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Atherton council declines to move forward with city charter initiative after mixed public response
Summary
After staff summarized outreach showing limited public support and concerns about tax/authority changes, the council directed staff not to pursue placing a city charter measure on the November 2026 ballot.
Staff briefed the council on recent outreach regarding a potential city charter and reported mixed feedback and public skepticism about the benefits and risks of a charter. The council discussed concerns that a charter could be used in the future to raise taxes or change governance thresholds.
“Why are we doing this now? What is it going to do for us?” staff summarized as recurring public questions from workshops. Several council members said the outreach indicated limited community support and the city attorney reiterated the next steps that would be required to place a charter question on the ballot.
After discussion, council members directed staff to stop pursuing a November 2026 charter measure, concluding that the effort was unlikely to address pressing housing law concerns and had generated community doubts.
Staff will pause further work on a charter measure unless council direction changes.
