With council races set, here’s what else Modesto voters will weigh in on this November
Besides electing three council members and deciding on a sales tax, Modesto voters in November will decide whether to change when a mayor is picked to ensure turnout is high not just in the election but also in the runoff.
Voters also will be asked to make changes to the city auditor position and audit committee to bring more accountability to City Hall.
The proposed changes are contained in Measure G on the Nov. 8 ballot. The measure would amend the city charter, which serves as a constitution for the city.
Voters approved amending the charter in 2018 to move the elections of the six city council members and the mayor from odd to even years when statewide and federal offices are on the ballot to increase turnout. The November 2020 election was the city’s first even-year election. The election included three council races and the mayor.
Turnout for the mayor’s election was 77.1%, but because no candidate received a majority of the votes, a runoff election was held in February 2021 among the top two vote-getters. Turnout was 29.4%.
Waiting to take office
Measure G would move the mayor’s election to the same time as the state primary, which was held in June this year, and the runoff to the November general election.
Unlike the council elections, a mayoral candidate needs a majority of the vote to win, but that typically does not happen. That leads to a runoff.
Measure G states if a mayoral candidate receives a majority of the vote in the election he or she would not take office until after the November council elections.
The city auditor must be a certified public accountant, but in an effort to broaden the pool of qualified candidates, according to a city report, Measure G would allow candidates with “adequate professional proficiency” to serve as auditor.
That includes certified internal auditors and chartered accountants as well as candidates with advanced degrees and at least five years of experience in “government auditing, evaluation or analysis,” according to the report.
Measure G expands the City Council’s three-member Audit Committee to include two city residents with at least two years of experience in financial or performance auditing. The committee now is made up of the mayor and two council members.
The City Council at its June 28 meeting voted to put Measure G on the Nov. 8 ballot. The proposed changes came from the recommendations of the council’s charter review committee. Modesto undertakes a comprehensive review of its charter about every decade. The last review was more than a decade ago.
The auditor is one of four charter officials. The others are the city manager, city attorney and city clerk. The four report directly to the council, which hires and fires them.
No extra job security
The charter review committee recommended strengthening the job security for the auditor by requiring five council votes to dismiss an auditor, instead of the four that it now takes to dismiss any charter officer.
Committee members believed that was important because the auditor’s job includes delivering bad news in an effort to improve the city. The auditor conducts performance audits that look at how the city is functioning or not functioning.
The additional job security also was in response to the controversy and short tenure of the city’s last auditor, who left in 2018 after less than a year on the job. The position remains open.
A 2008 amendment to the city charter created the position. But Modesto has only had two in-house city auditors. The council in 2010 fired the city’s first auditor after 18 months for failing to meet its expectations in uncovering inefficiencies in city operations. Consulting firms have provided city auditor services for Modesto.
The City Council decided not to ask voters to strengthen the auditor’s job security.
Voters also will weigh in on Measure H, a 1% sales tax that if approved would bring in an estimated $39 million annually to the city’s $171 million general fund, which primarily pays for public safety.
The three council races on the ballot are for District 2 in west Modesto, District 4 in east Modesto and District 5 in north Modesto.
District 2 Councilman Tony Madrigal and District 5 Councilwoman Jenny Kenoyer are terming out of office, and District 4 Councilman Bill Zoslocki resigned in April. Eric Alvarez is unopposed in District 2, as is Nick Bavaro in District 4. Naramsen Goriel and Jeremiah Williams are vying in District 5.
This story was originally published August 22, 2022 at 6:33 AM.
