After City of Half Moon Bay Rejects Referendum Petition with 1179 Signatures, “Let HMB Voters Decide” asks the City to Agendize the 555 Kelly Referendum Petition
Subject: Call to Agendize the 555 Kelly Referendum Petition for your Wednesday, August 7th, 2024 (6:00pm) Special Meeting
August 5, 2024
To the Half Moon Bay City Council
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen of the City Council,
On behalf of the Let HMB Voters Decide Committee, I have provided the attached response to a refusal by the City Clerk Department to process the referendum petition we submitted on August 1, containing the signatures of well in excess of 10% of this city’s voters.
Hal Bogner from “Let HMB Voters Decide”
As our elected representatives, we call on you to agendize this matter for your Wednesday, August 7, City Council Special Meeting, so the public can be heard and you can determine and direct the appropriate actions to be taken.
In our view, the City has three choices:
1. To seek a judicial order rejecting the petition.
2. To process the petition within the period required by law and, upon qualification, see this go to the ballot in due course.
3. To choose to acknowledge the overwhelming public interest in this decision, as evidenced by the speed with which voters responded to the petition, and to promptly accept and certify the referendum to appear on the November 5 election ballot.
Regarding option 1, you will find that members of your own Planning Commission will not uniformly support the position of the City Clerk Department, which they state they adopted “after consulting with the City Attorney’s Office.” As elected representatives of the citizens of Half Moon Bay, you surely understand that the right to direct democracy is strongly enshrined in our state’s constitution, and you stood up in defense of that very right at your August 1st meeting in the face of an attempt by San Mateo County to restrict exactly that right.
We call on you now to show your regard for the electorate, to allow the people to speak, and to choose accordingly. You were not elected to serve the City’s staff, but rather, to serve the people of Half Moon Bay.
Respectfully yours,
Hal Bogner
Let HMB Voters Decide
cc: Matthew Chidester, Half Moon Bay City Manager
Letter To: Maggie Rodriguez, Assistant City Clerk and Jessica Blair, City Clerk City of Half Moon Bay Elections Officials in Response to Referendum Petition Rejection
August 5, 2024
[pdf-embedder url=”https://coastsidebuzz.com/wp-content/uploads/Response-to-letter-rejecting-referendum-petition.pdf” title=”Response to letter rejecting referendum petition”]
City of Half Moon Bay Letter Rejecting Referendum Petition
August 5, 2024
[pdf-embedder url=”https://coastsidebuzz.com/wp-content/uploads/555-Kelly-Ave-Referendum.pdf” title=”555 Kelly Ave Referendum”]
Half Moon Bay City Council Meetings ~ 1st & 3rd Tuesdays @ 7:00pm
The Half Moon Bay City Council typically meets on the first and third Tuesday of each month starting at 7pm at the Ted Adcock Community Center, 535 Kelly Avenue. The meeting is also remote by Zoom, Facebook and PCTV. Regular meeting agendas are posted 72 hours in advance. Special meeting agendas are posted 24 hours in advance.
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The City Council of Half Moon Bay is the City’s governing body, and consists of five elected members. The Council sets priorities and policies, makes final decisions on all major City matters, adopts ordinances and resolutions, appoints the City Manager and City Attorney, and approves the annual budget.
The City of Half Moon Bay holds district-based electionsfor its five city council seats. Each Councilmember is elected to a 4 year term. There are no term limits in Half Moon Bay. The City Council selects one of its members to serve as Mayor and one to serve as Vice Mayor, on an annual basis.
The Half Moon Bay City Council typically meets on the first and third Tuesday of each month starting at 7 pm at the Ted Adcock Community Center, 535 Kelly Avenue.
Members or the public are welcome to submit comments (in accordance with the three-minute per speaker limit) via email to [email protected] prior to or during the meeting, via Facebook live during the meeting, and via two phone lines during the meeting – (650) 477-4963 (English) and (650) 445-3090 (Spanish). The City Clerk will read all comments into the record.
From left to right 2024 Half Moon Bay Councilmembers: Robert Brownstone, Vice Mayor Harvey Rarback, Mayor Joaquin Jimenez, Deborah Penrose and Debbie Ruddock.
