To: Honorable Mayor and Members of City Council
From: Steve Potter, City Manager
Prepared By: Michael Barrett, City Attorney; and Tiffany Carranza, City Clerk
TITLE:
Title
Potential Advisory Ballot Measure for March 3, 2020 Election
LABEL
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Recommendation
Provide direction to staff on a potential advisory ballot measure related to the regulation of small cell telecommunication facilities.
Body
DISCUSSION:
In response to direction from City Council at the meeting of November 5, 2019, this item is an opportunity for Council to provide direction to staff regarding a potential advisory ballot measure for the election on March 3, 2020, related to the regulation of small cell telecommunication facilities.
There are two sets of considerations regarding a potential ballot measure for the election on March 3, 2020: (1) the substance of the ballot measure, and (2) the procedural requirements for the ballot measure.
Substance of Potential Ballot Measure:
The potential ballot measure would be an "advisory vote" under California Elections Code Section 9603. For an advisory ballot measure, there are three significant legal constraints for the question to be posed to the voters: (1) the question must seek information that is relevant to a potential future action to be taken by the City Council; (2) the question is only advisory (with a mandated ballot heading of "Advisory Vote Only"), and it does not legally bind the City Council to actually take the potential future action; and (3) the question must not suggest an illegal or preempted action to be taken by the City Council.
With the above in mind, as an example, the City does not have the authority to ask the voters "should the City Council prohibit all small cell telecommunication equipment in City rights of way," because the City Council is prohibited by preemptive federal law from enacting that legislation.
Examples of advisory ballot measures by local agencies include:
* Should the Town...
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