City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. This is a special city council meeting. This meeting is called to order at 5.30 p.m. Will the clerk please call roll?

Council Member Shaw? Here. Council Member Williams? Here. Vice Mayor Meadows? Here. Mayor Henderson?

Here.

Council Member Fuller is absent.

Would everybody please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. Item three public comment We will receive public comment for items not on the tonight's agenda I currently do not have any public comment cards. If you wish to speak one, fill out a public comment card in the lobby. A reminder that is limited to three minutes. There's a timer in front of my seat. It'll beep at one minute and turn yellow. And then please conclude when it turns red. Anybody wish to make public comments tonight? Is there anybody online?

I don't see anybody online, Mayor.

With that, we'll close public comment. We'll move to item four, regular agenda 4.1, adopt a resolution accepting the city clerk's notice of fact and available options pursuant to election code 10229, either appointing the sole nominees or directing elections for a city council district race for district two and four on November 3rd. And the staff report will come from our city clerk.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council Members. The nomination for the November 3rd, 2026 General Municipal Election closed on Friday, August 7th, with only one candidate qualified for each of the open seats, District 2, Mayor Hugh Henderson, and District 4, Council Member Shannon Shaw. At the close of the nomination period, no individuals have expressed interest in running as a write-in candidate for either district. Under California Elections Code Section 10229A1, when only one candidate qualifies for an office, the City Council can appoint the qualified nominees or proceed with holding an election. As required by law, the Notice of Facts and Available Options was published in the East County Times on Friday, August 14, 2026. Following the fifth day of publication, Council may take action. If Council elects to appoint the nominees, the appointment must occur no later than the 75th day prior to the election, which would be August 20, 2026. If the City Council chooses to appoint the nominees, appointees qualify, take office, and serve as if elected at the municipal election. The appointed person's name and candidate statement will not appear on the ballot and write-in candidates will not be permitted. If council chooses to hold the election, the city will incur election-related costs estimated to be between $31,000 to $50,000 for both districts based on county elections data as of April 3rd, 2026. If elections are held in districts two and four, each nominated candidate's name and ballot designation will appear on the applicable district ballot, and each candidate's statement will appear in the voter information guide. Qualified writing candidates will also be permitted. Staff recommends city council consider the available options and adopt the appropriate resolutions for each district to either appoint the qualified candidates or direct an election to be held. And that's my staff report. Thank you.

Questions for staff? Council Member Shaw.

I have a question. So the amount is estimated, but it is budgeted in our current budget, correct?

Correct.

And if the council's direction is to appoint, where would that money go? Would it just go back to the general fund?

Yeah, it's budgeted from the general fund, so it's general fund money that can be reappropriated if desired.

And if we, say, wanted it to go to a specific item like the library, would that be something that we could direct?

Yes, you could.

Thank you.

Any other additional questions for staff? Is there any public comment for this? Seeing no public comments in the thing, anybody online?

I see no hands raised online, Mayor.

I'll bring it back to the council for deliberation. We make one motion. Council Member Shah.

In the interest of the fact that it has to do with one of the seats being myself, would there be a way that we could separate these into two separate items? Although the FPPC has ruled that we do not have to recuse out of an abundance of caution, if we could separate it, I think that it would be best.

If that's the way the motion's made, that sounds good to me.

I move to approve separating them out. So I move to appoint Council Member Shaw for District 4. I guess I should have done District 2 first, but. Second.

Second. So we have a motion and a second for a roll call vote.

Council Member Shaw.

I will recuse myself from this vote.

Councilmember Williams. Yes vice mayor Meadows. Yes mayor Henderson.

Yes, the motion carries three and one abstention And then I would like to make a motion to appoint our current mayor Hugh Henderson to district to second So we have a first and a second roll call vote.

I

Council Member Shaw? Yes. Council Member Williams? Yes. Vice Mayor Meadows? Yes. Mayor Henderson?

All abstain.

The motion carries three and one abstention.

And that is our only business actions for tonight. Sorry, Council Member Shaw.

Can I motion to use the money that we are saving for not running these elections and have it go to the library?

I don't think you can because it's not on the agenda.

Yeah, I think I heard what you said. And I understand the intent there. And I won't take that as direction given at this meeting. But we will be bringing an item back at a future council meeting. And I will keep that in mind when we write that staff report.

Thank you.

Yes.

With that, if there's no further action for tonight's meeting, we'll adjourn tonight's meeting. Thank you, everybody, for coming.