Report to Mayor and City Council
Tuesday, September 01, 2020
Discussion
SUBJECT:
Title
CONSIDER RECONSIDERATION OF THE ADOPTION OF ORDINANCE 20-008 AND STATUS REPORT (CITY COUNCIL)
Body
I. SUMMARY
On July 21, 2020, Ordinance No. 20-2008, establishing by-district voting for City Council seats in the City of Carson, was introduced, and was adopted at a noticed public hearing on August 4, 2020 by a 3-2 vote (Davis-Holmes and Hicks voting no).
Thereafter, Mayor Pro Tem Dear contacted Mayor Robles to bring the item back for reconsideration for reasons related to providing a forum to discuss the lack of direction from the court in the pending CVRA case, Southwest Voter Registration Education Project v. City of Carson, Los Angeles Superior Court Case No. 19STCV32291 and to discuss timing issues related to the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters related to Carson's election.
Under parliamentary procedure, a Councilmember from the prevailing side can make a motion to reconsider an item, either at the meeting the item was approved or disapproved, or at the following meeting. Because no motion to reconsider Ordinance No. 20-2008 was made at the meeting at which the ordinance was adopted, the item needed to be come back at the next Agenda. The Mayor did not agendize the item for the next agenda for immediate consideration and instead agendized same in a section of the agenda titled: Council Requests for Future Agendized Items. A 4/5 vote is necessary for an item to be placed on the Council agenda without first receiving the Mayor's approval.
At the August 18, 2020 City Council meeting, the item requesting the Motion to Reconsider the Approval of Ordinance No. 20-2008 received the 4 votes necessary for it to be placed on the September 1, 2020 agenda (Mayor Robles voting no).
The election materials for Carson pursuant to Ordinance No. 20-2008 (By-District Elections) are well underway and it is not possible at this point to go back to at-large voting for the 2020...
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