Residents will get a chance to weigh in on a controversial slate of charter reforms in Huntington Beach when the city hosts four additional council meetings to directly address the proposed ideas, which range from requiring voter identification to the types of flags that the city can display.
Many residents have argued the process of creating the charter reforms lacked public input and Councilmember Casey McKeon agreed, asking that the council gather more before deciding whether to put the amendments on a future ballot for voters to decide. Beginning on Sept. 14, the council will hold four consecutive Thursday meetings focused on the charter amendments. The public will be able to speak during the meetings.
“I just have received an enormous amount of calls from residents, and our biggest supporters, who are adamantly opposed to just this process we are using to come up with these charter amendments,” McKeon said. “So, there might be some legitimate areas worthy of review.”
The charter amendments were created by an ad hoc committee, which included Mayor Tony Strickland and councilmembers Pat Burns and Gracey Van Der Mark, who did not meet publicly to develop the proposed measures.
There are three planned charter amendments, with each bundling together several reforms. The first would require voter identification for city elections, more in-person voting locations and the monitoring of ballot drop boxes. The other proposals limit the types of flags that the city can display, move the city to a two-year budget cycle and mandate voter approval if the city engages in a transaction that would force it to forgo property taxes.
Strickland stressed that he wanted the reforms to appear on the March primary ballot. He said if they appeared on a November general election ballot, people would be more compelled to vote no since there would be dozens of other items to vote on.
“I personally think the March ballot will get more attention,” Strickland said….
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