Santa Ana : Mayor Outlines Task to Charter Revision Panel

A committee appointed to draw up proposals for changes in the city’s governmental structure held its first meeting this week and established June as the target date to submit recommendations to the City Council for the November ballot.

“Your task is to think about ways of re-inventing city government in Santa Ana,” said Mayor Daniel E. Griset, who talked to the 15 committee members before they began their work.

He said they should examine any sections of the City Charter that they feel need to be changed and suggested that they examine the possibility of a directly elected mayor, ward elections for council members and the role of the city manager.

The committee was appointed by the City Council on Jan. 27 in response to demands for those changes brought by a citizens’ group complaining that city government had become “unresponsive.”

The group, Santa Ana Merged Society of Neighbors, is attempting to gather voters’ signatures to persuade the council to put the proposed changes on a June or July ballot so they would go into effect along with council elections in November.

However, council members refused to speed up the process, preferring to put the questions to voters in November to go into effect in 1988 if approved. As a result, citizens’ group members have refused to participate on the committee.

City Atty. Edward C. Cooper told the committee members that he would not attend their meetings but would be available to answer any questions. He pointed out, however, that only the voters can change the city’s Charter, adopted in 1952.

City Clerk Janice Guy said the council would have to make a final decision by early August on whether to put any of the committee’s recommendations on the ballot.