"There are other attorneys in this town," Chico initiative revision denied

CHICO, Calif. — A group of people in Chico want the city's homeless enforcement to move faster to improve what they call a deteriorating quality of life. They're hoping to achieve that through a voter initiative on the November ballot, but there are new concerns that it may not do what it was intended to after the city attorney revises it.

A new “quality of life” initiative was presented at the Chico city council meeting Tuesday night. Written by Vice Mayor Kasey Reynolds, Attorney Rob Berry, and an undisclosed amount of other people, it seeks to force the city to take all legal means possible to uphold its quality of life. That's defined as safety, cleanliness, beauty and economic vitality. Most actions within it is directed to remove homeless campers on city-owned property within a short timeframe after a citizen reports it.

But City Attorney Vincent Ewing says those definitions are vague through an analysis of the initiative presented Tuesday night. Additionally, he says it is legally problematic as multiple aspects of it requires homeless enforcement that conflicts with the city’s own municipal code, the Warren v. Chico settlement agreement and Martin v. Boise.

At the end of the discussion, the city council unanimously decided to have Ewing revise the initiative to meet legal standards and be presented again in time for the November ballot’s deadline. But, those who wrote it initially want to collaborate in this revision.

“Don’t just allow one attorney to decide what something means. There're other attorneys in this town. There are other people that are experts in this area as well,” says Berry outside City Hall. “The best decisions are going to be a product of open, transparent, good-faith discussions about different points of view.”

Berry says he and other writers are not getting that opportunity to do collaborate in this revision. He points to the Warren v. Chico settlement agreement which was also agreed upon in closed session without direct input from the general public.

"The city has retreated into a private governance mode and has excluded the public from participating in government which is an instrument that they create and they control,” says Berry outside City Hall. "Most of the major policy decisions are being reached in closed session. No individual, or no group of five or six or nine people, are going to be as smart as a community of people that have a vested interest in a positive outcome."

Ultimately, it seems the only time the public will have the ability to comment on the official initiative will be at the council’s next meeting, the same day they must approve it to get it on the ballot by the state’s deadline.

Vice Mayor Kasey Reynolds did not return KRCR’s request for comments Friday but explained during Tuesday’s meeting that her intention in this initiative is to create a method for Chico citizens to voice their concerns about the city’s quality of life and have the city, in turn, be required to do something about it.

While Berry acknowledges the proposed initiative was not perfect, he says it was modeled after a similar initiative that voters in the City of Sacramento will see during the same election. The proposal presented Tuesday additionally included a $5,000 fine that the city would pay to people who complained about a public nuisance and it was never addressed.

The council voted to remove that fine before passing it off to the city attorney. An official and legally adequate initiative will be brought back at the council’s next meeting on Aug. 2.

--

To report errors or issues with this article please email the editorial team.