Consideration and Possible Adoption of Resolution No. 2013-23: A resolution of the City Council of the City of Flagstaff, Arizona, ordering and calling the 2014 Primary/General Elections; and providing for and giving notice of said election(s).

This resolution will call the Primary/General Elections for 2014 for March and May, respectively, should the Council choose to move in that direction.

A May 2014 mail-ballot Special Election has been budgeted in the FY2014 budget in the amount of $125,000 for the Regional Plan. Determination has not yet been made as to whether the 2014 election(s) would be a mail-ballot election or a polling place election in conjunction with other jurisdictions, either of which would run around $2.50/registered voter if held in the Spring. A Primary election, if required, would run around $2.50/registered voter, or approximately $80,000. This amount has not been budgeted because at the time of the budget preparation we were anticipating Fall elections for candidates, which would be budgeted in next year's budget. Should a Primary be required, these funds would come from General Fund Contingency.

11. Effective governance

The City Council has discussed this issue on Jun 11, 2013, and September 3, 2013.

1) Adopt the resolution as written
2) Amend the resolution and adopt as amended
3) Not adopt the resolution, thereby not calling a 2014 Election at this time

The Arizona State Legislature made changes to the Arizona Revised Statutes that require all cities and towns, beginning in 2014, to hold their primary/general elections in August and November of even-numbered years. This legislation was challenged by the cities of Tucson and Phoenix and on August 12, 2013, the Pima County Superior Court ruled in favor of the City of Tucson and the City of Phoenix, granting them a permanent injunction enjoining the State of Arizona from requiring them to comply with the candidate election scheduling requirements of ARS 16-204. With this ruling being in Superior Court, it did not create precedent for the remaining charter cities/towns in the State.

The State of Arizona has until September 13, 2013, to file an appeal to this decision. If the State files an appeal and the Court of Appeals rules in favor of charter cities, a Spring election would be possible. If the Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the State of Arizona, a Fall election would be required.

Calling the election now allows the City to proceed in a manner consistent with the Charter and with past practice. Individual candidates may decide when to begin circulating petitions once the packets are available September 30.

The benefit to the community by holding a Spring Election is that it is what they are familiar with as it is consistent with the City Charter which requires Spring elections. Additionally, it allows the City's candidates and issues to be on a ballot separate from a statewide ballot wherein the City's candidates and elections would be at the end of the ballot thereby allowing for items to be overlooked due to voter fatigue. A November election would also create additional problems that are associated with having the nonpartisan candidates/issues of the City being part of a partisan ballot in the Primary Election, which is likely to decrease primary turn out for independent voters.

Inform - Adoption of the this resolution would inform the public of the upcoming election date(s) and provide specific information on when candidate packets would be available.