City Council Special Meeting

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Meeting Date:	02/14/2017
From:	Elizabeth A. Burke, City Clerk

Information

TITLE:

Consideration of Potential Options re Minimum Wage:

OPTION ONE: Ordinance No. 2017-03 Calling a Special Election for May 16, 2017, to submit to the voters an amendment to Title 15, Labor, of the Flagstaff City Code as presented through Initiative IN2017-01 and entitled "The Sustainable Wages Act"

AND / OR

OPTION TWO: Direct staff to place on a future agenda the discussion and possible adoption of an ordinance amending the current law, to further its intent.

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

OPTION ONE: (Calling a Special Election for May 16, 2017)
At the Council Meeting of February 14, 2017
1) Read Ordinance No. 2017-03 by title only for the first time
2) City Clerk reads Ordinance No. 2017-03 by title only (if approved above)
At the Council Meeting of February 21, 2017
3) Read Ordinance No. 2017-03 by title only for the final time
4) City Clerk reads Ordinance No. 2017-03 by title only (if approved above)
5) Adopt Ordinance No. 2017-03

OPTION TWO: (Proposing to Consider an Ordinance to Amend Current Law)
1) Take no action on the ordinance, in which case the initiative IN2017-01 would be placed on the General Election ballot of November 2018.
2) Direct staff to place on a future agenda the discussion and possible adoption of an ordinance amending the current law, to further its intent.

Executive Summary:

At the November 8, 2016, General Election, Flagstaff voters approved an initiative to adopt Title 15, Labor, of the Flagstaff City Code, to implement a minimum wage in Flagstaff to be $2/hour higher than that of the State of Arizona (which was also increased at the November 8, 2016, election by voters). While the new minimum wage for the state went into effect on January 1, 2017, the Flagstaff minimum wage is scheduled to become effective on July 1, 2017.

At the end of last year, a new initiative was circulated entitled "The Sustainable Wages Act" to amend the newly-adopted language, in the hope of having the Council call a special election in May of 2017, prior to the new wage becoming effective.

The purpose of this ordinance is to call a special election for May 16, 2017, for voters to consider these amendments, should that be the direction of Council. If the Council chooses not to call a special election for May, this initiative will be placed on the November 2018 ballot, unless a special election is called for another time prior to November 2018.

Another option that may be considered by the Council is adoption of an ordinance to amend the current language, which is permitted by Arizona law as long as it furthers the purpose of the original initiative approved by the voters.

Financial Impact:

Should a special election be called by the City Council for May 16, 2017, costs are anticipated to be approximately $156,000. While funds were not budgeted in the 2016-2017 budget, they have been identified within the Non Departmental section from items such as salary savings, legal services, metal detectors and excess humane society budget, as well as excess funds available in the Elections line item.

Connection to Council Goal and/or Regional Plan:

None

Previous Council Decision on This:

The City Council formally discussed the overall issue of minimum wage in Flagstaff at their January 17, 2017, Regular Meeting, and have heard from many residents and business owners during Public Participation at meetings over the last month.

Options and Alternatives:

1) Call a Special Election for May 16, 2017, by reading Ordinance No. 2017-03 by title only for the first time, as written, with second reading and adoption to take place on February 21, 2017;
2) Call a Special Election for May 16, 2017, by amending Ordinance No. 2017-03 and reading it by title only for the first time, as amended, with second reading and adoption to take place on February 21, 2017;
3) Direct staff to schedule a future meeting to consider proposed amendments to Title 15, Labor, of the Flagstaff City Council, which would further the intent of the original initiative approved by voters in November 2016;
4) Take no action, in which case the initiative IN2017-01 would be placed on the General Election ballot of November 2018, unless a special election is called for another time prior to November 2018..

Background/History:

In 2016, an initiative was circulated and subsequently placed on the November 8, 2016, General Election ballot. This initiative adopted a new Title 15, Labor, to the Flagstaff City Code, to implement a new law to increase the minimum wage in Flagstaff on July 1, 2017, to be $2/hour higher than that of the State. The voters in Arizona also approved a new minimum wage at this same election, to $10/hour, effective January 1, 2017. A copy of this new law is attached as Title 15, Labor, of the Flagstaff City Code.

Subsequent to this election, a new initiative was circulated and on February 8, 2017, it was determined that sufficient signatures had been filed to forward the proposed question to the voters to amend this newly-adopted language. According to Arizona law, this question would then be placed before the voters at the November 2018 General Election; however, the City Council has the option of adopting an ordinance to call a special election prior to that date to place this question before the voters sooner. The attached ordinance, No. 2017-03, would call such an election for May 16, 2017.

Another option that may be considered by the City Council is adopting an ordinance to amend the newly-approved language, in furtherance of the intent of the original initiative approved by the voters.

Community Involvement:

Inform
Consult
Involve
Collaborate
Empower

Attachments
Title 15, Labor, FCC
Ord. 2017-03
IN2017-01