$40,000 Charter City Study to Be Considered

The City Council tonight will consider spending $40,000 on consulting fees to investigate switching from a general law to a charter city.

Council members will vote on whether to hire Douglas W. Ayres/Consultant Inc., a Rancho Mirage-based firm, to study the issue, organize information and documents and advise city officials on such a move.

The money would come from the city’s Redevelopment Agency funds, City Manager Bill Smith said.

Smith, who advocates Westminster’s conversion to a charter status, said the proposed change would give the city more autonomy from state government. The conversion would require voter approval.

General law cities are governed by state laws while charter cities are governed by locally created laws, officials said.

“This is not a change in the size of government,” Smith said Monday. “It’s an attempt to create an insurance policy for the city and its relationship with the state of California. The state has taken a lot of money away from cities in the last several years, and this would help us establish some independence.”

A charter status could save the city large sums in finance payments over time, Smith said, because charter cities are frequently awarded a higher bond rating than general law cities.

Councilwoman Margie L. Rice said Monday that she is still undecided: “I need to be clearer on how this is going to benefit us. Forty-thousand dollars is a lot of money for us to be spending.”

About 55 California cities, including Irvine and Cypress, operate under a charter.

The council meeting will begin at 7 p.m. in the Westminster School District Board of Trustee’s meeting room, 14121 Cedarwood St.