VISTA - What began as a quiet campaign to determine whether Vista should adopt a type of city constitution called a charter has heated up in recent days, with fliers appearing in mailboxes and advocates for this side and that hitting the phones.

Vista's proposal, dubbed Proposition C, will go before voters June 5 and is the only item on the ballot.

Supporters of the measure, including city officials and Chamber of Commerce, say the freedoms provided by a charter would save Vista money on some major capital projects, including a new civic center, a sports park and two fire stations.

Charter cities, for example, can avoid paying prevailing wages - essentially union wages - on projects that don't involve state or federal funds. And while so-called general-law cities are required to go through a competitive bidding process for public-works projects over $5,000, charter cities are not.

Critics of the charter proposal, including the San Diego County Democratic Party, say the freedoms it offers are ripe for abuse, and they accuse the City Council of trying to sneak the charter past voters during a costly special election when turnout will almost certainly be low.

"We think they're trying to pull a fast one," said county party Chairman Jess Durfee.

The charter club

Vista officials aren't the first politicians to yearn for more local control. Of the 478 cities in California, 109 have their own charters, including San Marcos and Del Mar. And Carlsbad officials say Vista's charter quest recently prompted the Carlsbad City Council to discuss the pros and cons of drafting a charter for their own city.

Though charters can be structured in many different ways, the documents essentially hand cities more control over zoning, elections and the operational details of local government.

Their authority is limited to "municipal affairs," though the meaning of that phrase has changed over time through court decisions.

Councilman Frank Lopez said he has been suggesting Vista become a charter city since the 1980s. The plan picked up momentum in recent months because the city is on the cusp of contracting out several capital projects, city officials have said.

Vista Mayor Morris Vance says it all boils down to more local control.

"A desire for home rule is something that, I think, has been part of local government ever since local government started," Vance said last week.

Sides forming

Vista City Council members and city staff members have said their proposed three-page charter would work in concert with the half-cent sales tax increase that city voters approved in November. That measure, known as Proposition L, brought Vista's sales tax to 8.25 percent, compared to the 7.75 percent sales tax found in most San Diego County cities.

With millions of extra dollars expected to funnel into Vista's coffers during the tax hike's 30-year term, city officials want charter-city freedoms to "spend your money efficiently and effectively," City Manager Rita Geldert told a crowd of about two dozen people at a forum Thursday night, hosted by neighborhood group South Vista Communities.

But in a recent mailer, the San Diego County Democratic Party injected the campaign with a partisan twist, questioning the motives of "Vista's Republican City Council,"

"Prop. C will enrich special interests and hurt working people," the mailer said.

Mailers have also started to appear from Vistans for Civic Pride and Safety, a political action committee that spent nearly $115,000 last year to support the sales-tax measure and wants to see the city's charter approved.

The group's chairman, former Vista Mayor Bernie Rappaport, said the small group of civic leaders had so far raised about $10,000 of a targeted $30,000.

The Vista Chamber of Commerce board of directors, which narrowly supported the tax hike, voted unanimously May 8 to stand behind the charter measure. Chamber Chief Executive Officer Jim Baumann said a charter city's freedom to give preference to a local contractor, even if it were to submit a higher bid, was a strong selling point.

"If we can keep the money in town and pay a couple percentage points more, we should have the latitude to do that," he said.

Not every Prop. L supporter is backing the charter city measure, however.

In late April, members of the Vista Firefighters Association voted "overwhelmingly to stay neutral" on Prop. C, according to union President Ned Van der Pol.

"It's not necessarily labor friendly," Van der Pol said of the measure. "So in that regard, we didn't feel that we could in good conscience support it. But we certainly see the city's side of things and their reasons for doing it."

Wage issues

Thus far, the debate has focused on prevailing wages and a charter city's ability to adopt its own rules for contracting out construction jobs.

"It allows them to do some things that we think they actually intend to do," Durfee said. "One of those is avoid paying prevailing wage. The other is to offer contracts to friends or cronies, rather than going through the traditional lowest bid process."

Nico Ferraro, business manager of Plumbers & Pipefitters Local Union No. 230, wrote in a letter to union members May 2 that by adopting a charter, voters would be "hurting the hard working taxpayers or of city by undercutting our union wages for public construction projects."

City officials don't dispute that they want to avoid state-imposed wages requirements, stating that it could save millions over the next few years. As for cronyism and abuse of power, the ballot box is the ultimate safeguard, charter supporters have said

"They still have to worry about public perception," Rappaport said of the city's elected officials.

The characterization of prevailing wages shifts dramatically from one side of the debate to the other. Durfee said they allow workers to have health care and live free of public subsidies, but City Attorney Darold Pieper said they are essentially "Beverly Hills wage rates" forced on a "middle-class and blue-collar community."

"Many people make a fine living in construction without union wages," Pieper said.

Election timing

Charter critics have accused the city of trying to sneak through the charter proposal during an expensive special election, rather than putting it on the ballot during a general election.

Vista's draft charter was made public just one day before the council's vote in February, the last day suggested by election officials to call a special election.

"They absolutely should be doing this in a regular election where there's a larger turnout," Durfee said.

There are 31,654 registered voters in Vista, of which 7,995 are permanent absentees. The cost of the special election is estimated to be $300,000, however, the city won't see the bill until after the election.

City officials say there's nothing questionable about the timing.

Last November, the city was focused on its sales tax campaign and didn't want to dilute its efforts with a second ballot measure, Geldert said.

Pieper added that waiting until next year could cost the city money, as it plans to award contracts for several capital projects this fall.

"It would be irresponsible to wait if there are savings to be had," Pieper said.

Monday is the last day residents can register to vote. Vistans can request absentee ballots by mail until May 29.

Early voting is available from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at the registrar of voters' Kearny Mesa office, 5201 Ruffin Road, Suite I.

Adopting, amending or repealing a city charter requires a majority vote of the public.

- Contact staff writer Craig TenBroeck at (760) 631-6621 or ctenbroeck@nctimes.com.

Related Links

League of California Cities: City Charters

http://www.cacities.org/index.jsp?zone=locc&previewStory=26279