San Diego Rules Committee Meeting – January 10, 2018: Ballot Measures and School Board Elections Update
STREAMING COPY IN PREPARATION — RECORDING AVAILABLE FROM THE ORIGINAL SOURCE
San Diego Rules Committee Meeting – January 10, 2018
The San Diego City Council Rules Committee convened on January 10, 2018, at 09:15 AM. Members present: Council President Cole, Vice Chair Kercy, and Councilmembers Kate, Ward, and Bree. The meeting included non-agenda public comment, an update from the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) on school board election reform, and initial review of 20 ballot measure proposals for potential placement on the November 2018 ballot (with June 5, 2018, as the submission deadline). The committee voted on several motions and referred multiple items for further analysis.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Beryl Flom (League of Women Voters of San Diego) urged the committee to revisit city attorney opinions on removing city manager references and integrating Article 15 (strong mayor) into the charter.
- Daniel Shamowski highlighted sidewalk repair as a public safety issue, noting it cost over $3,000–$4,000 for property owners and contradicted the city’s Vision Zero and alternative transportation goals.
- John Stump proposed a workshop on lowering the voting age to 16 or 13 and requested a council policy on contract provisions (climate, stormwater, water conservation, waste management) to avoid brinkmanship.
- Catherine Rhodes raised concerns about missing comprehensive annual financial reports (CAFRs) for the successor agency and low‑moderate income housing asset fund since FY2012 and reported that the district attorney would investigate her charges of corruption.
- Byron Ware (Prevent Drowning Foundation of San Diego) requested assistance with a proposed junior lifeguard facility on parkland, referencing a 2015 city attorney opinion on Section 55 of the charter.
- Peter Komiskey (Rise Up for Us and Culture, representing 70+ arts organizations) expressed support for increased services funded through the Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT).
- Numerous public speakers testified on school board election reform, expressing both support for and opposition to term limits, subdistrict elections, and the SDUSD community engagement process.
Discussion Items
- Item 2 – Update from San Diego Unified School District on Grand Jury Report: SDUSD Board Trustee Richard Barrera and Vice President Dr. Sharon Whitehurst-Payne presented a community engagement plan approved unanimously by the school board. The plan includes an advisory committee, town hall meetings in each subdistrict, a survey, and a report with recommendations. The committee discussed the process, and Councilmember Cole requested an update in April 2018. No vote was taken.
- Item 1 – Ballot Measure Proposals (Subitems A–T): The committee reviewed 20 proposals grouped by subject. Key presentations and votes:
- Subitem A (Councilmember Alvarez): Dedicate TOT growth to homelessness services. Motion by Councilmember Ward to refer option two (half of incremental TOT growth) to staff and the budget committee for analysis. Passed 3-2 (Cole, Ward, Bree in favor; Kercy, Kate opposed).
- Subitems E, F, J (School Board Term Limits/Reform): Motions to advance individual proposals all failed 2-3 (Kercy and Kate in favor; Cole, Ward, Bree opposed).
- Subitem B (Robert Ottily – Ethics Reform): Motion by Ward to refer for staff analysis failed 2-3 (Bree, Ward in favor; Cole, Kercy, Kate opposed).
- Subitem O (League of Women Voters – Salary Setting Commission): Motion by Bree lacked a second, so no action.
- Subitems C and D (Renee Smith – Zoo Tax and Balboa Park Maintenance): No motions were made.
- Subitem S (John Stump – Zoo Budgeting Standards): Motion by Ward to refer to Economic Development Committee lacked a second; the chair agreed to docket it.
- Subitem G (Catherine Rhodes – Online Travel Agents TOT): No motion.
- Subitem I (Jeff Bennett – Nonpartisan Offices): No motion.
- Subitem K (University Heights Library District): No motion.
- Subitem L (CLEAR – Public Electric Utility): Motion by Bree to refer to Budget Committee passed 3-2 (Bree, Ward, Cole in favor; Kercy, Kate opposed).
- Subitem M (John Stump – Net Neutrality/Municipal Broadband): Motion by Bree to refer to Economic Development Committee passed 3-1 (Kercy recused; Cole, Ward, Bree in favor; Kate opposed).
