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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 03152005 - C.94 Is B.A.D. Good? Open Space Benefit Assessment Balloting Process March 15, 2005 Board of Supervisors Supplemental Response to Grand Jury Report No. 0502 Page 1 BOARD OF SUPERVISORS SUPPLEMENTAL RESPONSE TO GRAND JURY REPORT NO. 0502: IS B.A.D. GOOD? OPEN SPACE BENEFIT ASSESSMENT DISTRICT BALLOTING PROCESS On December 74, 2004, the Board of Supervisors responded to the above-referenced report filed by the 2004/2005 Grand Jury. The Board of Supervisors indicated that recommendation 2b, which recommended that the County Clerk/Recorder assume additional responsibility in the administration of future similar assessment ballot proceedings, required additional analysis. Recommendation 2b is reprinted below. A response to item 2b follows. 2. If the decision is made to have other similar benefit assessment district measures in the future, revise the process to improve the public's understanding and perceptions of fairness by including the following features that are present in a general or special election process (and are not prohibited in a benefit assessment district process) as follows: b. Have the existing office responsible for handling balloting, i.e., the Registrar of Voters, be responsible for preparing and mailing the ballot and Official Notice and Ballot Information Guide and tabulating the vote, using subcontractors where appropriate. Response: The recommendation will not be implemented because it is not reasonable. The Clerk/Recorder's Office has no expertise and no interest in conducting assessment ballot proceedings. Assessment ballot proceedings are not elections and differ from elections in several significant ways. Key differences that impede effective use of the C/erk/Recorder's balloting expertise include: • The outcomes of assessment ba/lot proceedings are determined by property owners, not by registered voters. The Clerk/Recorder's Office does not work with property owners as a class of ballot respondents and has no authority to maintain property owner databases for balloting purposes. • Assessment ballots are public records. The Clerk/Recorder's Office conducts elections involving secret ballots. • The outcomes of assessment ballot proceedings are determined by weighting ballots according to the amount of the proposed assessment. The Clerk/Recorder's Office has no experience in weighting ballots, has no software to perform such tabulation, and has no equipment to process ballots that must record not only a yes or no vote but also a parcel number and assessment amount. • The California Elections Code does not apply to assessment ballot proceedings. The Clerk/Recorder's Office conducts elections pursuant to the provisions of the Elections Code. Is B.A.D. Good? Open Space Benefit Assessment Balloting Process March 15, 2005 Board of Supervisors Supplemental Response to Grand Jury Report No. 0502 Page 2 Additional reasons why the Clerk/Recorder's Office should not play a larger role in future assessment ballot proceedings similar to the Open Space Funding Measure include: 2'f Clerk/Recorder's Office were to supervise assessment ballot proceedings, the public may be more likely to misconstrue the proceedings as an election, undermining the important distinctions between the two processes. • The ClerkjRecorder's ability to conduct elections could be comprised by assuming responsibility for conducting assessment ballot proceedings because assessment ballot proceedings have no fixed schedule and can be initiated at any time. • The Clerk/Recorder's Office has no experience in the formation of assessment districts or in the preparation of ballot measure summaries. Unlike the state agencies that prepare ballot guides for statewide elections, the ClerkjRecorder's Office does not perform a legislative analyst role; that is, its duties do not include drafting neutral summaries of ballot proposals. Subcontractors and County Departments that are familiar with assessment district formation requirements and the details of the proposed assessments are better able to manage the preparation of ballot information guides at the direction of the Board. As noted above, the ClerkjRecorder's Office has no experience in tabulating weighted ballots submitted by property owners and would need to hire a subcontractor. Regardless of which county Department hires the tabulation subcontractor, that contractor would be designated by the Board as the entity to tabulate the ballots, and the subcontractor by law would ultimately be responsible for determining tabulation procedures and for determining the final outcome of the assessment ballot proceeding.