Charter Committee Members, I strongly encourage including deep-dives into including ways that the public can bring issues to election, i.e., Referenda should be encouraged as it is one of the sole ways local residents can bring forward consideration by the entire electorate. Leaving Referenda to our elected officials as THE process to allow resident input means that our officials are selecting the topics to be assessed by the public, perhaps excluding issues of import to many. Please include public-petitioned Referenda in the revised Charter as it is critical as another avenue to bring critical topics forward. Cost for explaining topics by City election staff should not be a reason to exclude this option for inclusion in the Charter. And the point made that topics are opportunities for ‘fringe groups’ to push agendas – Referenda would ensure public input on usefulness/acceptance of the issue for City policy. As I requested previously, list the names of the Committee’s ‘Buckets’ instead or in addition to Buckets # and #. Your Agenda item IV today just identifies Bucket numbers. Kevin Sellner, E. 5th Street, 3/6/23
Charter Committee Members, I strongly encourage including deep-dives into including ways that the public can bring issues to election, i.e., Referenda should be encouraged as it is one of the sole ways local residents can bring forward consideration by the entire electorate. Leaving Referenda to our elected officials as THE process to allow resident input means that our officials are selecting the topics to be assessed by the public, perhaps excluding issues of import to many. Please include public-petitioned Referenda in the revised Charter as it is critical as another avenue to bring critical topics forward. Cost for explaining topics by City election staff should not be a reason to exclude this option for inclusion in the Charter. And the point made that topics are opportunities for ‘fringe groups’ to push agendas – Referenda would ensure public input on usefulness/acceptance of the issue for City policy. As I requested previously, list the names of the Committee’s ‘Buckets’ instead or in addition to Buckets # and #. Your Agenda item IV today just identifies Bucket numbers. Kevin Sellner, E. 5th Street, 3/6/23