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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08/07/48 August V, 1948 Special meeting of the City Cotmcil of the City of Bremerton, Washington was held in the Nayor~ office at the City Hall at ten o,clock A.N~, Saturday August 7, 19~8. 'Nayor Kean presiding with the following being present: Com- missioner Haddon, Commissioner Go rst, Assistant City Attomey Wallace, Treas- urer Nutter, Auditor Vaa and ~. Julius Guis, Editor of the Bremerton Sun. The Mayor explained that the special meeting had been called for the pur- pose of discussing the petition which was filed ~ th the City Clerk for the City ~anager election. The other day the Clerk was instructed to tabulate the sig- natures and certify the petition to the Election Board but after discussion ~ th the City Attorney it was found that the petition must be certified to the City Council by the Clerk and the Council must take the action in certifying to the Election Board. Clerk read letter from the City Clerk to the City Council enclosing signed petitions filed at l:15 P.M., August ~, 1948 by Ken H. Branch, Secretary to the Citizen's Committee for City Nanager Form of Government, w~ich requests that a charter amendment to the Charter of the City of Bremerton be made for providing for a Council-~anager form of government be submitted to the qualified electors of the City of Bremerton for their approval or rejection and that a special City election be called for such purpose on the 14th day of September, 19~8. Advising that in order for these petitions to be submitted to the Council it is necessary that they contain at least 682 valid signatures which figure is 25% of the last preceding votes cast for all canditates for Nayor. Certifying that the attached petitions bear a sufficient number of signatures of she qualified electors and advising that all the petitions were checked against the current registration files as stipulated by the provisions of Article Xlll, Section 47, of the City Charter. The Assistant City Attorney advised that he had written a communication to the Council as follows: "You have requested my opinion on the submission of a petition filed ~ith the Clerk of the City regarding the change of the form of government to the City ~anager plan. I am informed by Nr. Fred Wyckoff, the City Clerk, that 'this pet- ition ~as filed in his office on Tuesday, August O, 1948; that ~he signatures of the petitioners have been checked and a requisite number appears thereon; that none of the papers comprising the petition, are attested by the affidavit of a. qualified voter as to the genuineness of the signatures appearing thereon. Mr. Wyckoff further informs me and an examination of the petitions discloses that it is requested by the petition, that the matter be submitted to a vote of the people and that an election be held on Tuesday, September 14, 19~8. In view of Rem. Rev. Stat. 19~2, Sec. ~148-2,. requiring that such petition must be certified by the governing body of a city to the election board at least forty-five days before the date of such election, this petition has not been time- ly filed with the Clerk of the City of Bremerton, as there are only forty-two days between the date of the receipt of the petition and the date of the election re- quested. It is my opinion further that ~nce none of the petitions or papers com- prising the petition have the requisite and necessary affidavit attesting to the genuineness of the signatures appearing thereon that the petition is not pzoper under Rem. Rev. Stat. 19~2, Sec. 8964. For the foregoing reasons and due to the fact that the petitions directly set out the date of September lQ, 1948, as the date upon which this matter is to be submitted to the ~oters, the petition should be rejected by you as the City Council. My opinion on this last reason for rejection is based upon the decision~ of the Supreme Court of the State of Washington in the.case of State ex rel. Lin vs. Superior Court for King County, 20 Wash. (~d), Page 188". Nr. Wallace added that additional petitions will have to be filed with the Council and would be considered for the subsequent elections. If the Council ex- pends the amount necessary for publication of the petition for submitting this to the vote of the people they could be criticised for doing so when the petition had not been submitted to them in good order; there is plenty of time be£~re either of the subsequent elections for the petitioners to submit other petitions to the Council. Mayor Kean asked Auditor Vaa what the approximate cost of the publication ~uld be, and Mr. Vaa replied that it would run around gl,100.00 or ~1,200.00 and added that we do not have the money in the budget and would have t o have an emergency appropriation to cover it. Conm~issioner Haddon asked Nr. Vaa, if when he was asked what time did he tell them the petition should be in and Mr. Vaa replied that he and ~r. Yeadon, Chief Deputy Clerk, had told the petitioners that the petition should be in the office of the City Clerk by the 14th of July, which would be two months before the election. August V, 1948 (Con't) Commissioner Haddon advised that she feels that some of the signers of the petition were very sincere about this petition and did not like to turn it down completely. Would like to place it on file for the November electi, on. Auditor Vaa asked the City Attorney, Assistan. t, if it were legal for the petitioners to set the date of election and Mr. Wallace advised he could not answer this as the Supreme Court had not ruled on this in the Lin Case, and fur- ther advised that if the petition were held over and put on the November elec- tion ballot could only be criticised by some citizen who did not sign the pet- ition and was not in sympathy with it. Mr. Wallace advised, when questioned, that the affidavit had not accompanied the petitions in the Lin Case and was not considered proper for that reason, adding that affidavits had not accompanied the petitions tuader consideration at this time. Mr. Wallace furthest advised that this is a matter that would be subject to attack. Mayor Kean advised that the Council had been in accord to certify the pet- ition to the Election Board for the forthcoming September 14th Election as it is the right and privilege of the people to select the type of government they desire, but in view of the fact that it is not in order it is the duty of the Council to stop the petition here. Attorney Wallace advised that the petition should be rejected as of this date, and added that if the petition is rejected the petitioners would have plenty of time before the November Election to submit them again. Mayor Kean expressed the opinion that the persons who submitted this pet- ition knew the law and have deliberately delayed getting the petition in at the proper time. Mr. Gorst expressed the opinion that the council would just be dodging the issue by certifying the petition to the Election Board and as it was received too late and is not accompanied by an affidavit there is no question but that the Council should reject it. Motion by Mr. Kean and Mr. Gorst to concur in the recommendation of the Assistant City Attorney and deny the. petition carried as follows: Mr. Kean, Yes. Mrs. Haddon, No. Mr. Gorst, Yes. The City Clerk was instructed to follow the usual procedure in notifying the petitioners that the petition had been denied. Motion by Mr. Kean and Mr. Gorst to adjourn, ~carrie,d. APPROVED: City C~rk // ~ Mayor ~