City Attorney’s Office
Reference: City of Brighton Home Rule Charter Questions
To: Mayor Gregory Mills and Members of City Council
Through: Michael P. Martinez, City Manager
Prepared By: Alicia Calderón, City Attorney
Date Prepared: June 27, 2024
PURPOSE
To review questions for the November ballot to amend the Charter.
BACKGROUND
As discussed in a previous study session, concerns have been raised about the Charter requirement that bars anyone who has ever been convicted of a felony from being eligible to run or be appointed for Mayor or Council Member. This has been considered by at least one district court judge to violate the fundamental right of citizenship. The right to vote and to run for public office is a right of citizenship guaranteed by the state constitution.
The state constitution enumerates certain specific crimes that would be a bar to running for office: (1) embezzlement of public moneys, (2) bribery, (3) perjury, (4) solicitation of bribery, or (5) subornation of perjury. At the previous study session, the two-person council committee recommended adding these enumerated crimes plus all felony crimes of violence. Another option would be to disqualify a person for having been convicted of a felony for ten years. Both options are included in the presentation. Lastly, referring a measure to clean up some inaccurate language in the Charter is also recommended. The Charter requires that the mayor pro tem and organizational meeting happen at the first meeting after the election, but the residents added the run-off election to the Charter. When there is a run-off election, the results of the run-off are needed before having an organizational meeting and selecting the mayor pro tem. The suggestion is to have these at the first meeting in January, to reflect current practice. The other clean up is to remove the limitation of department to those that were in effect when the Charter was adopted.
ATTACHMENTS
Power Point Presentation