Term limit proposal pushes ahead

By: BRIAN ECKHOUSE - Staff Writer | Tuesday, September 18, 2007 12:50 AM PDT ∞

MURRIETA -- The language of two ballot initiatives proposed by two residents -- including one that would impose term limits on City Council members -- has been changed slightly in an effort to withstand a legal challenge, and signature-gathering could begin in early October, city officials said Monday.

Those initiatives originally were filed in early August, but City Attorney Leslie Devaney advised the proponents that the documents' language could be challenged in court. Devaney strictly assessed language, not intent ---- per the direction of the City Council, said City Councilman Rick Gibbs.

Residents Casey Evans and Bob Kowell, along with Temecula's Rick Reiss, last week resubmitted those two initiatives, including creating term limits for council members. They will be vetted again by Devaney.

In their revised initiative on term limits, a requirement that the ordinance also apply to current council members was removed, per Devaney's suggestion. A retroactive ordinance, she said, could have trouble standing up in court.

The other document, which proposes restricting salaries and benefits to 1.8 times the city's annual median family income, clarifies the maximum earnings of city employees: "The ordinance ... would prohibit City employees, including the City Manager, from having annual salaries with benefits or annual hourly wages including overtime and benefits that exceeds 1.8 times the median family/household income of the City of Murrieta."

That would mean if the median household income were $80,000, the city manager couldn't make more than $144,000 in salary and benefits this year -- about half what interim City Manager Ron Bradley would make if he were to work a full year. Bradley is earning $25,000 monthly, and is contractually ineligible for benefits.

On his current monthly rate, Bradley would earn $300,000 annually without benefits. The ordinance, however, wouldn't affect him, as he has said he plans to retire by Oct. 31.

Devaney said she'd review the two revised initiatives by Oct. 1. From there, the proponents would have about six months to secure signatures for their petitions, in anticipation of being put on the ballot, possibly in mid- to late 2008.

Those initiatives join two others filed by Evans, Kowell and Reiss in August: a new political sign policy and a restriction on the salaries and benefits of the council members. They have through late February to collect signatures for those two initiatives.

If the trio ultimately can secure about 5,800 signatures, or 15 percent of registered Murrieta voters, for each of the four initiatives, the council has two options: Adopt the ordinances within 10 days or order a special election in 88 to 103 days.

If the three are able to collect about 3,850 signatures, or 10 percent of the registered voters, the council has a few options, including adopting the ordinances within 10 days or ordering that it be placed on the ballot of a regular Murrieta election. The next regular city election is scheduled for November 2008.

None of the proponents could be reached for comment Monday. Evans is a bank employee who has run for City Council twice. Kowell and Reiss head up the Murrieta/Temecula Republican Assembly, a local political organization.

-- Contact staff writer Brian Eckhouse at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2626, or beckhouse@californian.com.