Springfield City Council explores amending the City Charter in wake of E-Verify and smoking ban petitions

Councilmen want to raise the bar for initiative signatures to encourage more citizen involvement

May 03, 2012|by Jonah Kaplan, KSPR News | jkaplan@kspr.com

SPRINGFIELD, Mo — Springfield City Council will once again debate the smoking ban at its next meeting, but there's another issue gaining steam that could affect future citizen initiatives like it - changing the Springfield City Charter.

The last three petitions have all made it to Springfield ballots - the smoking ban, E-Verify, and the upcoming initiative to repeal the smoking ban.

They've all been circulated by some people who don't live in Springfield and some required just a thousand signatures.

The council is looking into changing those rules.

The council's Plans and Policy Committee proposes that 10% of the number of registered voters in the last mayoral election will be the number of signatures required - not 10% of those who actually voted, a much lower number.

Anyone can circulate a petition, but a proposed rule will require the petitioning group to form a committee of five Springfield residents to communicate with the city.

That committee will have to meet with the city attorney to review the measure's initiative's language.

Finally, another rule change will require any issue that appears on the ballot to include how much it will cost the city to implement the ordinance.

The people behind the no-smoking ordinance needed less than 1,000 signatures. If these changes were to apply, that number would spike to several thousand.

Councilmen say they need to raise the bar for signatures because that's what the charters' original authors would have wanted.

"This charter was written in 1951 and the political atmosphere in Springfield and the country was much more charged at that time," explains Councilman Tom Bieker. "When you look at the population at that time, that was great, but we've seen a decline in that turnout through the years and this is an opportunity to reestablish the intent."

Springfield City Council holds the key to the first step in changing Springfield's City Charter, but the final decision will be for voters.

When council agrees on an amendment, they'll send it to the ballot for voter approval.

Other amendment proposals include:

- Eliminating the primary City Council election in February (it costs the city upwards of $35 per voter).

- Send petitions to the voters at an election within one year where another municipal issue is already on the ballot.

- The petitioners may withdraw a petition if at least 3 of the 5 on the committee vote to withdraw prior to the election

- Council may amend an approved initiative after six months with unanimous Council approval, but Council may amend after one year with seven affirmative votes.

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