Oxnard to Consider Becoming a Charter City : Government: The move would give the city more autonomy in many ways. But the document would be difficult to change.

Striving for more control over city affairs, Oxnard leaders are working on a plan to become a charter city, which would allow the City Council to adopt some ordinances that supersede state codes and the state Constitution.

The Oxnard City Council on Tuesday will consider a proposal by City Atty. Gary Gillig to form a commission and explore drafting a city charter.

“I’ve been surprised that Oxnard hasn’t taken this step before,” Gillig said. “This opens the door to so many possibilities. It would give Oxnard more control over its own affairs.”

Becoming a charter city would allow Oxnard to impose campaign contribution limits on candidates for public office, create council districts, add more council members and impose other ordinances not allowed by state law, city officials say.

Councilman Andres Herrera said that the charter city proposal would allow Oxnard leaders to study dozens of ways to improve the way the city is run.

“It would provide a greater amount of flexibility for us to look at a breadth of options to change the way we serve the people of Oxnard, including districting and maybe adding additional council members,” Herrera said.

More than 80 California cities, including Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco, operate as charter cities. Ventura is currently the only charter city in Ventura County.

According to the California Constitution, cities organized under special charters have greater “home rule,” allowing them more independence from state law.

For instance, state laws limit city councils to five members. But because Ventura is a charter city, it was able to form a seven-member council.

Oxnard, which has a population of more than 150,000, is one of the largest cities in California operating without a city charter, Gillig said.

Mayor Manuel Lopez said one obvious advantage to drafting a city charter is that Oxnard leaders would have the opportunity to consider everything anew. The council could rework city ordinances to match their goals for Oxnard, he said.

“It seems like it would be a worthwhile exercise,” Lopez said. “Anything that gives you more local control, I’m for.”

But he said a city charter is difficult to amend, and Oxnard may eventually find itself with its hands tied.

“The cons are that if you want to make any changes, it becomes cumbersome,” Lopez said. “To change a charter, you have to go through a longer process.”

If the charter city proposal moves forward Tuesday, Oxnard politics may never be the same.

Lopez said Oxnard may want to consider establishing six council districts and a mayor-at-large. Councilman Dean Maulhardt said he also believes council districts should be considered. And Herrera said it would be worthwhile to study districts, campaign contribution limits and expanding the size of the City Council. The council voted unanimously recently to study campaign contribution limits.

“If we’re serious about changing the cost of elections in this city, we need to look at all aspects that add to the cost of a campaign, and what we could do to reduce those costs,” Herrera said. “Districting is one of those options.”

Councilmen Bedford Pinkard and Tom Holden could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Maulhardt said that although he is eager to study plans to convert Oxnard into a charter city, he would not support the idea unless it clearly benefits Oxnard economically.

“There are a lot of things we could do as a charter city we can’t do now, such as campaign limits and council districts,” Maulhardt said. “But it’s got to be an economic advantage for it to happen, in my opinion.”

Gillig said he will ask the City Council on Tuesday to form a committee that would probably be made up of council members and city officials, and would possibly include Oxnard residents. Or the city could form a residents’ advisory commission and a city committee to discuss the plan separately, he said.

If the City Council decides to proceed with the proposal, it would probably take two years of work before Oxnard would be ready to consider adopting a city charter, Gillig said.