided into six districts whereby council members would be elected by voters registered in their respective district only. The mayor would be elected on a citywide basis.

More power for mayor

Although the mayor would be but one of seven votes on the council, he would conduct the meetings and represent the city for ceremonial purposes. The draft does expand the power of the mayor. If granted by a majority of the city council, the mayor could have more involvement in city employee personnel matters.

The cost of the additional council members is estimated at $40,000 annually and the additional cost of district-by-district elections is estimated to cost an additional $60,000 per election.

The draft charter is expected to be contentious as the process moves forward as several interest groups have voiced concerns.

One such interest is labor. At a special meeting last March, Matt Kelly of the Sacramento-Sierra’s Building and Construction Trade Council was advocating inclusion of a living wage provision in the charter. It is expected that labor groups will continue this push as the process continues.


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6 comments

Anonymous said...

I pray that the citizens voices and ddesire to shape our city isn't silenced by politics. I look forward to the outreach workshop so that our opinions are included.
Gary Davis and Steve Detrick, you took a pledge to honor citizen input. let's work together and make this city great.

Anonymous said...

problem is the personal right wing agendas of the commisioners have taken over the process. The Council should scrap this commission and reappoint people that represent the people, not political parties.

Anonymous said...

The only right wacko with an agenda is Chris Orrock. The others are fair and articulate.
He is chair of some newly founded Republican Club. He needs to go. I don't think any of the others belong to such partisan groups.

Anonymous said...

anonymous 5:39pm needs an interpreter. By right wing agenda he means: people who don't want to give him a raise while cops are getting pay cuts. By people who represent the people he means he means people who can live with government service going bankrupt so that he can earn high wages. By process he means take it from the public and put things behind closed doors where money talks.

Anonymous said...

Since when does belonging to a political group make you a right wacko? BTW I have attended these Republican meetings and not only was Orrock in attendance, but Johnson, Rambo and Loveland as well.

Anonymous said...

Note to all: the unions that showed up are major donors to Cooper, Davis and Detrick. They bought their votes, plain and simple.
Why are they so afraid to have by district elections? They are afraid a grassroots movement like that in Sheldon will removes their compromised selves out of office.
Pathetic and politics as usual.
I plan to attend these meets are workshop and voice my concerns.
I have no problem with prevailing wage, I have a problem with hired guns and lobbyists that donate to majority of the Council to come to town and influece our Charter.

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