2000-04-29 Charter Commission Minutes

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Transcript of Meeting of April 29, 2000Page 33 of 64 expensive and we should just go to our newspaper thing. People might be more likely to look at a brochure that included everything rather than just our Charter Amendments. SANTANGELO: I just want to state, and my only concern is being prudent, or at least dealing with the perception. And the other thing is I’m in favor of pushing this information into the most hands in the most timely fashion, and so that’s why I asked the question because If it helps it get in more hands. But definitely we want to get this information out to people so that they can go through it, but I wouldn’t want to have done it and then have it come back and bite us. RAY: Chris, and while you’re addressing this, I also notice this is a County of San Diego voter information packet and they did use some private advertising. So, I guess that begs the question, could we do that as well? Could we use some private funds to help pay for the cost of this. I mean, obviously they sold advertising. It might be a way to save the taxpayers some dollars, for civic minded organizations to help defray the costs on this. So, I don’t know if you have any - BESS: And then you’d run into the problem where you’d have candidates wanting to advertise, perhaps. And then how would you decide which commercial groups would - RAY: Actually I take that back. What this says is it’s a thanks to the following businesses for honoring poll workers throughout San Diego County. YUEN: Let me just, like, start with it. Let me say just generally. The Charter Commission has budget and can spend its money for disseminating neutral information about the ballot proposals, and that’s a legitimate function to inform the public about what’s being proposed for the ballot so that the public understands it. I can say quite absolutely that the Charter Commission cannot spend its money to help pay for a mailing about candidates for public office. There’s no authority for the Charter Commission to do that, period. Basically it would be a form of public financing of campaigns. If the County Council wants to do that, they can appropriate the money to do that, but the Charter Commission does not have the authority to do that. I would question the Charter Commission paying for a pros and cons of the amendments because I think that it’s very difficult to prepare something like that in a neutral way. People can argue about what’s a pro and what’s a con, and what should be the pros and what should be the cons, and what is a fair statement of it. I have no qualms, or doubts, that we can come up with a fair digest that explains what we’re trying to do, explains the differences of what we’re trying to do from the present system, and leaves it to the voters to decide whether they think that’s a good idea or not, which is their ultimate decision and ultimate choice. So, I think that’s about the gist of my comments. HIGASHI: One question. In terms of our expenditures, are we subject to the County’s Procurement Laws? Is there a certain process that we have to go through. RAY: Sharron, you’ve checked into that. HENRY: If we use a State or County Department/Division printing services, we do not have to go through the three-bid procurement process. If we use an independent printer, then the Finance Department has to go through the three-bid process. The quote that I got was from the State Correctional Department only. I have not gone to a private printer yet. That was information that the County Finance Department gave me in regard to printing, and what they say is the easiest and simplest way to get the process going. We, obviously, haven’t ruled out quotes from private businesses as well, but this was the one quote that I got with the urging of the Finance Department. But, yes, we have to go through the procurement process. file://\\coh01\cohweb\council\charter_commission\minutes\minutes 04-29-00.html7/1/2011