Charter Amendments--Commissions

 Charter Measures PI, PE, PO

The Commissions

When the Charter Review Commission (CRC) did their work, they looked at perceived problems in the city and solutions that might be available via the city's charter. Prior to the 2010 CRC and in the decade subsequent, we had heard calls from the community for more transparency in the areas of Police Oversight and council and city staff ethics. In 2010 they proposed new commissions (as there are in many other cities) to address these issues. So the 2020 CRC looked at these issues, held hearings on what the citizens wanted and proceeded to write the amendments presented to the voters. In the interim, some on the city council saw the wisdom of these items and pushed to create them right away, not waiting for the voters to decide. So we had the formation of a Police Commission in 2020. The current commission is based largely on the work of the CRC but had to conform to the current charter so there are some differences between the two. Likewise, at the suggestion of the CRC, the city created an independent redistricting commission to draw the new district lines after the 2020 census. Below I will discuss the differences in the commissions being voted on and those that are currently on the books.

PI: Independent Redistricting Commission

This is currently in the news a lot. Currently, the city of Los Angeles' redistricting is being reconsidered in the light of the Nury Martinez, Kevin DeLeon, Gil Cedillo racist comments. They are looking at creating a Citizen's Redistricting Commission (IRC). Something the current city council has done.

While the state created an IRC prior to the 2010 census, the idea has taken some time to gain traction at the city or school district levels. The CRC discussed some of the political issues which had lead to widely out of balance districts (some over 10% out of balance--that is, not having equal population). We had gone about 30 years without redrawing the districts while development had shifted population centers drastically. PLUS, Federal and State laws had come into effect regarding gerrymandering which weren't there when the districts were last redrawn.

The CRC, working with our city attorney legal expert, looked at a framework created by Common Cause for IRCs across the nation. Because we would not be able to put anything on a ballot prior to the 2022 election, we took our research and draft proposal to the city and suggested that, for transparency and to take it out of the "political" sphere, that they create such a commission by ordinance. They were receptive and the result was the commission that drew the new lines now in effect. However, because they were working under the current charter, that commission, while steps away from the council doing this themselves, was still a commission appointed by the council and subject to political and other influences.

Under the proposed charter amendment, the commission would have more autonomy and be more transparent. It would not be appointed by the council but by a 3-member group made up of a retired judge, law, government, political science or public policy professor, and a citizen, selected either by the Ethics Commission (if there is one) or by the city clerk and city attorney. They would select one commissioner from each district (6) as well as an alternate for each chosen commissioner. Alternates would be expected to participate in all meetings as non-voting members until or unless there is a vacancy at which time they might be moved onto the full commission.

PE: Ethics Commission

This one is pretty straight forward. For many years we've been hearing that Pomona needs a commission to look at ethics and ensure that council and city staff are adhering to the ethics policies and treating everyone fairly and equally. This amendment creates section 807 in the charter, which reads in full:

The Pomona City Council shall, by ordinance, establish an Ethics Commission which shall be responsible for: 

(a)   Monitoring and advising on applicable governmental ethics laws as set forth in State law, this Charter or City ordinance, regulation or policy, including but not limited to campaign finance limits and disclosure, nepotism, lobbying, conflict of interest and open meeting laws, to assure fairness, openness, honesty and integrity in City government, including compliance by the City of Pomona, its elected officials, officers, employees, boards and commissions with said laws, regulations or policies. 

(b)   Education and responding to issues regarding the aforementioned laws, regulations, and policies; and 

(c)   Impartial and effective administration and implementation of programs to accomplish the goals and purposes of the Commission as defined by this Section.”

PO: Police Oversight Commission

This is another case where the current city council took our draft amendment and created the commission pretty much as written by the CRC except that it had to conform to the current charter. THe main difference that this amendment would make would be that the commission would become part of the charter and could not be changed or eliminated without a vote of the electorate (you!). It would change the number of commissioners to 5 and they would not be appointed by individual councilmembers but would be appointed by a majority vote of the entire council. They would also be given subpoena powers.

The biggest concern we've heard is the issue of subpoena powers. It must be noted that this would not give the commission the power to subpoena police personnel records. Also there are provisions to ensure that commissioners do no abuse their powers or knowledge. Of all of the areas of the CRC, this was the most debated in the public meetings and had the most citizen participation.

 Next up              

A discussion of the three amendments which would potentially change the ways our city's government is formed and operates. These items are measures Primary Elections (PE), Campaign Finance (PC), Term Limits (PT), and a way to deal with the "safe seats" issue here in Pomona with Resign to Run (PR).

Then I will follow up with a synopsis of the election and discuss the fixes that are involved with PG.

Please feel free to leave comments below or on the facebook page that you've linked from and I'll try to answer any questions.

 By now you have probably gotten your mail in ballot for the November 8 election. AND, if you live in Pomona, you've seen that there are nine (9) local propositions on that ballot. Many have asked "why so many?"

Eight (8) of them came from the 2020 Pomona Charter Review Commission. Under the current charter, every 10 years the city shall appoint a commission to go over the charter and place changes that they feel are needed on the ballot for a vote of the people. As one of the seven appointees to that commission, I have a lot of knowledge about the items that were put on the ballot, why, what they will do, and what they are hoping to accomplish.

First, let me note that the last time that the charter was changed (amended) was now over 24 years ago. That was an era before widespread internet, email, and a whole raft of technological and legal changes which have made vast portions of our charter out dated, and in some cases, out of compliance with laws and court decisions. Ten years ago, the commission (on which I also served) tried to make a lot of these changes but were forced to put them all into one ballot measure. There was so much that it was on the losing side of the vote while some parts were very popular.

So what kinds of things are being proposed here?

Some are new commissions or codifying in the charter commissions which have been formed since 2020. These include: Police Oversight (PO), Ethics Commission (PE), Independent Redistricting Commission (PI).

There are a number of proposed changes to the way our city government is formed and operated, including: Primary Elections (PE), Campaign Finance (PC), Term Limits (PT), and a way to deal with the "safe seats" issue here in Pomona with Resign to Run (PR)

Then there is a proposal to FIX a lot of problems that have arisen since our charter was last amended (PG), things like how commissions are formed, powers of the charter review commission, fixing of typographic errors, acknowledgement of technologies such as zoom, internet, email, cell phones, etc. which weren't even things in the past. While I fully support most of the amendments, and am luke warm on others, I feel that it is MOST important that we pass PG. Again, this FIXES problems with the current charter and brings it into compliance with current state and federal laws in many areas.

In my next posting, I will go over the commission amendments, what they are, what they do and don't do, why many feel we need them, and the thoughts behind how they were written. The following one will be dedicated to the proposals for changes to the ways the city government is formed and operates. Then I will do one as a summary of the proposals and a little deeper look at measure PG.

I hope you will comment on your thoughts, but however you wish to vote, PLEASE VOTE by November 8. Rejecting a proposal is as important as approving a proposal. These were not DECIDED by the commission, but presented by them to you for YOUR DECISION. Please vote and let us and the city know how you want it run.