Mayor and city council recall, Vallejo, California (2016)

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Vallejo Mayor and City Council recall
Officeholders
Osby Davis Jesus Malgapo Pippin Dew-Costa Rozzana Verder-Aliga
Recall status
Did not go to a vote
See also
Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2016 Recalls in California California recall laws Mayoral recalls City council recalls Recall reports

Efforts in Vallejo, California, to recall Mayor Osby Davis, Vice Mayor Jesus Malgapo, Council Member Pippin Dew-Costa and Council Member Rozzana Verder-Aliga from their positions were officially launched on June 9, 2015. Petitioners abandoned the effort, however, stating that there were no professional signature gatherers available in 2016.

The recall attempts revolved, in part, around the conflict between medical marijuana dispensary (MMD) advocates and the city council. Moreover Recall proponents argued that the four targeted city officials held positions based on the beliefs of a minority of city residents with conservative or religious ideologies, while ignoring the more progressive views of the majority on many other issues besides marijuana use.

The official launch of the recall efforts followed closely on the approval by the city council of a city ordinance declaring medical marijuana dispensaries to be illegal land uses and establishing city policy to prosecute any MMD still operating on or after April 21, 2015. The city ordinance, however, granted exceptions for four medical marijuana dispensaries, which were to be chosen by the city council, to legally operate in the city. The ordinance also established rules and restrictions governing the four allowed medical marijuana dispensaries.

Before the city began actively working to shut down MMDs in the city in January of 2015, between 20 and 40 dispensaries were operating, according to city officials. At least eleven of these dispensaries had Measure C tax certificates. Several MMD owners were turned away by the city when they tried to submit tax payments in February 2015 and, again, in April 2015.

Without successful recall petitions, the terms of Mayor Osby and Council Member Verder-Aliga were set to end in January 2017, while those of Vice Mayor Malgapo and Council Member Dew-Costa weren't up until January 2019.

Recall supporters

A group of residents that were unsatisfied with the policies put forward by the mayor, vice mayor and targeted council members was behind these recall efforts. One of the chief organizers of the effort was named Jeff Carlson.

The recall supporters formed a campaign called Voices of Vallejo.

Vice Mayor Jesus Malgapo

Recall supporter arguments

A recall proponent named Jeff Carlson called the targeted council members the "status quo majority alliance" and said the group was responsible for pandering to special interests and ignoring "the voices and needs of others." Carlson wrote, "The status quo is failing too many of our people, especially the young and most vulnerable among us. Vallejo deserves leadership that works for all our citizens, and misses no opportunity to welcome destination businesses that bring commerce into the city and create local jobs."

Moreover, critics said the city council's stance on the regulation of medical marijuana dispensaries was unnecessarily strict and harmful both to the health of patients and to the financial health of the city. Specifically, recall proponents pointed to the city council's decision to shut down many of the MMDs in the city and to refuse to accept tax payments from some MMDs according Measure C, a marijuana tax measure approved by city voters in 2011. The city refused to accept the tax payments in order to remain consistent with the city's zoning law, which did not allow MMDs as a legal land use.

Council Member Pippin Dew-Costa

Referring to the city council's vote to reject Measure C taxes and the city council's position on MMD regulations, Carlson wrote:

“	As to their claim of “exceptional fiscal responsibility,” well that’s just laughable. We’ve witnessed businesses bringing tax money to city hall that taxpayers overwhelmingly voted to collect, only to be turned away because the Fiscal Four on the council voted to refuse it. A paraphrase from The Princess Bride comes to mind: I don’t think fiscal responsibility means what you think it means. They were collecting $750,000 per year in Measure C tax money without even trying to set up a system for tracking medical marijuana dispensaries. Now the mayor and his supporters have choked off that revenue stream entirely to avoid sending the wrong message. Who they think we were incorrectly messaging and about what, I have no idea. What I do know is that we’ve all lost a boatload of tax money that 14,000 of us went to the polls and instructed city council to collect for us. To add insult to injury they are now spending hundreds of thousands more of our tax dollars in an effort to intentionally cripple an industry that has already created more that 150 living wage jobs in Vallejo and that everyone agrees is poised to experience explosive growth in the near future. There has been no increase in crime or public nuisance complaints related to medical marijuana dispensaries or any rational justification offered for this sustained exercise in bad judgment. If you think some of the dispensaries are eyesores or there are too many in one area or too close to your neighborhood, then place the blame squarely where it belongs. Mayor Davis and his supporters have opposed sensible regulation at every turn. Common sense operating standards imposed through licensing requirements and adjustments to the zoning code would have served patients, business operators, taxpayers, and property owners alike.	”
—Jeff Carlson

Carlson also argued that the four targeted city legislators were backed only by a minority of conservative or religious city residents and that the majority of city residents had more progressive views on many issues besides marijuana that were not being adjusted to by the city government. He wrote:

“	Real change will require a sustained effort in political coalition building with the ultimate goal to install open, honest government that listens and responds to the community as a whole. If you are unhappy with the autocratic management of the senior center, or if you are a participatory budgeting enthusiast who would like to see increases to the program instead of annual budget cuts, then stand with us. If you belong to the LGBT community and are fed up with our city government being linked in public with an intolerant minority, help us put an end to this continuing embarrassment.	”
—Jeff Carlson

Recall opponents

Council Member Rozzana Verder-Aliga

Response from recall targets

Mayor Davis, Vice Mayor Malgapo, Council Member Dew-Costa and Council Member Verder-Aliga signed the following response to the recall efforts:

