Palm Springs sets community meetings on elected mayor question as advocacy group presses for legal report

Palm Springs will hold seven community meetings starting Wednesday July 22 on a potential shift to a directly elected mayor. Meanwhile, an advocacy group renewed its request last week for an independent legal report and the city attorney said no comparable California city offers a legal precedent for the change.

Rich Gordon, chair of the group Citizens for an Elected Mayor, asked the City Council on July 8 to formally direct the city attorney’s office to prepare an objective staff report, no later than Sept. 1, on how California charter cities have combined at-large mayoral elections with district council elections under the California Voting Rights Act.

“A balanced discussion requires more than identifying potential legal risks,” Gordon said during public testimony at the start of the council’s regular meeting. “It also requires an understanding of how California charter cities that successfully elect their mayor at large in collaboration with district council elections have operated under the (California Voting Rights Act.)”

City Attorney Jeff Ballinger responded later int he meeting that the city had reviewed other California jurisdictions with directly elected mayors and found none with a legal situation comparable to Palm Springs, which is being asked to move from district elections back to a directly elected mayor.

“We just haven’t found a jurisdiction that is factually similar to ours,” Ballinger said.

Ballinger also told the council that a trial court ruling in a case involving Huntington Beach, issued about a week and a half earlier, found the CVRA survives a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision and concluded Huntington Beach had violated the act. He said the ruling will likely be appealed and could eventually reach the California Supreme Court and possibly the U.S. Supreme Court.

The first community meeting is a citywide session from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Mizell Center, 480 South Sunrise Way, where residents can hear opposing views on the issue and ask questions.

Additional meetings are scheduled as follows, all from 6 to 8 p.m.:

• Oct. 19 — District 4, Palm Springs High School
• Sept. 16 — District 5, Cahuilla Elementary School
• Sept. 24 — District 1, Palm Springs City Hall
• Oct. 1 — Citywide Spanish-language meeting, James O. Jessie Community Center
• Oct. 7 — District 2, Vista Del Monte Elementary School
• Oct. 15 — District 3, Agua Caliente Cultural Museum

Feedback gathered at the meetings will inform future council discussion and any potential action on the mayoral position. More information is available at EngagePalmSprings.com, and residents needing translation or special assistance can contact the City Clerk’s Office at least 48 hours before a meeting.

Councilmember Ron deHarte said Wednesday that an ad hoc working group studying the mayoral question has met five times, including a two-and-a-half-hour session the week before, to plan outreach and define its role in gathering community feedback ahead of the meetings.

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