PIEDMONT — The City Council held a special town hall meeting Monday to discuss possible changes to the city charter and review them for the public.
There is no council meeting on July 2, so a final decision on what changes will be made, if any, will likely be made at the July 16 council meeting. The public is encouraged to attend to register comments or email cityclerk@piedmont.ca.gov.
Some of the proposed changes are substantive, while others “clean up” or revise outdated language in the charter that has not been scrutinized since 1980. The city charter is Piedmont’s “constitution,” so any changes made to it must go before the voters in either a general or special election. Several proposed charter changes are significant. Should the City Council term limits be altered whereby a former council member must wait eight years after leaving office to run again? School board members reject this idea, saying they are comfortable with a four-year wait before running again for a seat.
The Piedmont Unified School District is included in this particular charter condition. Currently, the council has 30 days to make an appointment to fill a vacancy on the council. If it doesn’t act, the mayor can make an appointment. That would change to 60 days; if no appointment was made, a special election would be called to fill the vacancy. A requirement that the council hold two regular meetings per month would be revised to “holding meetings on a regular basis,” or at least one per month.
Another proposed amendment clarifies the duties of the City Council and city administrator. The council appoints department heads, but they are directed by and serve at the pleasure of the city administrator. Also, the charter could be changed so that the dollar threshold for bidding requirements for city projects is determined by the council. Currently, the city code allows projects from $5,001 to $75,000 to go through informal bidding, with projects of more than $75,001 to go through formal bidding.
Several other lesser provisions would be revised for clarity or eliminated because they are archaic. The council supports the eight-year waiting period for former members to run again, to eliminate the incumbency factor and encourage new faces to run for office. They surveyed other cities, some of which had no limits to term of office, which was not supported by the council.
Said Councilwoman Jen Cavenaugh, “We rolled up our sleeves and read the charter. So did many residents.”
The council began discussing charter amendments in June 2017 and subsequently at February, March, April and June council meetings.
“This is an eye-opening process but time-consuming and dry,” Councilwoman Teddy King said.