Council discusses timeline to place nine charter amendments on the November ballot

Council members discussed nine proposed charter amendments forwarded by the Charter Review Commission and the timetable required to place those amendments before voters in November.

Steve (Speaker 6), who distributed the commission proposals to council members, explained that council needs five votes to put any charter amendment on the ballot and that council could prepare legislation to bundle multiple amendments into one ordinance while still presenting each amendment separately to voters. He reviewed statutory deadlines and recommended aiming to finalize council votes at the August meeting to meet the Board of Elections’ regular submission schedule, though he noted a 60‑day pre‑election submission option in early September is legally available but not recommended.

Council discussed whether amendments should be considered individually or submitted together in a single piece of legislation that lists separate ballot issues. Members asked the Charter Review Commission to present the proposed amendments at the June meeting so council can ask the commission for brief background statements on each proposal.

Next steps: council will invite the charter‑review leadership to present at the first June meeting and will consider motions to prepare legislation once members have had time to deliberate and identify items with the five affirmative votes needed to place them on the ballot.