REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Presentation on the Charter Review Committee Charter Project 2026 Final Report to Council, including the Charter Review Committee’s Recommendation for Placement of a Comprehensive Charter Update Measure on the November 2026 Ballot and Possible Direction by the City Council on Next Steps
Report
BACKGROUND
The idea for a comprehensive review and update of the City Charter (now commonly referred to as the “Charter Project”) was incorporated into the Governance and Ethics Committee Work Plan in early 2025. An outline for the project was first formally presented to the Governance and Ethics Committee on May 1, 2025. Senior City staff were supportive of the project based on their own assessment, and feedback from the different departments responsible for implementing its terms, that a number of Charter provisions were ambiguous, out of date, not aligned with current City operations or best practices, and/or not aligned with current laws. With support from the Committee, the project concept was presented to the full City Council on July 15, 2025. Recognizing the potential benefits of the project, the Council directed staff to take the initial steps to form a Charter Review Committee for purposes of implementing the “Charter Project” (the Charter Project CRC). Council direction included terms for the CRC’s composition, selection process and purposes. Staff advertised the availability of CRC positions and, with the City Clerk, implemented the CRC lottery selection and appointment process. On September 16, 2025, the City Council appointed the CRC members and formally established the CRC by adoption of the CRC Bylaws.
Section 2 of the City Council adopted Bylaws for the Charter Project CRC describes its purpose as follows:
“The purpose of the CRC is to work with City staff, with input from the community, to facilitate the implementation of the “Charter Project.” The Charter Project involves a process for comprehensive review of the City Charter to identify provisions in the Charter that should be corrected, clarified or modified for the Charter to be fully consistent with applicable state law, aligned with current best practices for City operations and, in general, easier to understand and apply. At the end of the process, the objective of the Charter Project is to produce a draft comprehensive Charter Amendment for presentation to the City Council and, if the City Council so directs, possibly the voters at the November 2026 Election.”
Section 3 of the Bylaws sets forth a list of the CRC’s duties. Section 3.4 describes the CRC’s ultimate duty as follows:
“Make a Recommendation to the City Council regarding a Comprehensive Amendment of the City Charter. To implement the Charter Project City staff will be preparing draft revisions to the City Charter for consideration and input by CRC Subcommittees and/or the CRC itself. At the end of the process, the CRC will be expected to make a recommendation to the City Council on one or more proposed amendments to the City Charter. The proposed “top to bottom” review process is intended to be driven by practical and legal considerations, with the prime objective being to bring the Charter up to current “best practices” for City operations. It is not intended to implement any major restructuring of City operations or to change the City’s election process. In the end, it will be up to the Charter Review Committee to recommend, and the City Council to decide which, if any, of the proposed changes will be presented to the voters as part a comprehensive update to the City Charter. In order to coordinate with the City Council’s summer meeting schedule, and to meet the timing requirements for submittals of measures to voters at the November 2026 election, the CRC shall endeavor to finalize and present its recommendation(s) to the City Council by no later than June 29, 2026.”
To implement the Charter Project, over the last eight months the CRC has been meeting in public (10 times) and in Ad Hoc Subcommittee working groups (28 times) to (1) hear from stakeholders regarding proposed Charter changes, (2) discuss and resolve issues regarding what changes made sense as part of the project versus what issues might better be implemented by Council policy or a future Charter update, (3) review proposed language prepared by the City Attorney’s office to implement approved changes, and (4) ultimately, develop a formal recommendation for Council consideration. Back on April 7, 2026, the CRC also checked in with the City Council with a progress report. That report also included a presentation of the CRC’s proposed comprehensive reorganization of the Charter to make it more user-friendly.
After a series of meetings in May, the full CRC met again on June 3rd. At the June 3rd meeting, the CRC considered all of its previous actions, made a few minor modifications to the proposed language, and approved (unanimously) the CRC’s Charter update recommendation. At that meeting City staff also presented on the status of the CRC’s pending final written report (“CRC Final Report”). As outlined and approved by CRC consensus at their May 27th meeting, the CRC Final Report was designed to summarize the Charter Project implementation process, from its origins, through its meeting-by-meeting development, to its final results and recommendation. Staff also presented on the series of meetings proposed for City Council consideration of the CRC’s recommendation:
• June 9th Study Session for an initial presentation.
• June 15th Special Meeting focused on the Charter Project for further consideration and possible action.
• Additional meetings, not yet scheduled, if directed by the City Council to complete their evaluation process.
• Final consideration and action at the Council’s July 14th meeting. Note: July 14th is the last scheduled City Council meeting before the Council’s summer recess (from July 15th through August 17th). In order to the meet County Registrar of Voters (ROV) August 7th deadline for submission of ballot measure materials, any action by the City Council for placement of a ballot measure on the November 2026 ballot would need to be taken at the July 14th City Council meeting.
Since the CRC’s June 3rd meeting the following actions have been taken to advance the project:
• City staff and a designated 5-person CRC Presentation Ad Hoc Subcommittee finalized and published the CRC Final Report.
• At the June 9th City Council meeting, the CRC Final Report was distributed to Council, and the City Attorney presented on the project. Members of the CRC Presentation Ad Hoc Subcommittee attended this meeting and were on standby to answer Council questions.
