|
Regular
Meeting
Board of
Directors
Monterey
Peninsula Water Management District
******************
Wednesday,
January 29, 2014
7:00 PM –
Regular Board Meeting
Conference
Room, Monterey Peninsula Water Management District
5
Harris Court, Bldg G, Monterey, CA
ACTION ITEMS
– Public comment will be received on each of these items.
Please limit your comment to three (3) minutes per item. 21. Consider Action to be Taken with Respect to Public Water Now Initiative Petition |
Action: The Board will consider adoption of Resolution 2014-02
calling for an election within the MPWMD boundaries on June 3, 2014, as
specified in the Public Water Now Initiative Petition. The petition requests that the District
submit to the voters a proposed Ordinance that adds Rule 19.8 to the District Rules
and Regulations and requires the General Manager, within nine months of Rule’s
effective date, to complete a Feasibility Analysis and Acquisition Plan for the
acquisition, long-term ownership, and management by the District of Cal-Am’s
assets. If the Plan concludes
acquisition is feasible, the District shall, as soon as practicable, take all
necessary and proper actions consistent with its powers under District Law and
Eminent Domain Law to acquire Cal-Am’s water system assets.
ITEM:
|
ACTION
ITEM
|
|||||||||
21.
|
||||||||||
Meeting Date:
|
January 29, 2014
|
Budgeted:
|
N/A
|
|||||||
From:
|
David J. Stoldt,
|
Program/
|
N/A
|
|||||||
General Manager
|
Line Item No.:
|
|||||||||
Prepared By:
|
David J. Stoldt
|
Cost Estimate:
|
N/A
|
|||||||
General Counsel Review: Yes
|
||||||||||
CEQA Compliance: N/A
|
||||||||||
The
Water Management District’s Elections Official will certify the results of the
Registrar’s examination of the initiative petition at the January 29, 2014
Board meeting. The Board will then consider taking action as described below,
and as outlined in Exhibit 21-D.
RECOMMENDATION: Pursuant to
California Elections Code § 9310, the District Board of Directors has the
following options:
1.
Adopt the ordinance, without
alteration, either at the regular meeting at which the certification of the
petition is presented, or within 10 days after it is presented; or
2.
Adopt Resolution 2014-02 (Exhibit 21-B)
to immediately order that the ordinance be submitted to the voters, without
alteration, pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 1405.
DISCUSSION: On September 6, 2013, Public Water Now submitted to the
District a Notice of Intent to Circulate an Initiative Petition and Proof of
Publication of the Notice (Exhibit 21-C). Ronald T. Cohen, George Riley, Douglas W.
Wilhelm, and Harvey Billig represent Public Water Now.
The stated purpose of the Initiative Petition is to
establish a policy to acquire, if economically feasible, the water system
assets of the California-American Water Company (Cal-Am) within the District’s
territory, either through negotiation or through the exercise of eminent domain
power. The stated reasons for the action
are to “ensure the long-term sustainability, reliability, cost-effectiveness
and quality of water service within the Monterey Peninsula Water Management
District as a whole, to lower the cost of monthly service to rate-payers, to
promote sound water management measures, and to establish public ownership of
water system assets, by establishing regulations requiring the District to take
affirmative action, to the extent financially feasible, to acquire the water
system assets owned and operated by California American Water Company that
currently provide water service to the District and its ratepayers.”
The Initiative Petition contains a proposed Ordinance that
adds Rule 19.8 to the District Rules and Regulations and requires the General
Manager, within nine months of Rule’s effective date, to complete a Feasibility
Analysis and Acquisition Plan for the acquisition, long-term ownership, and
management by the District of Cal-Am’s assets.
If the Plan concludes acquisition is feasible, the District shall, as
soon as practicable, take all necessary and proper actions consistent with its
powers under District Law and Eminent Domain Law to acquire Cal-Am’s water
system assets.
The Initiative Petition requests the Ordinance be submitted
to the voters “at the earliest regular or special election for which it
qualifies pursuant to Section 1405 of California Elections Code.”
Elections Code, Division 9, Chapter 4, District Elections,
pertains to handling of the Initiative Petition. Public Water Now circulated
the petition and the Registrar determined that 8,715 signatures were gathered.
The number of signatures required for the petition is based upon the number of
voters in the District as of the last report of registration, which is
56,237. Pursuant to Election Code 9310,
10% of that number is required to qualify the petition, which is 5,624
signatures. The Registrar of Voters
conducted a random sampling of 500 signatures and found that 88.8% were deemed
valid, which projects that 7,563 of the signatures are sufficient. That equates to 135% of the number of
signatures needed to qualify the petition.
As the initiative has been signed by
voters not less in number than 10 percent of the voters in the District, where
the total number of registered voters is less than 500,000, and Public Water
Now has requested a special election, California Elections Code § 9310 applies. Pursuant to § 9310, the Board of Directors
has the following options:
1.
Adopt the ordinance, without
alteration, either at the regular meeting at which the certification of the
petition is presented, or within 10 days after it is presented; or
2.
Adopt a resolution to immediately
order that the ordinance be submitted to the voters, without alteration,
pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 1405.
Section 1405(a) provides that with
certain exceptions, the election for a district initiative that qualifies
pursuant to Section 9310 shall be held not less than 88 nor more than 103 days
after the date of the order of election.
The next state primary is set for June 3, 2014. Pursuant to section 1405, the election on the
measure may be consolidated with the state regular or special election. Should the Board decide to submit the
ordinance to the voters, the election for a district initiative will be
consolidated with the June 3, 2014 state primary.
Exhibit
21-D is a memorandum from District General Counsel clarifying
the Board’s next steps.
The attached resolution would
implement Option 2, above, to direct the Monterey County Elections Department
to conduct the election to approve or reject the Measure set forth in the
“Monterey Peninsula Water System Local Ownership and Cost Saving Initiative,”
on the June 3, 2014 ballot; and consolidate that election with any and all
elections also called to be held on June 3, 2014. The resolution also requests the Monterey
County Board of Supervisors to order such consolidation under Elections Code
Section 10401 and 10403; and requests the Board of Supervisors to permit the
Monterey County Elections Department to provide any and all services necessary
for conducting the election and agrees to pay for those services.
EXHIBITS
Item21 Exhibit 21-A
21-A January
21, 2014 Correspondence from Monterey County Elections
Item 21 Exhibit 21-B
21-B Resolution No.
2014-02, Ordering an Election, Requesting County Elections to Conduct the Election, and Requesting Consolidation of
the Election
Item 21 Exhibit 21-C
21-C Public Water Now -
Notice of Intent to Circulate an Initiative Petition
Item 21 Exhibit 21-D
21-D January
23, 2014 Memorandum from David Laredo, District General Counsel
No comments:
Post a Comment