10 Staff Report
PREPARED BY: Robert Schultz, Town Attorney
Shelley Neis, Town Clerk
Reviewed by: Town Manager and Finance Director
110 E. Main Street Los Gatos, CA 95030 ● (408) 354-6832
www.losgatosca.gov
TOWN OF LOS GATOS
COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
MEETING DATE: 03/03/2020
ITEM NO: 10
DATE: February 24, 2020
TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: Laurel Prevetti, Town Manager
SUBJECT: Finance Commission Initiative
a. Accept Elections Official’s Certification of the Sufficiency of the Finance
Commission Initiative Petition.
b. Adopt a Resolution Calling the Election and Direct the Inclusion of the
Preliminary Estimated Cost of the Election for the Finance Commission
Initiative of $54,200 in the Town Manager’s Proposed Operating Budget
for Fiscal Year 2020/21; or
c. Order Report Pursuant to California Elections Code Section 9212 .
RECOMMENDATION:
Finance Commission Initiative
a. Accept Elections Official’s Certification of the Sufficiency of the Finance Commission
Initiative Petition (Attachment 2).
b. Adopt a Resolution Calling the Election (Attachment 3) and direct the inclusion of the
preliminary estimated cost of the election for the Finance Commission Initiative of $54,200
in the Town Manager’s Proposed Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2020/21; or
c. Order Report Pursuant to California Elections Code Section 9212
BACKGROUND:
On September 13, 2019, a Notice of Intent to Circulate a Petition titled A Citizens Initiative
Measure Amending the Town Code to Establish a Town Finance Commission was filed with the
Town’s Elections Official. Attachment 1 contains the full text of the proposed initiative.
On January 16, 2020, James R. Sutton, on behalf of Phil Koen, Richard Van Hoesen, and Jak Van
Nada, proponents of the initiative, filed with the Elections Official the petition containing a total
number of 2,824 signatures. On January 22, 2020, the petition was delivered by the Elections
Official to the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters Office (ROV) for signature verification.
PAGE 2 OF 3
SUBJECT: Finance Commission Ballot Initiative
DATE: February 24, 2020
BACKGROUND (continued)
Pursuant to California Elections Code 9115(a), the ROV conducted a random sampling
technique to verify the signatures. A random sampling shall include an examination of at least
500 or 3% of the signatures, whichever is greater. On February 20, 2020, the ROV notified the
Town Elections Official that per Elections Code Section 9115, subdivision (b), the statistical
sampling is over 110 percent.
Pursuant to California Elections Code Section 9114, if the petition is found sufficient, the
Elections Official shall certify the results of the examination to the Town Council at the next
regular meeting of the Council. The results of the signature verification are set forth in the
certification by the Elections Official (Attachment 2). Based on these results, the Elections
Official is certifying that the petition meets the 10% valid signature requirement of registered
voters to place the initiative on the next regular election ballot.
DISCUSSION:
Once Council has accepted the certification of the sufficiency of the Finance Commission
petition (attachment 2), Town Council must do one of the following:
1. Adopt a resolution (Attachment 3) calling an election to be consolidated with the Santa
Clara County General Election occurring on November 3, 2020 and direct the Town
Attorney to prepare an impartial analysis of the initiative pursuant to California
Elections Code Section 9280; or
2. Adopt the ordinance without alteration at the meeting at which the certification is
presented, or within 10 days after it is presented; or
3. Order the preparation of an impartial analysis report on the potential fiscal impacts of
the proposed initiative pursuant to Election Code 9212 and present the report to Town
Council within 30 days.
Staff is not recommending the adoption of the ordinance without alteration due to the fact that
once adopted, any changes to the ordinance would require a vote of the people.
If Council orders the preparation of the 9212 report, the Town would hire an outside consultant
at an estimated cost of less than $50,000, which is within the Town Manager’s procurement
authority. The report must be presented to at a future Council agenda within 30 days. At that
time, the Council would consider the report and actions to place the Finance Commission
Initiative on the ballot.
PAGE 3 OF 3
SUBJECT: Finance Commission Ballot Initiative
DATE: February 24, 2020
CONCLUSION:
After accepting the Elections Official certification of the sufficiency of the Finance Commission
Initiative (Attachment 2), Council should either (a) adopt a resolution calling the election to be
held on November 3, 2020 (Attachment 3) and direct the inclusion of the election costs in the
Town Manager’s Proposed Operating Budget for FY 2020/21, or (b) order the report pursuant
to California Elections Code 9212.
COORDINATION:
This report was coordinated with the Town Manager’s office.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The costs for municipal elections are incurred by the Town. An election for an initiative
measure is yet not budgeted for Fiscal Year 2020-2021. The estimated cost of including the
initiative would be approximately $54,200 for a 6-page measure, not including costs for
signature verification. Depending on Council’s action, the Manager’s Proposed Budget should
reflect the preliminary estimate of approximately $108,400 for both initiatives. If the Council
orders the preparation of the 9212 report, the costs would be paid out of the Non-
Departmental portion of the current FY 2020/21 Operating Budget.
ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT:
This is not a project defined under CEQA, and no further action is required.
Attachments:
1. Proposed Initiative
2. Certification of Sufficiency
3. Resolution Calling the Election