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Charter reviewers split on citizen-initiative thresholds; referendum set at 10%, recall threshold lowered to 5%
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Summary
Commissioners debated lowering signature thresholds for citizen initiative, referendum and recall. A motion to cut initiative signatures to 5% failed. The commission settled on a 10% threshold for referendum petitions and voted to lower recall signatures to 5%, with the initiative threshold left at 10%.
The Charter Review Commission debated whether citizen-initiated petitions and citizen-led referendums should require smaller signature thresholds to qualify for placement on the ballot.
Commissioner Mike Slutter and others pressed for lower thresholds (5 percent) arguing smaller minority or underrepresented groups might otherwise lack realistic access to the process as the city grows. Opponents warned that a low threshold would let small but organized interest groups force costly or ill-timed public referendums that could strain city finances or circumvent representative decision-making.
The panel considered three separate signature thresholds: initiative (direct legislation by petition), referendum (to overturn council action), and recall (to remove an elected official). The commission considered motions to lower the initiative threshold from 10 percent to 5 percent and the referendum threshold from 15 percent to a lower level.
The motion to lower the initiative threshold to 5 percent failed. The commission then voted to set the referendum threshold at 10 percent (a motion carried in the meeting) so that a petition to refer a council action to voters would require signatures from 10 percent of registered voters rather than the prior 15 percent. Separately, the commission voted to lower the recall threshold from 10 percent to 5 percent.
Commissioners emphasized procedural safeguards already present in the charter language: petitions must contain full text of proposed measures, undergo signature verification by the city secretary, and meet filing and timeline rules. Members also requested a staff review to replace ambiguous uses of "qualified voter" with "registered voter" where appropriate and to confirm whether petition and ballot timelines should use calendar days or business days; staff will return with a clean, consistent draft.
The CRC recorded the vote outcomes in the meeting record and instructed staff to update the draft charter language and to prepare the questions for city attorney review as needed.
