Sausalito is considering a major governmental reorganization to give it more local control over revenues and authority to challenge state mandates.
The City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved starting a process that could lead to a measure on the November ballot to become a charter city.
“Where we are now is in the very early stages to decide whether or not to move forward given the deadlines for putting things on the ballot,” Mayor Steven Woodside said.
After a spirited discussion, the council voted to hold a series of public informational meetings and two required formal hearings before early August on what essentially would be adopting a “local constitution” that would supplant state regulations for “general law” cities.
“A city charter functions as a local constitution,” City Attorney Sergio Rudin said in a staff report. “A charter need not set out every municipal affair the city would like to govern.”
“So long as the charter contains a declaration that the city intends to avail itself of the full power provided by the California Constitution, any city ordinance that regulates a municipal affair will govern over the general law of the state,” the report said. “Charter cities … conduct their own business and control their own affairs.”
Among Marin municipalities, only San Rafael is a “home rule” or charter city. The rest are all “general law” cities that follow state-set rules.
After becoming mayor in January, Woodside, who retired after a 50-year career as lawyer for three Bay Area counties, created a committee led by himself and Councilmember Joan Cox, another attorney specializing in municipal government, to explore the benefits of becoming a charter city and draft a prospective document.
Their 12-page draft, Rudin’s analysis, a summary contrasting how “general law” and “charter” cities govern, and the 2026 general election timeline was presented to the council.
Councilmember Jill Hoffman was skeptical about the proposal’s timing, content, impact and procedural hurdles.
“Is this something we want to engage in?” she said. “Is this a fully baked plan at this point, and does it warrant staff time?”
“We have spent millions of dollars and inordinate staff time responding to state demands that may well for charter cities exceed what the state should be doing in relation to housing,” Woodside said. “The city manager gave us a report and a working group of Ms. Cox and I have rather diligently put out a draft that primarily addresses home rule. Should we talk about it? Yes.”
For the next half-hour, the discussion was dominated by debate among Hoffman, Woodside and Cox over the wisdom of the initiative.
Councilmember Ian Sobieski said the primary benefit of adopting a charter is new authority to challenge specific state mandates. In most governance areas, the city rules would not differ from practices established under state law, Rudin said. Charter cities also have more taxing authority. The draft, for example, would raise property transfer taxes on the priciest properties.
“We’ve got a draft that’s got some significant litigation risk in it,” Hoffman said. “You say home rule. What is it? You’re not going to be able to overrule the housing element.”
“Five charter cities avoided SB 9 because of the home rule,” Cox said, referring to a 2022 state law that allowed single-family lots to be subdivided for housing.
“That’s one example. There may be others in the context of housing and the demands,” Woodside said. “For example, is ‘builder’s remedy’ a matter of statewide concern such that it should overrule a charter city that says no, we think builder’s remedy is the worst possible way to develop in our community? These are arguments that we’d like to equip our attorneys with.”
“I think this community is still reeling from the impact, the cost and the burdensome impact, of being thrown a number,” he said, referring to the state’s last directive to plan for 724 new dwellings between 2023 and 2031, and the expectation the next quota would be even larger. “I would like to see us have some tools in our toolkit that might give us a fighting chance.”
The council instructed staff to plan for three informational meetings in addition to two public hearings that would precede a council vote to place a city charter on the November ballot. The county filing deadline for general election ballots is the first week in August.