Consideration and Approval of Agreement:  Intergovernmental Agreement between City of Flagstaff and Coconino County for election services for the November 3, 2015, Special Election.

Approve the Intergovernmental Agreement between the City of Flagstaff and Coconino County for election services for the November 3, 2015, Special Election.

On June 16, 2015, the City Council adopted Resolution No. 2015-26 calling for a special election to be held on November 3, 2015, to submit to the registered voters of Flagstaff the second set of proposed amendments to the City Charter. Ballot language, which is Exhibit A to this resolution, was approved at the July 7, 2015, Council Meeting. With the exception of Phoenix and Tucson, who perform their own elections, municipalities across the state contract for the operation of their elections, primarily with their respective county. While the City is responsible for many of the election activities such as preparation of the resolution, ballot language, public notices, and Information Pamphlet, the County prepares the ballot (with approval by the City), mails and receives the ballots, and counts the ballots on election day. The attached Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) outlines the roles of the City and County in this Special Mail Ballot Election.

This election has been budgeted in the FY2015 Budget. The services provided by the County are charged at $2.50 per registered voter. With approximately 30,000 registered voters, the County charges should be around $75,000. Additional expenses will be incurred with Election Operation Services for compilation, translation, and mailing of the associated Information Pamphlet as well as the notification postcards.

 

While the Special Election itself has been discussed multiple times, as further explained under Background/History on the next page, the Intergovernmental Agreement has not been discussed although it is the same wording as that agreement approved by the Council for the May 19, 2015, Special Election.

1) Approve the IGA as presented or  2) amend the IGA and return to Coconino County for further consideration.

The City Council initially gave direction to conduct a comprehensive review of the City Charter through a City Manager-appointed resident committee. This committee met eight times during 2014 and presented their recommendations to the City Manager in October 2014. On October 28 and November 25, 2014, the City Council discussed the questions and directed staff to bring back a resolution that called for a Special Election in May of 2015 to address the technical questions.

The remaining questions which focused more broadly on policies that Council believed should continue to be further reviewed and discussed with the public, were taken to the residents of Flagstaff for additional input. Results of this public outreach effort were brought before Council at the May 26, 2015, Work Session. The Council further discussed those questions and on June 16, 2015, adopted Resolution No. 2015-26 calling for a Special Election to be held on November 3, 2015. Ballot language was then approved for this election at the July 7, 2015, Council meeting.

Inform
Consult
Involve
Collaborate
Empower

An election of this type provides the ultimate power to the voters of the City, in allowing them to amend the Charter.