Councilmembers have asked city staffers to put together a draft that could potentially be put to voters in November, turning Laguna Beach into a charter city.
The elected leaders opted to take the next step in exploring whether Laguna Beach, now a general law city, should join Orange County’s 10 other charter cities, which officials said could provide more tools and greater control over local challenges to improve residents’ quality of life.
As a charter city, Laguna Beach would operate under a voter-adopted framework, like a “local constitution,” defining how the city is governed, rather than relying solely on state or regional laws.
But councilmembers said they would want to keep most of the organization and rules of a general law city, and just tailor a few points to better meet Laguna Beach’s needs.
“I want to make sure we make it very clear to the community that we’re not doing anything related to governance, city employees, election administration, I have no interest in that,” Councilmember Alex Rounaghi said. “I want to keep it simple and reserve all other powers as a general law city.”
Councilmembers asked staff to focus on three key areas — parking enforcement, procurement for city projects and penalties — that could provide additional tools for city leaders. To get a charter before voters in November, the draft needs to be back to the council by mid-April, and in May, the council would hold its first public forum, City Attorney Megan Garibaldi said.
As a charter city, there may be opportunities to tailor certain functions, programs and processes to the community that could lead to additional cost savings in delivering city services, such as contracting out parking ticket enforcement, said City Manager Dave Kiff. In the case of Laguna Beach, that could even mean tailoring the extra help specifically during the summer months, he said.
In Newport Beach, one of the charter cities in Orange County, the Police Department is augmented by a contractor to help monitor parking issues.
Newport Beach also adjusted penalties for municipal code and law violations, which may help the city better deter bad behavior, said Kiff, who served as its city manager from 2009 to 2018.
But he also reminded the council that if the state dictates something of “statewide concern,” that takes away even a charter city’s power.
“The sliver of things cities could do used to be a half moon,” Kiff said. “The value of a charter has lessened over time, but I do think there’s enough fiscal flexibility in a charter city’s ability to levy higher fines.”
As for other cost-saving measures, Kiff said they would require more analysis.
And he reminded the council that whenever a city has a charter, it creates opportunities for amendments to it raised by others.
Other charter cities in the county include Anaheim, Buena Park, Cypress, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Los Alamitos, Placentia, Santa Ana and Seal Beach. Fullerton is in the process of drafting a charter now to put before voters and leaders in Fountain Valley were considering a charter, but pumped the brakes on that idea in January.
Several residents weighed in, wondering whether it would be better for Laguna Beach to wait and not rush the issue to the ballot, while another person asked about the potential impacts of becoming a charter city on the city’s land-use and housing plans.
Councilmember Bob Whalen said he liked the “minimal approach” the council was looking at, reserving most things for general power, while just calling out specifics for future flexibility.
Related links
From drunkenness to littering and relieving themselves in public: Beachgoers are behaving badly California is suing Huntington Beach for limiting housing developments Newport Beach group collects more than 8K signatures for initiative to give residents a vote in state-required housing Newport Beach considering extra enforcement to keep unruly spring break and holiday behavior at bay Fountain Valley to ask residents whether they want a charter“I think we should keep this as simple as possible,” Rounaghi said. “I don’t want to give us and future councils power to do things that we’re not trying to do today. Because we don’t know who’s going to be up here.”
“As I see it, it’s a very simple thing,” he added, “parking enforcement where we want to have surge capacity during the summer, which is directly in response to quality of life issues we’ve heard from residents and have experienced ourselves; procurement, where we can ensure we’re following modern business practices to procure projects in a smarter way; and penalites, like what Newport Beach has done, where the dollar amount more closely aligns with the deterent impact we want to have.”
He suggested it might be helpful for staff to brief the council on possible penalties.
“I think Newport is probably the best example because they have a similar quality of life, beach and city concerns,” Rounaghi said, adding that an example of violations of the same thing could be compared in each city.
Councilmember Hallie Jones added, “I want to be really clear why we’re doing this and articulating it well to the community and creating a charter that accomplishes that.”
Jones also asked that a financial analysis be conducted to determine the cost of the changeover to the city.
“I’m sure,” she said, “there will be some election costs, potential savings and revenue generators.”
Related Articles
Newport Beach to review its management of Newport Harbor City of Orange braces for potential electrical workers strike New plans for Oak Creek Golf Course raise an old debate OC nonprofits under strain as demand for food and housing surges, 211 calls to county hotline show Border Patrol uninvited from Chino Hills job fair, San Bernardino County saysHence then, the article about laguna beach council directs staff to draft simple charter focused on key issues was published today ( ) and is available on The Orange County Register ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Laguna Beach council directs staff to draft simple charter focused on key issues )
Also on site :