[Occupymendocino] [Fwd: [Fwd: Mendocino Beacon Charter Story]]

[agnes at mcn.org]

---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: [Occupymendocino] [Fwd: Mendocino Beacon Charter Story]
From:    agnes at mcn.org
Date:    Fri, January 22, 2016 10:50 am
To:      occupymendocino at lists.mcn.org
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Hi,
I just wanted to send you the story about the charter.

Story:
The Charter Project of Mendocino has gathered over 4000 signatures to get
the question: ‘Shall a charter commission be elected to propose a Mendocino
County?’ Charter on the June 2016 ballot.

Becoming a charter county would allow Mendocino County to write and adopt
its own charter under Article XI of the California Constitution. A charter
defines the power and functions of elected officials, as well as the
organization and procedure of local government.

According to the California State Alliance of Counties, a charter county
has the power to determine, “election, compensation, terms, removal, and
salary of the governing board; for the election or appointment (except the
sheriff, district attorney, and assessor who must be elected),
compensation, terms, and removal of all county officers; for the powers and
duties of all officers; and for consolidation and segregation of county
offices.”

This differs from general law counties — the other type of county
recognized under the California Constitution — where the structure of the
county is defined by the state constitution and state statutes.

“As a general law county we are just a subdivision of the state. Whatever
the county does is provided by state law and that is all we can do. But
once the charter is approved by the voters and ratified by the Secretary of
State, then whatever is in the charter becomes equivalent to state law, but
only applicable to this county,” explains Robin Sunbeam, a member of the
Charter Project.

A charter can be amended, revised or repealed with a majority vote approval.

The charter county does not have the power to give county officials extra
authority over local regulations, revenue-raising abilities, budgetary
decisions, or intergovernmental relations, explains the California State
Alliance of Counties.
Charter counties have home-rule authority as long as it doesn’t conflict
with the constitution or general state law.

The Mendocino County Charter movement started three years ago with the
Charter Project petitioning the Board of Supervisors to put a charter
measure on the ballot. This is one of three ways to become a charter
county, explains Sunbeam.

“We tried for three years to get them to put a charter on the ballot, and
then we tried for ten weeks to get them to put a charter question on last
November’s ballot. They just had no political will to do that. So our only
other recourse was for the third method, which is a petition of the people
to put a charter question on the ballot,” she said.

In the Jun. 7 elections, voters will not only have the chance to decide if
they want a charter, but they will also have the chance to decide who they
want to be part of the 15 charter commissioners who would draft the charter.

According to the Charter Project, there are approximately 30 people who
have been invited or are considering running for charter commissioner.

According to Keith Wyner, also a member of the Charter Project, “Every
member of the commission will help draft the charter, and then that will be
presented on Election Day to be approved. The recommendation that they come
up with has to be approved by the voters. If it is not approved then it
doesn’t happen, and the charter commissioners have to write another one
until one is approved.”

What goes into the charter is completely up to the charter commission. One
potential charter provision that is greatly supported by the Charter
Project is the creation of a county bank.

Prior to the Charter Project, Agnes Woosley, another member of the Charter
Project, and Sunbeam, were both members of the Mendocino Public Banking
Coalition, which was working on creating a public bank in this county.

During their research, they discovered it would be easier to establish a
public bank if the county was a charter county, which led them to shift
their focus to the charter county effort.

The Charter Project states that a county bank has the potential to protect
Mendocino County and its citizens from future recessions.

During the 2008 economic downturn, North Dakota, out of the fifty states,
was least affected because the Bank of North Dakota-the only public bank in
the nation — acted as a mini-federal reserve. Due to its regulations, the
bank wasn’t allowed to invest in derivatives like other banks were doing
around the country, explains Sunbeam.

The Charter Project also claims it will save the county money, and increase
the county’s financial independence.

According to the project, a public bank can provide no interest or low
interest for infrastructure and the interest will be recycled back into the
county General Fund, rather than to the shareholders of Wall Street banks.

Other potential charter provisions could include enacting anti-corruption
laws for public financing of electoral campaigns; strengthening local
environmental ordinances against fracking, genetically modified crops or
nuclear power; limit corporations’ constitutional rights; and institute
instant runoff voting.

There are currently 14 charter counties in California: Alameda, Butte, El
Dorado, Fresno, Los Angeles, Orange, Placer, Sacramento, San Bernardino,
San Diego, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Tehama.

Alameda’s charter decided to exceed state mandates for recycling and
prohibit incineration. Los Angeles’ charter set term limits for county
elected officials, and Tehama’s charter forbids extraction of groundwater
for off-parcel use except when permitted by law.

The Charter Project of Mendocino County will be releasing candidate packets
to run for charter commissioner, in the same election, at the end of
January. Anyone who is a registered voter in Mendocino County can run for
charter commissioner, and because it is a voluntary position there is no
fee to run.
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