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HomeMy WebLinkAboutRESO 9089Resolution No. 9089 Resolution of the Council of the City of Palo Alto Calling a Special Election for November 2, 2010 Submitting to the Electorate for Special Election an Initiative Measure to Amend the Charter of the City of Palo Alto to Specify Minimum Staffing and Service Levels for Fire Department Personnel and Require a Referendum Vote for any Proposal to Reduce Such Levels WHEREAS, an initiative petition to amend the Charter of the City of Palo Alto Municipal Code to specify minimum service and staffing levels for Palo Alto Fire Department Personnel and require a referendum vote for any proposal to reduce Fire Department service or staffing levels, or close or relocate a fire station has been submitted to the City in accordance with the requirements of Article IX ofthe Charter of the City of Palo Alto; and WHEREAS, elections will be held on November 2,2010, in certain school districts and certain special districts in Santa Clara County; and WHEREAS, pursuant to Education Code section 5342 and Part 3 of Division 10 of the Elections Code commencing at section 10400, such elections may be partially or completely consolidated. NOW, THEREFOR,E, the City Council. of the City of Palo Alto· does hereby RESOLVE as follows: SECTION 1. Special Election. Pursuant to Elections Code sections 1405 and 9255 there is called and ordered to be held in the City of Palo Alto, California, on Tuesday, November 2, 2010 a special municipal election. Pursuant to Article IX of the Charter of the City of Palo Alto, this Council orders the following question to be submitted to the voters at the Election: CITY OF PALO ALTO CHARTER INITIATIVE MEASURE __ _ Shall the Charter be amended to require the City to continuously maintain in all budgetary years at least the number of Fire Department Personnel authorized in the 2009-10 Annual Budget, and to prohibit the City from implementing any proposal to reduce fire staffing levels or close or relocate a fire station unless the City Council holds two public hearings, submits the measure to voters, and a majority of voters approve the proposal? For the Amendment Against the Amendment SECTION 2. Adoption of Measure. The measure to be submitted to voters is attached to this Resolution as Exhibit "A" and incorporated herein by this reference. If a 100730 sh 8261363 1 majority of qualified electors voting on such measure shall vote in favor of City of Palo Alto Charter Initiative Measure "_", it shall be deemed ratified and shall read as provided in Exhibit "A" attached hereto. SECTION 3. Notice of Election. Notice of the time and place of holding the election is hereby given, and the City Clerk is authorized, instructed and directed to give further or additional notice of the election in time, form, and manner as required by law. SECTION 4. Impartial Analysis. Pursuant to California Elections Code section· 9280, the City Council hereby directs the City Clerk to transmit a copy of the measure to the City Attorney. The City Attorney shall prepare an impartial analysis of the measure, not to exceed 500 words in length, showing the effect of the measure on the existing law and the operation of the measure, and transmit such impartial analysis to the City Clerk on or before August 17,2010. SECTION 5. Ballot Arguments. Pursuant to Elections Code section 9286 et seq., August 10,2010 at 5:30 p.m. shall be the deadline for submission of arguments in favor of, and arguments against, any local measures on the ballot. If more than one argument for and/or against is received, the priorities established by Elections Code section 9287 shall control. SECTION 6. Rebuttal Arguments. The provisions of Elections Code section 9285 shall control the submission of any rebuttal arguments. The deadline for filing rebuttal arguments shall be August 17,2010. SECTION 7. Consolidation Request. The Council of the City of Palo Alto requests the Governing Body of any such other political subdivision, or any officers otherwise authbrized by law, to partially or completely consolidate such elections and to further provide that the canvass be made by any body or official authorized by law to canvass the returns of the election, except that in accordance with Article III, section 4, of the Palo Alto Charter, the City Council must meet and declare the results of said elections; and that this City Council consents to such consolidation. SECTION 8. Request for County Services. Pursuant to section 10002 of the California Elections Code, the Council of the· City of Palo Alto hereby requests the Board of Supervisors of Santa Clara County to permit the Registrar of Voters to render services to the City of Palo Alto relating to the conduct of Palo Alto's General Municipal and Special Elections which are called to be held on Tuesday, November 2, 2010. The services shall be of the type normally performed by the Registrar of Voters in assisting the clerks of municipalities in the conduct of elections includitig, but not litnited to, checking registrations, mailing ballots, hiring election officers and arranging for polling places, receiving absent voter ballot applications, mailing and receiving absent voter ballots and opening and counting same, providing and distributing election supplies, and furnishing voting machines. Subject to approval of the Board of Supervisors of Santa Clara County of the foregoing request, the City Clerk is hereby authorized to engage the services of the Registrar of Voters of the County of Santa Clara to aid in the conduct of said elections including canvassing the returns of said election~ Further, the Director of Administrative Services is authorized and 100727 sh 8261363 2 Article IX Fire and Emergency Medical Services Minimum Protection Sec 1. PURPOSE. It is the purpose of this measure to assure continuing minimum staffing and emergency medical service levels for the Fire Department as set forth in Section 3, below, and to further assure that any closure or relocation of a fire station and any reduction in the staffing and emergency medical services levels in the Fire Department must first be approved by the voters. Sec. 2. DEFINITIONS. Forthe purpose of this Article only, the following terms shall be defined as set forth below: (a) "Fire Department" shall mean the public organization within the City of Palo Alto providing rescue, fire suppression, emergency medical services, and related activities to the public. (b) "Staffing" shall mean a particularized number of City of Palo Alto Fire Department sworn uniformed personnel required for the purpose of operating rescue, fire suppression, emergency medical services and related apparatus and services. ( c) "Rescue" shall mean those activities directed at locating endangered persons at an emergency incident, removing of those persons from danger and treating the injured. (d) "Fire Suppression" shall mean the activities involved in controlling and extinguishing fires. (e) "Emergency Medical Care" shall mean the provision oftreatment to patients, including advanced life support (at the paramedic level), and other medical procedures and providing for transport to a health care facility . Sec. 3. FIRE DEPARTMENT STAFFING. The number of Fire Department personnel authorized by the City of Palo Alto in the 2009-2010 approved Annual Budget for the Fire Department shall be continuously maintained as a minimum number of Fire Department personnel in all subsequent budgetary Years. Initiative Measure to Be Submitted Directly to the Voters Sec. 4. REFERENDUM VOTE. Any proposal by the City Councilor staff of the City of Palo Alto to reduce the minimum service of staffing and/or emergency medical service levels in the Fire Department and any proposal to close or relocate a fire station shall be the subject of two public hearings before the City Council of the City of Palo Alto. Any such proposal(s) that have been approved by a majority vote of the City Council shall be submittedto the voters for approvaJ at the next regular municipal or general election. No such proposal shall be implemented until approved by a majority of voters voting in said election. Sec. 5. SUPERSESSION. The provisions set forth in this Article shall supersede all general and/or specific provisions that may be contained elsewhere in this Charter. The provisions set forth in this Article shall also supersede any and all general and/or specific provisions in any ordinance, resolution, rule or regulation that may have been adopted or that may be adopted by the City Councilor by administrative action. Sec. 6. SAVINGS CLAUSE. If any provision, sentence, clause, section, paragraph or part of this Article is found to be unconstitutional, illegal or invalid, such unconstitutionality, illegality, or invalidity shall affect only such provision, sentence, clause, section or part of this Article. It is hereby declared to be the intention ofthe City of Palo Alto that this Article would have been adopted had such unconstitutional, illegal, or invalid provision, sentence, clause, sections or parts therefore not been included herein.