- Subitem N (League of Women Voters – People’s Ordinance): Motion by Ward lacked a second.
- Subitem Q (John Stump – Public Health & Housing Budget): No motion.
- Subitem R (Veterans Business Preference): Motion by Kercy to direct city attorney legal analysis passed unanimously.
- Subitem T (IBA – Audit Committee Appointment): Motion by Cole to refer to staff for drafting, with a later decision on which ballot (June or November), passed unanimously.
- Item 3 – Review of 2017 Rules Committee Year‑End Report: Informational item; Councilmember Ward noted the omission of Councilmember Kate and a missing report from the City Funds Commission. No action taken.
Key Outcomes
- Subitem A: Referred to staff and budget committee for further analysis on dedicating half of incremental TOT growth to homelessness (motion carried 3-2).
- Subitems E, F, J: School board election reform proposals not advanced to ballot draft stage (all failed 2-3).
- Subitem B: Ethics reform proposal sent for staff analysis (motion failed 2-3).
- Subitem L: Public electric utility feasibility referred to Budget Committee (motion carried 3-2).
- Subitem M: Municipal broadband/net neutrality referred to Economic Development Committee (motion carried 3-1).
- Subitem R: City attorney directed to perform legal analysis on veterans’ business tax and employment preference (motion carried unanimously).
- Subitem T: City attorney directed to draft charter amendment language for audit committee appointment process; committee will later decide whether to place on June or November ballot (motion carried unanimously).
- The committee will hold its next meeting on February 7, 2018.
Meeting Transcript
That committee members, Kate, Ward, and Vice Chair Kercy are present. The committee record of actions from November the first, twenty seventeen will be approved by unanimous consent unless pulled for discussion, the end nylon. Do we have any members of the public who wish to speak to a non-agenda public comment? Yes, so you want to John, are you on non-agenda public? You'll get called when it's okay. So the first one is uh Beryl Flom. You have two minutes. The next after her is Daniel Schmowski. After that it will be Peter Komanski, followed by John Stump. Thank you. I'm Beryl Flom representing the League of Women Voters of San Diego. We worked with Sherry Leitner's committee, uh rules committee on the charter review changes for over a year. And uh there are a couple of things that that weren't done, I think mainly because of city attorney opinions. One is to remove the city manager references from the charter, and the other is to integrate Article 15, which is strong mayor, into the rest of the charter. It's kind of tacked on at the end and doesn't read well. So I would suggest that uh you get another opinion on that, and uh maybe we can straighten out this charter a little bit better. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next is Daniel Shamowski. Thank you everyone for having me. I'm here because a couple of weeks ago, I was walking on a sidewalk in the dark and fell flat on my chest. I couldn't get up. I laid there for at least 15, 20 minutes, and um it occurred to me that we have a big problem in this city. And it's Pennywise and Pound Foolish to not have the City of San Diego pay for repair of these sidewalks long term. To have um property owners pay for it is exorbitant. It cost over three, four thousand dollars for them to repair their sidewalk. And um it's a time bomb. And we're looking for some really big big problems, I'm telling you, and uh one more issue here. We as a city, we promote vision zero, we promote circulate San Diego, we promote alternative transportation, we promote walking. How can we promote all these things without having this public safety issue addressed? It's a public safety issue. What's going to happen when I fall down and crack my head open? Somebody's gonna pay. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Next we have uh John Stump followed by Catherine Rhodes, followed by Byron Ware. Happy New Year. Uh I'm talking about your work plan for twenty eighteen. Over the holidays, I saw several programs on C SPAN calling for changes to the voting age and empowerment of persons between the ages of thirteen and sixteen. Um I think this is gonna be a big issue. I think you should think about it. Uh because I've been through one change in voting age. During the Vietnam War, we changed it from twenty-one to eighteen, and immediately thereafter, all the rest of the rights for 21-year-olds came to 18-year-olds. So we could drink, we could make contracts. Uh now today we'd be able to use marijuana. So I want you, you know, I think there's a workshop that you need to hold on this subject. Particularly, there's the two discussions I've heard are 16 and 13. Now, in the Judeo-Christian tradition, 13 is an established age. But 16, I don't know any rational basis for that.
openpublica.com