“MINUTES”
CITY COUNCIL MEETING
CITY OF CARMEL-BY-THE-SEA
March 2, 2010
V. Announcements from Closed Session, from City Council Members and the City Administrator
C. Announcements from City Administrator
1. Receive report on the election process.
Assistant City Administrator/City Clerk Heidi Burch introduced Scott Martin, owner of Martin & Chapman Co.
Scott Martin, President and owner of Martin & Chapman, has been in business for 54 years, located in Anaheim. Martin & Chapman provides a “personalized service, individual to each city.” The Company is the primary election consultant to 62 plus cities in the County of Los Angeles. The Company consults or advises all of the 480 cities in the state of California. Why would a city contract with us instead of the county? The Company is not in competition with the County; the company has a unit price based on size of city and requests from cities. Martin does not know why Monterey County's cost is more expensive than Martin & Chapman.
Regarding rumors about moving election dates, there are four reasons: save money, bigger turnout, extend terms for City Council, i.e., April to June or November and city clerk doesn’t want to do it.
Martin expects election results no later than 9:30 P.M. on the day of the election, April 13, 2010. The Company knows municipal elections. The Company has conducted thousands of elections. The Company works for “Heidi and the City Manager.” And the Company “cannot be bought.”
City Attorney Don Freeman asked whether or not absentee ballots can be counted prior to the closing of the polls at 8:00 P.M. Answer: Yes; they will begin counting the ballots at 7:30 P.M. or earlier if requested.
Richard Flower, Carmel-by-the-Sea resident and member of the CRA Board of Directors, requested that they be able to meet with someone on the staff to get answers to some of their questions.
Carolyn Hardy, resident of Carmel-by-the-Sea, stated that it would be valuable to know the actual cost for the election, post-election, including staff time, county time, et cetera.
Skip Lloyd, Carmel resident, observed that Heidi is given a lot of discretion in the process and essentially running the election.
Scott Martin remarked that the city clerk, Heidi Burch, is the election official.
VII. CONSENT CALENDAR
These matters include routine financial and administrative actions, which are usually approved by a single majority vote. Individual items may be removed from Consent by a member of the Council or the public for discussion and action.
F. Consideration of a Resolution urging the Governor and the State Legislature to approve CalPERS pension reform in 2010.
Council Member Ken Talmage referred to WSJ article on CalPERS regarding lower projected rate of return from 7.75% to 6.00%.
Council Member ROSE moved to approve Consent Agenda Items A-G, seconded by Council Member HAZDOVAC and carried by the following roll call vote:
AYES: COUNCIL MEMBERS: HAZDOVAC; ROSE; SHARP; TALMAGE & McCLOUD
NOES: COUNCIL MEMBERS: NONE
ABSENT: COUNCIL MEMBERS: NONE
ABSTAIN: COUNCIL MEMBERS: NONE
2 comments:
Martin & Chapman may be a company which cannot be bought, but Heidi and the city manager have already been bought and paid for by the incumbents.
I do not trust the city clerk or anyone at the city to conduct this election fairly. I prefer the county elections department doing that function. They have always done a good job and they are at least independent of the city.
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