Let City Council know what you think.
Here is a message from Committee Co-Chair Marilyn Baird (pictured with Billy Jones and Donny Jones to the right):Let me first thank you all for your support and the work everyone did on the petion drive. We petitioned with 6400 signatures.
We've not received an official response to our filing. But we have been advised by a source that the city attorney, Linda Miles, is trying to deny our petition.
Issue: On 12/1/2006 the petition was filed by the petitioners. We were advised by the election board prior to the filing that we would need 25% of those who voted in the most recent city council election. That number would be based on the 2005 City Council election. We would need 4, 972 signatures and we had until 12/01/2007 in which to present the required signature.
Our source has informed us that Linda Miles, city attorney has said that our petition isn't supported with the proper number of signatures. That the number of signatures is based on the most recent city council election in November , 2007. We expected this to happen.
We need your help! Below you will find an in depth piece on this issue written by retired Atty. Jim Boyett, co-chair. Here you will find a link to a listing of the city council members and their contact information. We need everyone to call or e-mail them. Let them know that Linda Miles' interpretation is FOOLISH and ask them to do the right thing! That the 6400 registered voters will not accept this foolishness.
Once again we've not received anything official from the city. The attorney will make an official decision possibly next week. It will then be sent to the city council. The city council will then make their decision on the interprtation of that statue.
Jim Boyett's piece:
This is not a legal issue it is a political issue.
The City Council should interpret its own City Charter with the advice of the Clerk and City Attorney. The City Council is the highest authority in the City and it is appropriate that they make the final decision as to what the Charter means. This is not a decision that can be left to the employees and staff agencies of the City.
Section 2.73 of the City Charter states as follows;
(a) Initiative, referendum and recall petitions shall be governed by the rules regarding form and sufficiency set out in this Section, as well as by such other rules regarding form and sufficiency as the City Council may impose by ordinance consistent with the provisions and with the spirit and purpose of this charter.
It is very clearly the responsibility of the City Council to determine the rules for how initiatives, referendums and recall petitions shall be conducted.
The Greensboro Minimum Wage Committee has submitted an initiative petition requesting an increase in the minimum wage. A lack of clarity exists in the present City rules regarding initiatives, referendums and recall petitions. This lack of clarity was caused by the State of North Carolina passing two statutes that added the requirement to register an initiative petition with the County Board of Elections prior to obtaining signatures and setting a time limit of one year on the gathering of signatures. These State changes have never been addressed by City ordinance to clarify their effect upon the City’s Initiative Procedure.
The question is how many signatures are required to meet the 25% requirement of voters who voted in the last election? Is the number determined as of the date of registration of the petition with the Board of elections or is the number subject to change during the year because of a new election being held in the City?
When we filed our petition the Deputy Director of the Board of Elections told us that we had one year to gather the signatures for our petition and that we needed 4972 signatures of registered voters to meet the 25% requirement.
The City Council should clarify the initiative procedure by ordinance so that citizens don’t have the rules changed in the middle of the game. We think that the 6412 citizens who signed our petition want the City Council to consider their petition on the merits not reject it on some technicality.
The City Council should interpret its own City Charter with the advice of the Clerk and City Attorney. The City Council is the highest authority in the City and it is appropriate that they make the final decision as to what the Charter means. This is not a decision that can be left to the employees and staff agencies of the City.
Section 2.73 of the City Charter states as follows;
(a) Initiative, referendum and recall petitions shall be governed by the rules regarding form and sufficiency set out in this Section, as well as by such other rules regarding form and sufficiency as the City Council may impose by ordinance consistent with the provisions and with the spirit and purpose of this charter.
It is very clearly the responsibility of the City Council to determine the rules for how initiatives, referendums and recall petitions shall be conducted.
The Greensboro Minimum Wage Committee has submitted an initiative petition requesting an increase in the minimum wage. A lack of clarity exists in the present City rules regarding initiatives, referendums and recall petitions. This lack of clarity was caused by the State of North Carolina passing two statutes that added the requirement to register an initiative petition with the County Board of Elections prior to obtaining signatures and setting a time limit of one year on the gathering of signatures. These State changes have never been addressed by City ordinance to clarify their effect upon the City’s Initiative Procedure.
The question is how many signatures are required to meet the 25% requirement of voters who voted in the last election? Is the number determined as of the date of registration of the petition with the Board of elections or is the number subject to change during the year because of a new election being held in the City?
When we filed our petition the Deputy Director of the Board of Elections told us that we had one year to gather the signatures for our petition and that we needed 4972 signatures of registered voters to meet the 25% requirement.
The City Council should clarify the initiative procedure by ordinance so that citizens don’t have the rules changed in the middle of the game. We think that the 6412 citizens who signed our petition want the City Council to consider their petition on the merits not reject it on some technicality.
posted by Jill Williams at
4:11 PM
1 Comments:
I find it interesting that Linda Miles who resigned as City Attorney effective November 30th should have ANY say over this or any other matter concerning the City of Greensboro.
And again I want to make mention that Mayor Johnson and Goldie Wells both signed the petition and should now speak out in favor of the petition publicly.
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