Huntington Beach City Council Special Meeting: Charter Amendments Discussion - September 14, 2023
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Huntington Beach City Council Special Meeting: Charter Amendments Discussion - September 14, 2023
This special meeting on September 14, 2023, was the first of four scheduled sessions to gather public input on potential charter amendments for the March 5, 2024 primary election. The meeting was primarily a listening session, with over 39 public speakers and limited council deliberation. A motion by Councilmember Kalmick to abandon the entire charter amendment process was voted down, and the next meeting was set for September 21, 2023.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Majority opposition: 34 of the first 39 speakers opposed the proposed charter amendments, citing costs (estimated $1.2 million to place on the ballot), lack of evidence of voter fraud, bundling of unrelated measures, and the process being rushed. Many criticized the council majority for breaking campaign promises not to change the charter.
- Specific concerns: Speakers questioned the feasibility and cost of city-run elections, voter ID requirements, and the reduction of city clerk qualifications. Several demanded financial and legal analyses before proceeding.
- Support for some amendments: A few speakers supported voter ID requirements, arguing that ID is required for many activities and that election integrity is important. One speaker also supported requiring special elections for council vacancies.
- Procedural criticism: Several speakers expressed frustration that the meeting was announced only as a listening session, not a discussion, despite the agenda stating "discussion." They felt their time was wasted.
Discussion Items
- Process overview: City staff presented the timeline for four special meetings (Sept 14, 21, 28, and Oct 5) to gather public input, refine amendments, conduct straw votes, and finally place measures on the March 2024 ballot. The September 14 meeting was intended as a listening session without council deliberation.
- Motion to abandon charter process: Councilmember Kalmick moved to "abandon the entire charter amendment process" and not place any measures on the ballot. Councilmember Bolton seconded. The motion failed 3-3 (Kalmick, Moser, Bolton voting aye; Vandermark, Strickland, McKeon voting no; Burns absent).
- Disagreement over meeting format: Councilmember Kalmick argued the agenda called for discussion, not just listening. Mayor Strickland defended the listening session format, stating it maximizes public participation. Councilmember McKeon supported the process to encourage public input. City Attorney Gates noted he had no comment on the schedule.
Key Outcomes
- Motion to abandon charter amendments failed (3-3).
- The series of four meetings will continue as planned. The next meeting is September 21, 2023, at 6:00 PM.
- No formal decisions on charter amendments were made. Council will receive staff analyses (fiscal impacts, legal opinions) at the next meeting and will begin discussion and fine-tuning.
Meeting Transcript
I'd like to call special meeting of the city council public finance authority to order. Please note Councilman Burns has submitted a notice of absence for tonight's pursuant to resolution number 2001-54. Council member Moser will be arriving late for tonight's meeting as she is attending her daughters back to school night. Clerk, please call the roll. Councilmember Kalmick. Councilmember Mosier's not yet arrived. Mayor Pro Tim Vandermark. Here. Mayor Strickland? Here. Councilmember McKeon. Here. Councilmember Bolton. Here. Councilmember Burns is absent. Okay. Please rise today. We're going to be uh led by the Pledge of Allegiance by uh Councilmember McKinnon. Please stand if you're able and put your hand over your left heart. Pledge of allegiance to the flag. On my agenda, it doesn't have uh the prayer, but we'll just everybody bow their heads. Lord, uh please look after uh all the citizens who are coming in here to voice their opinion. Uh please look over uh all the employees of the city of Huntington Beach, all the council members. Uh please make sure everybody's safe and thank thank you, Lord, for leaving it in democracy who allows people to uh voice their opinions uh and in uh in God's uh will we all said amen. Okay, city clerk, do we have supplemental communications? Yes, Mayor. Um, as of 9 a.m. we had 31 email communications on our topic tonight, but we've received many more since then. And everything will be uploaded to the website as they come in. We'll do our best. But those 31 emails are already provided in the meeting details of tonight's meeting. That's it. Okay. So we go through. Uh I think it's important for um administrative I uh staff uh to uh maybe introduce kind of the process of these next um four four weeks, or uh Al, would you like me to do it or would you like to do it? Uh Travis, who are you were you or or Catherine gonna present? Well, I mean it goes through we just did supplemental and then we're gonna go through the speakers uh after I just think it's important for the audience to know the kind of process before we go through the to the 90 second speakers. If okay, Mayor, I think Catherine uh will you want to go over the the basic process? Just the basic process, not a little presentation. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening. Case so um just to provide a real quick rundown. During these next uh four meetings, community is invited to attend and provide prep public comments prior to and immediately after council discussion. Public comments will be limited per speaker, 90 seconds each, both before and after if they choose to um make comment twice. Um they can be in response to the amendments in the three ballot measures that were considered two weeks ago, or they can be new considerations that they'd like to propose to council. And uh this charter review process is really intended to encourage public participation for tonight's meeting. It really is kind of like a listening session. We're really inviting the public to share all of their ideas.
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