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Sherwood council declares emergency, calls January special election on home-rule charter changes
Summary
Sherwood City Council voted Oct. 28 to declare an emergency and refer three charter amendments to a special January election, saying recent state laws threaten local control over land-use public participation and annexation decisions.
Sherwood’s City Council on Oct. 28 voted to declare an emergency and call a special election in January to send charter amendments to voters aimed at protecting the city’s home-rule authority.
Council staff said the emergency finding is needed under ORS 221.230 to justify a special election outside regular election dates. Ryan (city staff presenter) told the council that recent and anticipated state legislation “threatens to abrogate and erode the city's home rule authority, particularly in the areas of public participation in land use decisions and annexation authority.” The resolution instructs staff to place a ballot question in the special election asking voters whether the city charter should be amended to protect that authority.
Why it matters: Council members said the measures are intended to preserve local public input on land-use matters and annexations that they said state law has begun to limit. Mayor Rosner said the city had worked for several years with advocacy groups and neighboring governments and that adding charter language now would help preserve the community’s ability to shape growth before the next legislative session.
Council action: A motion to approve Resolution 2025-073 was made and passed by voice vote. No written or in-person testimony was submitted during the public hearing portion of the meeting.
What happens next: With the emergency declaration in place, staff will proceed with arrangements for a January special election, including preparing ballot titles and explanatory statements for the charter amendments approved for referral. The council did not identify a direct fiscal impact in the resolution.
Officials consulted at the meeting cited ORS 221.230 as the statutory basis for calling an emergency special election and discussed recent state law as the rationale for the emergency finding. The council emphasized that the referral itself does not change the charter — it only places the proposed amendments before Sherwood voters.