“	DON'T BE MISLED BY DISTORTED FACTS! THE TRUE FACTS ARE: Mayor Davis and councilmembers Dew-Costa, Malgapo, and Verder-Aliga have been exceptionally fiscally responsible. We have unanimously voted and passed a structurally balanced budget for the past two fiscal years. We have voted to established a reserve of approximately $13 million dollars (the largest reserve in the past 10 years). In the past 15 months Mayor Davis and councilmembers Dew-Costa, Malgapo, and Verder-Aliga have voted to hire 27 new police officers and increased Economic Development staff to bring in new jobs and businesses to Vallejo. $5.3 million dollars has been appropriated for street re-pavement. We have unanimously passed a city ordinance to allow and control the operation, regulation and taxation of four medical marijuana dispensaries. This will end the proliferation of illegal marijuana dispensaries next to schools, parks and family oriented businesses. Patients will continue to have access to medical marijuana in a regulated environment and voter approved Measure "C" revenue will continue to grow. As a result of the efforts of Mayor Davis and councilmembers Dew-Costa, Malgapo, and Verder-Aliga, the city of Vallejo is safer and more financially stable today than it has been in the last 10 years. (quote)	”
—Mayor Davis, Vice Mayor Malgapo, Council Member Dew-Costa and Council Member Verder-Aliga

Background

Timetable

• November 8, 2011: City voters approved medical marijuana taxes according to Measure C.

• April 2013: The Vallejo City Council voted to enact a year-long moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries (MMDs) to clarify and re-articulate to the public that MMDs did not constitute a legal land use.

• April 2014: Council members extended the moratorium through April 2015.

• January 13, 2015: The city council voted five against two to devote resources to shutting down unregulated medical marijuana dispensaries in the city and directed staff to refuse tax payments from MMDs and cease to issue or renew business licenses for marijuana related businesses. The city council also voted to have city staff develop a regulatory ordinance which would allow a limited number of regulated dispensaries.

• March 2015: The city released for public comment a draft of a proposed ordinance that would allow the operation of just two MMDs within the city.

• April 16, 2015: The second initiative seeking to allow MMDs was submitted to the city.

• April 28, 2015: The city council rejected the tax payments of 11 dispensaries that tried to pay Measure C taxes in protest of the council's ban on MMDs.

• May 2015: The city requested declaratory relief from the courts to decide the legality of both initiatives.

• May 26, 2015: The city adopted a regulatory ordinance allowing the operation of four medical marijuana dispensaries.

• May 27, 2015: Opponents of the city's ordinance request an official copy of the ordinance be delivered to them by this date, intending a referendum petition drive against it.

• June 9, 2015: MMD advocates served "intent to recall" papers to mayor, vice mayor and two council members.

• June 24, 2015: City officials opened up the application process to MMD owners that want to try to claim one of the four dispensaries allowed by the city's ordinance.

• June 25, 2015: Referendum petitioners submitted signatures for a veto referendum effort against the city's ordinance.

• June 26, 2015: City officials halted the application process for MMDs to wait until signature verification for the referendum is complete.

• July 21, 2015: Facing a certified referendum measure, the city council members rescinded their ordinance themselves, precluding the necessity of a referendum election.

• July 28, 2015: The city council enacted another medical marijuana ordinance that was designed to allow about 12 dispensaries to operate within the city.

Measure C tax issues

See also: City of Vallejo Marijuana Tax, Measure C (November 2011)

In 2011, about 76.51 percent of city voters approved Measure C, authorizing the city to impose a 10 percent tax on the gross receipts of marijuana dispensaries, with a base tax of $500. Measure C did not legalize or regulate the operation of MMDs.

This left the city collecting taxes from medical marijuana dispensaries that were not legal land uses according to the city's zoning code and prompted the city's community and economic development director, city attorney and planning manager to recommend the city council to take one of two steps:

1. Allow and regulate medical marijuana dispensaries; or
2. Expressly and specifically prohibit MMDs and clarify this prohibition to the public.

When Measure C was approved in 2011, the city had not dedicated resources to enforcing the zoning laws that precluded MMDs. Starting in April 2013, the city approved a series of year-long moratoriums clarifying that MMDs were not a legal land use. In January 2015, citing what it called a surge in MMD activity, the city took active steps to shut down the dispensaries operating within the city. Beginning on January 13, 2015, city officials directed staff to turn away any MMD owners seeking to make tax payments and to refuse to issue or renew business licenses for any marijuana related business. On February 15, 2015, and, again, in April 2015, the city refused to accept submitted tax payments from dispensaries in order to remain consistent with the city's policy. In May 2015, the city adopted an ordinance to allow and regulate four MMDs within the city.

For more details about the background of this issue in Vallejo, click here.

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing recall in California

For a city with between 50,000 and 100,000 registered voters, signatures from 15 percent of the registered voters must be collected to put a recall election on the ballot. As of February 10, 2015, the secretary of state reported 55,047 registered voters in the city of Vallejo. Thus, recall petitioners needed to collect and submit about 8,257 valid signatures in 160 days.

The Vallejo City Clerk certified the notices of intent for all four officials in August 2015. The deadline for supporters to submit recall petitions against Davis and Dew-Costa was set as January 19, 2016. A delay in certifying the notices of intent against Verder-Aliga and Malgapo pushed back the petition submission deadline for both officials until January 27, 2016.

Petitioners abandoned the recall efforts, stating that they could not find any professional signature gatherers to help with the campaign in 2016.

Related measures

• City of Vallejo Initiatives to Allow Medical Marijuana Dispensaries (2015)
• City of Vallejo Veto Referendum Targeting City Council Medical Marijuana Ordinance (2015)

See also

• Local marijuana on the ballot
• Solano County, California ballot measures
• Solano County, California
• City council recalls
• Mayoral recalls

External links

Suggest a link

• Vallejo City Government website
• Voices of Vallejo website