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.