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A government ethics watchdog says 72-hours notice is not enough time for Fresno residents to review, debate and discuss four newly proposed measures that the city’s elected officials will decide this Thursday whether to put on the Nov. 3 general election ballot.
Fresno city officials presented four proposed ballot measures Monday that the council would need to approve, including a change to city term limit rules that would allow Mayor Jerry Dyer to run for a third consecutive term.
The proposed measures — publicly unveiled for the first time Monday morning — include enacting a half-cent sales tax, financing for a major development project, establishing a redistricting advisory committee, and extending term limits for elected leaders.
Sean McMorris, a program manager for transparency, ethics and accountability for Common Cause, a nonpartisan democracy watchdog group, said a 72-hour notice is not enough time to consider these proposals.
“That’s clearly not enough time,” McMorris said. “Ballot measures should be proposed months in advance so that the public has adequate time to weigh in.”
The Fresno City Council would have to vote Thursday to place each item on the Nov. 3 ballot. Election items need to be presented to the Fresno County Clerk by the Aug. 7 deadline and Thursday is the last regularly scheduled city council meeting before that date.
Fresno City Council President Nelson Esparza disagrees. He said that the 72-hour notice is sufficient time.
Esparza — who referred to the proposals as “good governance” — defended the late notice, saying it complies with the state’s open meeting laws.
“This is very straightforward. This is not a complicated proposition,” Esparza said at a Monday news conference. “Folks have the week here to review and ask questions.”
District 6 Councilmember Nick Richardson was skeptical of the short-term notice.
“I’m also not in a rush to make that decision for the voters. Regardless of my vote on the dais, I’d be unlikely to vote yes should it make it to my ballot in November,” Richardson said.
Some of the initiatives were introduced last week, though the language or documents for the proposals wasn’t published on the city’s website until Monday morning.
Last week, Esparza proposed ballot measures to institute a half-cent sales tax for the general fund, as well as a separate ballot measure outlining how the city could spend funds on the future Southeast Development Area (SEDA) project.
While the timing of introducing the measures met the state 72-hour window it may have missed the city council’s own rules. Agenda item materials are supposed to be turned into the city clerk the Thursday prior to a meeting, and items submitted five days prior.
The rules also allow the city council president to make “all final decisions on matters regarding the agenda.”
“This notice really gives the public no time to adequately evaluate it, research it, propose other ideas, talk about things that maybe the City Council didn’t think about,” McMorris said.
This rushed approach, McMorris said, “is not a good way to do things.”