COUNTY OF SAN MATEO

Inter-Departmental Correspondence

County Counsel

DATE:

November 10, 2008

BOARD MEETING DATE:

November 18, 2008

SPECIAL NOTICE/HEARING:

No

VOTE REQUIRED:

Majority

TO:

Honorable Board of Supervisors

FROM:

Michael P. Murphy, County Counsel

SUBJECT:

Process to Fill Vacancy On Board of Supervisors.

RECOMMENDATION:

Approve a process to fill the vacancy caused by Supervisor Hill’s election to the State Legislature.

VISION ALIGNMENT:

Commitment: Responsive, effective and collaborative government.

Goal(s): #20. Government decisions are based on careful consideration of future impact, rather than temporary relief or immediate gain.

BACKGROUND:

Supervisor Jerry Hill has been elected to the State Legislature and has given notice that he will resign his seat on the Board effective 11:59 p.m. on November 30, 2008. Consequently, there will be a vacancy on the Board effective December 1, 2008.

Section 203 of the County Charter sets forth the process for filling Board vacancies, and reads, in pertinent part, as follows:

“203. Vacancies.

“If a vacancy occurs on the Board of Supervisors, the Board shall, within 30 days of the effective date of the vacancy, either make an appointment or order the calling of a special election to fill the vacancy. If the Board does not make an appointment or call a special election within 30 days, the county officer responsible for conducting elections shall immediately order a special election to be called to fill the vacancy.”

“The special election shall be held not less than 102 days and not more than 131 days from the order called the election, except that it may be held on an election date regularly established by general law if that date falls within 270 days from the order calling the special election.”

DISCUSSION:

Based upon the provisions contained in Charter Section 203 of the following is a summary of options open to the Board.

A.

Special Election called by the Board of Supervisors.

If the Board chooses to fill the vacancy by a special election, the Board would need to order an election by no later than Tuesday December 30, 2008. If no decision is made by December 30, the Elections Official would automatically have the duty to call a special election.

If the Board chooses to hold the election to fill the vacancy on a regularly established election date, the applicable dates within the 270 period are March 3 and June 2, 2009. (Election Code §1000.)

If the Board acts on December 30 to have the election on a special election date other than a regularly established election date, the election can be held on a Tuesday between April 11 (day 102) and May 10 (day 131). The Tuesdays between these dates are: April 14, April 21, April 28 and May 5. If the Board chooses to call a special election before December 30, the available dates for a special election would be advanced accordingly.

The Elections Official has estimated the costs for calling a special election to be $1.6 million, assuming that no other items are on the ballot. Based on past experience, if the election were to be combined with a state election and state measures are on the ballot, the state would pay for half of the election costs.

B.

Appointment by the Board of Supervisors.

If the Board chooses to fill the vacancy by appointment, the Board would need to make the appointment by December 30, 2008. The interviews and selection of the appointee would be made in open session. There is no prohibition against beginning the process of appointment before Supervisor Hill vacates his seat, as long as the decision to appoint occurs after the date he vacates.

C.

Special Election Called By the Elections Official.

In the event that the Board neither makes an appointment nor calls an election within thirty days of the vacancy, then the Elections Official would be required to call an election under the same time lines as that for a Board ordered election.

FISCAL IMPACT:

An appointment process to fill the vacancy on the Board would have no fiscal impact. A special election process could have fiscal impact of up to approximately $1.6 million.