At the end of the allotted study session time period, with additional information still to be presented, it was agreed that City Attorney would pick up where he left off and complete the presentation at the June 15th special session. Council questions and input, along with public testimony, would then again be solicited, with an opportunity for the Council to deliberate and provide further direction to the CRC and staff. The CRC is scheduled to meet again on June 17th.
DISCUSSION
Materials Provided
To facilitate City Council review of the CRC’s recommendation for a comprehensive Charter update, the following documents have been provided:
1. Charter Review Committee Bylaws
2. The City Charter-Current
3. An Assembled History of Previously Proposed and Approved Charter Amendments (1952 through 2024)
4. City Charter with Proposed Modifications-Underline/Strikeout Version with Annotations
5. City Charter with Proposed Modifications-Clean Version (Changes Accepted) with Annotations
6. Charter Review Committee Charter Project 2026 Final Report to Council (CRC Final Report)
The CRC Final Report contains the following information
1. Charter Project Origins and Objectives. A description of the origins and objectives of the Charter Project.
2. The Process. A summary of the process and approach used to implement the Charter Project. This includes details on: (a) the creation and function of the six CRC Ad Hoc Subcommittee “working groups;” (b) the solicitation and provision of stakeholder input; (c) benchmarking with other “comparable” charters and charter update projects; and (d) the categorization of proposed changes into “levels.”
3. The Results. A summary of the proposed changes resulting from this process. Changes presented include Charter-wide updates and conventions, along with the Article by Article, Section by Section changes, ranging from mere corrections, wording updates and reorganization (“Level One”), changes to clarify ambiguities, deletion of no longer needed provisions, added language to fill gaps or align Charter language with current City/best practices (Level Two), all the way to changes that are recommended, but may be so substantive or in such sensitive areas, they might be better presented as stand-alone ballot measures or left out entirely (“Level Three”).
4. The Final Recommendation. The CRC’s final recommendation on what the City Council should consider placing on the November 2026 ballot. This includes identification of any recommended Level Three changes that may warrant being left out or consideration as a separate ballot measure.
5. What’s Next. Steps required if the Council decides to place a measure on the ballot, including things that could be done to help inform the voters.
Roadmap/Suggestions on How Best to Review the Proposal
The CRC recommendation is obviously substantial. The hope is that the amount and types of information presented will allow the Council to digest and evaluate the proposal efficiently and with a full understanding of the context in which the recommendation was made. While summaries are helpful, the actual CRC proposed changes are contained in the Charter documents themselves (See Attachments 1.d and 1.e to this report). These updated Charter documents contain (and in the underline/strikeout version, highlight) every proposed CRC modification. They also contain, throughout, annotations in the margins. These annotations include references to primary source materials, applicable laws, and the stakeholder input considered by the CRC in proposing these changes. For the more substantive proposed changes, or proposed changes in politically sensitive areas, many annotations also include summaries of the CRC’s thought process that went into the development and ultimate recommendation for each proposed modification. Where any proposed CRC modification rose to Level 3, this is also noted. For those looking for the deepest dive into the proposal, it is recommended that reference be made to the underline/strikeout version of the proposal, with particular attention to the comments included in the margins.
Meet and Confer Process Ongoing for Civil Service Provisions
Please note that the proposed modifications to the Civil Service provisions of the Charter (Current Sections 1010 and 1011 and Article XI; Proposed Section 604.3 and Article Seven), are subject to meet and confer discussions with the City’s bargaining units. (This is explained in greater detail at pages 30 and 31 of the CRC Final Report.) As of the date of this report, this meet and confer process is ongoing. Staff will provide an update of this process at your June 15th meeting.
Next Steps
The CRC and City staff look forward to completing its presentation and assisting with Council questions and deliberations on June 15th. Depending upon progress made and Council direction, one or more additional meetings may need to be scheduled to allow the City Council to complete their deliberations and make a recommendation.
As a reminder, if Council desires to proceed to place one or more Charter Project measures on the ballot, the full ballot package would need to be delivered to the County Registrar by no later than August 7, 2026. In order not to intrude on the Council’s scheduled summer recess, that means any final City Council action on a Charter update ballot proposal would need to occur at the Council’s currently scheduled July 14, 2026 meeting.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact to the City for this item other than staff time and administrative resources. Depending upon Council direction, additional staff time and resources would be needed to prepare any item for placement on the November ballot. If a measure passes, substantial additional staff time and resources would also be necessary to implement the Charter section reference changes throughout existing City documents that reference the Charter, and to prepare any contemplated ordinances or policies. Ultimately, it is expected that the modernized terms of any approved comprehensive Charter update will result in net savings to the City in staff time and resources.
COORDINATION
This report has been coordinated with the City Attorney’s Office with input from the CRC Report and Presentation Ad Hoc Subcommittee.
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
Hear the presentation, pose questions, deliberate and, if ready, provide direction on the CRC’s proposed Charter Project recommendation and next steps.
Staff
Reviewed by: Courtney Mohammadi, Legal Executive Assistant, City Attorney’s Office
Approved by: Glen Googins, City Attorney
ATTACHMENTS
1. Charter Review Committee Charter Project 2026 Final Report to Council, including the following attachments:
a. Charter Review Committee Bylaws
b. City Charter (current)
c. Assembled History of Previously Proposed and Approved Charter Amendments (1952 through 2024)
d. City Charter with Proposed Modifications, Underline/Strikeout with Annotations
e. City Charter with Proposed Modifications, “Clean” Version with Annotations