Over 4,000 signatures turned in to City of Watsonville
Story and photos by Noel Smith
Building on the success of a non-partisan citizens group collecting signatures for the right of Watsonville citizens to name public places, two more petitions were turned in by the group on January 8 with over 4,000 signatures for each petition. The number of valid signatures needed to put a charter amendment on the ballot is just over 2,400 but with a 1,600-signature surplus, it seems assured that all three could be on the June ballot.
Approximately 20 people showed up to take part in presenting the petitions to Watsonville City Clerk, Beatriz Vázquez Flores. Volunteers gathered about 60 percent of the signatures with the balance collected by a contractor. One of the volunteers, Gerry Martin, said, “People were really glad to see us. They were interested in the petitions and that we felt strongly enough to get out and go door-to-door to get them on the ballot.”
Judy Doering-Nielson, a former Watsonville mayor said, “I’m glad we took this on and were successful in getting well over the 15 percent of registered voters necessary to get them on the ballot. However, the city council can put any measure on the ballot they want to with a simple majority vote of the council whereas citizens are forced to go through this very labor intensive, complex process to get the same result.”
Mayoral Appointment Charter Amendment
This petition involves mayoral appointments. This would be a charter amendment to repeal the current system of selecting the next mayor and vice mayor by a council vote. The new system would have the offices of mayor and vice mayor rotate among the council members. The mayor and vice mayor would serve for one-year terms by district number (1-7) affirmed by a vote of the council. If passed by a vote of the people, the first rotation would start with the mayor being from District 7 and the vice-mayor (to be the next mayor in rotation) from District 1.
Council Vacancies Charter Amendment
This petition involves city council vacancies. Currently the council, including the vacating council member, may appoint a replacement council member or call for an election. A controversy arose when Assemblyman Luis Alejo was vacating his city council seat to take his newly elected position. Under the current City Charter, he was able to vote to elect his own replacement.
The charter amendment would require a municipal election in the vacated Council District within 90 days of the vacancy either as a special election or as part of a general election. The amendment is designed to ensure that the only voters within the vacated city council district would vote for their new council member.
It was also announced that the County Clerk has certified the first petition presented in December regarding the naming of public places.
According to Flores, the individual petitions each with from 1 to 5 signatures, must be officially registered and stamped. They will then be taken to the county elections office where the County Clerk will verify each signature as being a valid registered voter before it can be counted. The county has 30 days to finish the count and return the results to the City Clerk.
If these other two petitions are also certified, it is up to the city council to place the three measures on the ballot. The council could call for a special election at a cost of $80,000 rather than placing them on the June primary general election ballot.
Rhea DeHart, retired Pajaro Valley teacher and former PVUSD Trustee said, “It is hoped that they will not want to spend the taxpayer’s money when it is not necessary.”