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Charter committee leans toward education-first outreach: survey, forums, water-bill insert discussed
Summary
The San Bernardino Charter Review Committee asked staff to prepare an educational PowerPoint and outreach outline modeled on the city's 2015 effort. Staff described a 12-question hybrid survey, ward-based forums, facilitator use, and a water-bill insert option with an approximate production estimate.
The San Bernardino Charter Review Committee moved to prioritize public education and outreach after members and public commenters urged the body not to fast-track charter amendments onto a ballot without broad community engagement.
City staff reviewed the outreach approach the committee used in 2015 as a template: a 12-question fixed-response survey offered online and on paper, multiple ward-based public forums with breakout groups, use of a facilitator to run workshops, and a short PowerPoint to standardize presentations to neighborhood groups.
Staff said the 2015 survey was structured to move from broad constitutional questions to operational details (for example, whether certain officials should be elected or appointed) and used fixed-response items to allow quantification of results. The staff report noted the previous survey drew 452 participants.
The committee discussed funding sources and logistics. Staff said a water-bill insert could reach tens of thousands of households; the report cited roughly 48,000 active households on the water department list and gave an illustrative production estimate (printing and production plus mailing/handling) that staff read aloud as approximately $3,720 (figures were transcribed partially and described in the staff report). Members asked staff to confirm the exact cost and return with options, and they suggested a mix of in-person ward meetings, virtual sessions with translation services, neighborhood-association presentations, social-media outreach, Channel 3 taping, and use of city event booths (for example, farmers markets).
Committee members favored an "education first" sequence: develop an informational PowerPoint focused on the current charter and committee purview, conduct outreach and workshops, then deploy a short, targeted questionnaire (for example, a water-bill insert linking to an online survey or a QR code). Staff will prepare an outline of the PowerPoint and options for funding and logistics for review at the next meeting.
Quotations in this article are attributed to city staff and committee members as recorded in the meeting transcript and staff report; numeric figures are described as reported by staff.
