City Voters Approve New Charter

SAN BERNARDINO>> City voters recently approved a proposal put forward by the city council to change the county seat’s municipal charter, which has been in place since 1905. The old charter, which gave the mayor administrative power, but limited his political power, was thought by some to be out of date. The charter provided space for a governance scheme in which the lines of authority overlapped. The mayor could make decisions on hiring and firing city employees and carrying out policy, but he could not vote on city council matters except in the event of a tie by the remainder of the council. The newly adopted charter, which is in the midst of being put into place, reduces the mayor’s administrative role, while boosting, slightly, his political role. It also dispenses with the city clerk and city attorney positions being elected ones, making it so the council appoints the officials filling those roles. The new charter would also alter the way the council holds its meetings, or at least starts them. In the past, the council convened at 9:30 a.m. on Mondays. Since then, the meeting commencement was pushed forward to 2 p.m. and then 1 p.m., after the city filed for bankruptcy. Residents have long complained that by holding meetings on a Monday, those who worked a normal 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. work schedule would not be able to attend. The council considered changing the meeting days to either the second and fourth Tuesday of the month of the second and fourth Wednesday, but Councilman Benito Barrios objected, on the grounds that his work commitments were such that he would, at best, only be able to attend half the meetings. Barrios was not alone in his objections. Mayor Carey Davis, objected, stating that a Wednesday meeting would conflict with prior commitments. Fred Shorett and Jim Mulvihill were also in opposition. Nonetheless, Councilman John Valdivia called for a motion to hold the city council meetings henceforward on Wednesdays. With Councilwoman Virginia Marquez absent, the council voted 4-2. Mayor Carey Davis then used his veto power to override the vote and the council then considered meeting on Tuesday. Again, Shorett and Mulvihill voted “no” on the change, as did Barrio, thus creating a 3-3 deadlock, with Valdivia, Bessine Richard, and councilman Henry Nickel in support. Thereupon, Mayor Davis used his tie-breaking authority to approve meeting on Tuesdays. Though the council has already voted, the decision of when to meet is not yet etched into stone. The new meeting day and time, like all city actions, must be approved in two separate votes of the council. Marquez’s vote could create a 4-3 rejection of the Tuesday meeting day arrangement, assuming the six who voted this week do not change their votes. If Marquez were to support the change, the second and fourth Tuesday meeting schedule would go into effect 30 days after the second vote approving it.