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Council opens charter review with annexation session after court ruling clarified state law
Summary
Stayton began a multi-session charter review focused first on the annexation provision; counsel explained the Corvallis litigation and ORS provisions that limit local charter authority and recommended bundling any changes with other charter edits rather than pursuing a standalone ballot measure.
The Stayton City Council launched a multi-session review of the city charter and devoted its first session to the annexation provision in section 4.
Ross, appearing as counsel, explained that the council amended the provision in 2018 to change the acreage threshold for annexation elections from one acre to three. He noted that a 2016 state statute (discussed in the meeting as ORS 222127) and subsequent litigation in the Corvallis case clarified that state law controls annexation procedure in many scenarios. Counsel said that when a single landowner controls 100% of property within the city’s urban growth boundary and petitions for annexation under the statute, state law can require annexation to proceed without a local election despite the charter provision.
Ross advised the council that there are rare scenarios in which the charter provision could still matter — for example, when multiple property owners are involved — but overall the statute and court ruling limit the charter’s applicability. Councilors asked about costs and whether the provision should be deleted or left as a fallback; multiple members suggested bundling any change with other prospective charter edits so voters would be asked to approve a package rather than a single technical change.
The council scheduled additional charter sessions on other sections with a plan to review all proposed changes before deciding whether to place measures before voters.
