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LWV League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Smart Voter
Santa Cruz County, CA November 2, 2004 Election
Measure N
Publish Ordinances on Internet
City of Santa Cruz

18,944 / 76.8% Yes votes ...... 5,716 / 23.2% No votes

See Also: Index of all Measures
Results as of Nov 23 10:56am, 100.0% of Precincts Reporting (43/43)
Information shown below: Fiscal Impact | Impartial Analysis | Arguments | Full Text

Shall Section 613 of the City of Santa Cruz Charter be amended to authorize the City Clerk to publish ordinances, other than emergency ordinances and other ordinances which go into effect immediately upon adoption, by methods which include publication in the Internet?

Fiscal Impact from Director of Finance, City of Santa Cruz:
The City Charter requires that an ordinance be published in its entirety or by posting. Ordinances longer than 4 pages are published by posting, which requires each ordinance to be posted at three prominent places in the City, in addition to a summary being published in a newspaper of general circulation. Two of the three places ordinances are posted currently are City Hall and the adjacent Central Branch of the Library system, which will continue if this measure is approved. However, the third prominent place an ordinance is posted currently is the County Administrative Building, which is some distance from City Hall. If this measure is approved, ordinances would no longer be posted at the County Administration Building, but instead, on the City's home page on the Internet, thereby eliminating travel time to and from the County Administration Building, and providing a more efficient use of staff time.

s/ David P. Culver Director of Finance City of Santa Cruz

Impartial Analysis from City Attorney
Currently Section 613 of the City of Santa Cruz City Charter requires the City Clerk to publish all ordinances (other than emergency ordinances and ordinances which take effect immediately upon adoption) in a newspaper of general circulation at least three days before final adoption of the ordinance. As an alternative to newspaper publication of the ordinance's entire text, the City Council may order the text of any proposed ordinance to be posted at least three days prior to adoption in three prominent places in the City and to publish in the newspaper, instead of the entire text of the ordinance, the ordinance's title as well as a short statement of the ordinance's content and a list of the places where the text of the ordinance is posted. This ballot measure, if adopted by the voters, would amend the Charter to designate the City's Internet web page as one of the three "prominent places in the City" at which a proposed ordinance's text may be posted when the alternative posting procedure is employed. The Charter would still require the City to post the ordinance text at two prominent physical locations in the City when Internet posting is employed. Should this ballot measure be adopted, it is anticipated that the text of proposed ordinances, when posted on the Internet, will be readily accessible to more citizens than posted ordinances are currently under the existing Charter provision.

Approved as to form:
s/ John Barisone City Attorney

   News and Analysis

Santa Cruz Sentinel

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Arguments For Measure N Arguments Against Measure N
The City is required by law to publicly post ordinances. Public use of the City's web site as a source for information has increased with use of the internet. This Charter Amendment authorizes posting the full text of ordinances on the City's web site, in addition to making ordinances available at the Central Branch Library and City Hall complex, and publishing a summary of ordinances in a newspaper of general circulation. This will o increase internet access; o reduce costs of publishing the entire text of ordinances; and o reduce staff costs.

s/ Scott Kennedy, Mayor, City of Santa Cruz
s/ Emily Reilly, former mayor
s/ Mike Rotkin, Vice Mayor

No argument against Measure N was filed.

Full Text of Measure N
Section 613, Publication of Ordinances.

The City Clerk shall cause each proposed ordinance, other than an emergency ordinance or an ordinance which takes effect upon adoption, to be published at least once in a newspaper of general circulation at least three (3) days before its adoption; or, as an alternative method of publication, the Council may order copies of any proposed ordinance to be posted at least three (3) days prior to its adoption in three (3) prominent places in the City, one of which may be the City's Internet web page, and cause a single publication in a newspaper of general circulation of a notice setting forth the title of the ordinance, a short statement of its contents, the date of its introduction and a list of the places where copies of the proposed ordinance are posted. The City Clerk shall cause each emergency ordinance or ordinance which takes effect upon adoption to be published at least once in a newspaper of general circulation within fifteen (15) days after its adoption.

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Created: December 15, 2004 13:34 PST
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