HomeMy WebLinkAboutORD 1559 (2024)Docusign Envelope ID: 131365C76C-91DOF-4801-9CM-401F39703920
ORDINANCE NO. 1559
AN ORDINANCE OF THE PEOPLE OF THE CITY OF TUSTIN,
CALIFORNIA REVISING THE LIMITATIONS ON CONSECUTIVE TERMS
OF THE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL
Pursuant to California Elections Code section 9222, the people of the City of Tustin
do hereby ordain as follows:
SECTION 1. Section 1307 of the Tustin City Code is hereby repealed in its entirety
and revised to read as follows:
1307- LIMITATION ON CONSECUTIVE TERMS OF MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF
THE COUNCIL
(a) Findings and Purpose
The people hereby find and declare:
(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
electoral systems 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.
(3) The purpose of this section is to ensure a free and democratic system of
fair elections, and to encourage qualified candidates to seek public
office, by limiting the powers of incumbency, by establishing limitations
upon the number of consecutive terms and consecutive years which a
person may be elected to serve as Mayor, as a member of the City
Council, or any combination thereof.
(b) Limitation on Consecutive Elected Terms: Any person who has served as a
member of City Council or in the office of Mayor, or any combination thereof,
for three consecutive terms or for twelve consecutive years, whichever is less,
shall not be eligible to be elected to the City Council or to the office of Mayor
for a period of eight calendar years from the last date of service on the City
Council or as Mayor.
Ordinance No.1559
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(1) If the person's service of the third consecutive term or the twelfth
consecutive year ends in December after a general election, that person
shall be eligible to run and be elected in the general election in November
of the calendar year eight years later. (For example: if a Council member's
third term ends upon certification of election results in December 2050, then
that person would be eligible to be elected in November 2058
notwithstanding that the election is less than eight full years after the last
date of service in 2050.)
(c) ,Definition of a Term: When a person serves less than a full term as member
of the City Council or as Mayor due to appointment, resignation, vacancy, or
due to special election to fill a vacancy, such service in office shall be counted
toward the limitation on consecutive elected terms if the individual served two
or more years (728 days or more) of that term.
(d) Appointment to Fill a Vacancy: This section shall not be construed to prevent a
person from being appointed to fill a vacancy on the City Council or in the office
of Mayor at any time.
(e) ,Retroactivity: Pursuant to California Government Code section 36502(b), this
section shall apply prospectively only. This section shall apply to the terms of
office commencing with the election in November 2024. Terms that are
commenced, and years that are served, as members of the City Council or as
Mayor prior to November 2024 shall not be included when calculating the
number of terms or years served for purposes of this section.
SECTION 2: Ordinances 1126, 1175, and 1180 are hereby repealed in their
entirety, effective upon the effective date of this ordinance.
SECTION 3: Pursuant to California Elections Code 9217, this ordinance shall be
become valid and binding if a majority of the voters voting on the proposed ordinance
vote in its favor. It shall be considered as adopted upon the date that the vote is declared
by the City Council, and shall go into effect 10 days after that date.
SECTION 4: If any section, subsection, subdivision, paragraph, sentence, clause,
or phrase in this Ordinance, or any part thereof, is for any reason held to be
unconstitutional or invalid, or ineffective by any court of competent jurisdiction, such
decision shall not affect the validity or effectiveness of the remaining portions of this
Ordinance, or any part thereof. The People of the City of Tustin hereby declare that they
would have passed this Ordinance and each section, subsection, subdivision, sentence,
clause, and phrase thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more sections,
subsections, subdivisions, sentences, clauses, or phrases are subsequently declared
unconstitutional or otherwise invalid or ineffective.
Ordinance No. 1559
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ADOPTED by vote of the People of the City of Tustin on the 5t" day of
November, 2024, and declared and certified by the Tustin City Council on the 3rd day
of December 2024.
[— Signed by:
AU P+cLEWIBARD,
Mayor
ATTEST:
DS
5
Signed by:
Ca m'
ER DAD �1DA,
City Clerk
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
DocuSigned by:
7�'Z'179
DAVtD8E37KEtqDIG
City Attorney
STATE OF CALIFORNIA )
COUNTY OF ORANGE ) ss.
CITY OF TUSTIN )
I, Erica N. Yasuda, City Clerk, and ex off icio Clerk of the city Council of the City of Tustin,
California, does hereby certify that the whole number of the members of the City Council
of the City of Tustin is 5; that the adoption of the above and foregoing Ordinance Number
1559 was duly declared and certified by the Tustin City Council at a meeting held on the
3rd day of December, 2024, by the following vote:
COUNCILMEMBERS AYES: Lumbard, Gallagher, Clark, Gomez, Schnell (5)
COUNCILMEMBERS NOES: (0)
COUNCILMEMBERS ABSTAINED: (0)
COUNCILMEMBERS ABSENT: (0)
COUNCILMEMBERS RECUSED: (0)
The title of Ordinance No. 1559 was included on the published agenda for meetings at
which the Ordinance was introduced and passed, and a copy of the full Ordinance was
made available to the public online and in print at the meeting prior to the introduction or
passage. DS
FSigned by:
t'�V i(- U-Saa
E R 1GT` PNP44 Y"124 U DA,
City Clerk
Ordinance No. 1559
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