City of Palo Alto Council Member Seats, Measure D (November 2014)

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A City of Palo Alto Council Member Seats, Measure D ballot question was on the November 4, 2014 election ballot for voters in the city of Palo Alto in Santa Clara County, California. It was approved.

Measure D amended the city charter to change the number of council member seats from nine to seven. The measure was set to go into effect on January 1, 2019.

Election results

City of Palo Alto, Measure D
Result		Votes	Percentage
a Yes		10,495	53.70%
No		9,048	46.30%

Election results via: Santa Clara County Elections Office

Text of measure

Ballot question

The question on the ballot:

“

Shall the Palo Alto City Charter be amended to change the number of Council Member seats from nine to seven, commencing on January 1, 2019?

”

Impartial analysis

The following impartial analysis was prepared for Measure D:

“	This Charter amendment would amend the Palo Alto Charter to reduce the number of council members from nine to seven, beginning in January 2019. Since 1971, the Palo Alto Council has consisted of nine members. Council members are elected in November and take office the following January 1. The term of office is four years. No member may serve more than two consecutive terms. This Charter amendment would reduce the number of council members from nine to seven. There would be no change to the November 2016 election, at which the voters will elect four council members. If this amendment is adopted, at the November 2018 election voters would select three council members rather than five. When these members take office on January 1, 2019, the council would consist of seven members. A vote "For the Amendment" will reduce the city council to seven members. A vote "Against the Amendment" will keep a nine-member council. This Charter amendment will become effective if a majority of those voting on the measure vote in favor.	”
—Molly S. Stump, Palo Alto City Attorney

Support

Supporters

• Roger V. Smith, Founder, Silicon Valley Bank
• Betsy Bechtel, Former Mayor
• Walter V. Hays, Environmentalist
• Liz Kniss, Vice Mayor, Former Mayor
• Michael W. Cobb, Former Mayor

Arguments

The following was submitted as the official arguments in favor of Measure D:

“	VOTE YES ON MEASURE D: To reduce the size of the Palo Alto City Council from nine members to seven, which will save money for the city and improve our democratic process at the same time! FACT: Residents pay for every Council Member to receive a monthly stipend as well as health insurance. Reducing our City Council to seven members will lower the amount of money that residents pay by 22%, saving tens of thousands of dollars every year. FACT: Palo Alto School Board has five members. FACT: Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties Boards of Supervisors have only five members. FACT: San Mateo, a City of 100,000 has five members. FACT: The other major Peninsula cities, Mountain View, Redwood City, Sunnyvale and Santa Clara have seven members. Rightsizing our Council will save money and bring Palo Alto in line with our neighboring cities. Human nature being what it is, each Council member feels the need to speak to every issue. City Council meetings often run past midnight and into Tuesday morning. We've spoken to many residents who say that they want to attend council meetings to participate in our local government process but they just can't stay at City Hall that late on a Monday night. This is bad for our democratic process of citizen engagement and participation. Reducing the Council size will make the Council more efficient and productive, more accountable, save taxpayer money, and increase opportunities for public participation Join former mayors Judy Kleinberg, Peter Drekmeier and Sid Espinosa in supporting this reduction. Help improve our local government. Vote YES ON Measure D!	”
—Roger V. Smith, Betsy Bechtel, Walter V. Hays, Liz Kniss and Michael W. Cobb

Opposition

Opponents

• Gregory Schmid, Council Member
• Cheryl Lilienstein, President, Palo Altans for Sensible Zoning
• Eric Filseth, Palo Alto Resident
• Tom DuBois, Palo Alto Resident
• Lydia Kou, Palo Alto Resident

Arguments

The following was submitted as the official arguments in opposition to Measure D:

“	Palo Alto is proposing to reduce the number of council members in the interest of efficiency, to make meetings shorter and put power in the hands of fewer people. The crux of the issue is Democracy vs efficiency. On one extreme, a one member Council would be highly efficient but no one wants a dictatorship. In some situations, like juries and city councils, you want more participants not fewer. Palo Alto is a complex city with its own utilities, many commissions, Liaisons to city groups and participation in many regional boards. Reducing the seats guarantees that the City Councilmember position is a fulltime job (though only pays $600 a month). It limits participation to either the independently wealthy, the professional politician, or retirees. Keeping our council at nine seats spreads the workload across more people and makes it more attractive for people to participate in the process. More seats means resident representation by people interested in their city and not professional politicians. Fewer seats create other challenges. Palo Alto is not like other cities in the area. First, the city-owned utilities more than double Palo Alto's budget and lead to a complex set of decisions that demand special attention. Secondly, we have a huge entity, Stanford, with complex land use issues, that spans multiple city/county jurisdictions, and has a large impact on our city. Finally, some of our city regulations require 5 votes on an issue. By reducing to 7 seats, this becomes much harder to accomplish. To reduce Council size is to set up poor governance. Having a wider range of choices for the Council allows for a much more diverse group that better reflect the diversity of the City. Reducing the council size is a strike against representation on the council. Vote NO on Measure D	”
—Gregory Schmid, Cheryl Lilienstein, Eric Filseth, Tom DuBois and Lydia Kou

See also

• Local charter amendments on the ballot
• Santa Clara County, California ballot measures
• November 4, 2014 ballot measures in California

External links

Suggest a link

• Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters office website