HomeMy WebLinkAbout12 LIMIT COUNCIL TERMS 02-18-97Inter-Com
NO. 12
2-18-97
DATE:
FEBRUARY 18, 1997
TO'
FROM'
SUBJECT:
WILLIAM A. HUSTON, CITY MANAGER
OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK
ORDINANCE NO. 1175, CONFIRMING VOTERS' WISHES TO LIMIT CITY
COUNCIL TERMS
RECOMMENDATION:
Have second reading by title only and adoption of Ordinance No. 1175 (roll call
vote).
BACKGROUND:
The following Ordinance No. 1175 was introduced at the February 3, 1997 City
Council meeting:
ORDINANCE NO. 1175 - AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
TUSTIN, CALIFORNIA, CONFIRMING THE VOTERS' WISHES EXPRESSED ON
NOVEMBER 8, 1994, TO LIMIT CONSECUTIVE TERMS OF MEMBERS OF THE CITY
COUNCIL
Valerie Crabill
Chief Deputy City Clerk
1 :ORDMEMO
! ORDINANCE NO. 1175
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AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF TUSTIN, CALIFORNIA,
CONFIRMING THE VOTERS' WISHES EXPRESSED ON NOVEMBER 8, 1994, TO
LIMIT CONSECUTIVE TERMS OF MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL.
The City Council of the City of Tustin hereby ordains as
follows:
SECTION 1.
AUTHORITY.
This Ordinance is enacted pursuant to Government Code
Section 36502.5 (Chapter 310, 1996 Statutes; SB 1421).
SECTION 2.
FINDINGS.
On November 8, 1994, at a regularly scheduled election,
the electors of the City of Tustin approved a proposal to limit
consecutive terms of members of the City Council to two (2) full
consecutive terms. This proposal added Section 1307 of Chapter 3
of Article 1 of the Tustin City Code. This ordinance contains the
same provisions on the limitation of City Council terms as the
proposal approved by Tustin electors.
SECTION 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF LIMITATIONS ON CONSECUTIVE TERMS OF
MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL.
Section 1307 of Chapter 3 of Article 1 of the Tustin
City Code is hereby amended to read as follows:
"1307 Limitation on Consecutive Terms of Members of the Council.
(a) FindinGs and Purpose.
The City Council hereby acknowledges that the voters of
Tustin have found and declared that:
(1) The Founders established a system of
representative government based upon free, fair, and competitive
elections. The increased concentration of political power in the
hands of incumbent representatives has made our electorial system
less free, less competitive, and less representative.
(2) The ability of legislators to serve an
unlimited number of terms contributes heavily to the extremely high
number of incumbents who are reelected. This unfair incumbent
advantage discourages qualified candidates from seeking public
office and creates a class of career politicians, 'instead of the
citizen representatives envisioned by the Founders. These career
politicians become representatives of the bureaucraCy, rather than
of the people whom they are elected to represent. ~
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Ordinance No. 1175
Page 2
(3) The purpose of this Ordinance is to restore
a free and democratic system of fair elections, and to encourage
qualified candidates to seek public office, by limiting the powers
of incumbency, by placing limitations upon the number of
consecutive terms which may be served by members of the City
Council.
(b) Limi~iQn$ Qn CQnsecutive Terms for CQuncil Members.
(1) No person shall be elected as a member of the City
Council for more than two (2) full consecutive terms. Any member
of the City Council who has served two (2) consecutive terms shall
not be reelected as a member of the City Council for at least two
(2) years from the last date of the second consecutive term.
(2) This Ordinance shall not operate to shorten any
current term of members of the City Council presently in office.
(3) This Ordinance shall apply prospectively from the
effective date of the enactment of Government Code Section 36502.5,
which date is January 1, 1997.
SECTION 4
SEVERABI. LITY.
If any section, subsection, subdivision, sentence,
clause, phrase, or portion to this Ordinance, is for any reason
held to be invalid or unconstitutional by the decision of any court
of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the
validity of the remaining portions of this Ordinance. The City
Council of the City of Tustin hereby declares that it would have
adopted this Ordinance, and each section, subsection, subdivision,
sentence, clause, phrase, or portion thereof, irrespective of the
fact that any one or more sections, subsections, sentences,
clauses, phrases, or portions thereof be declared invalid or
unconstitutional.
PASSED AND ADOPTED, at a regular meeting of the City Council
for the City of Tustin on'this day of , 1997.
ATTEST:
TRACY WILLS WORLEY, Mayor
PAMELA STOKER, City Clerk
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