THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 25, 1996 TAG: 9610250523
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MEREDITH COHN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: 85 lines
City residents think they have found a way to give their voice in local government more punch.
A group of citizens, organized by the Chesapeake Council of Civic Organizations, wants to place issues of concern on the ballot for a popular vote. If successful, the public may be able to influence the City Council's decisions on everything from school uniforms to managed growth.
Gene Waters, president of the council, and volunteers from 41 civic leagues plan to work the poll sites on Election Day, Nov. 5, to collect enough signatures to persuade council members to seek the new tool for citizens.
``The council never really knows what the majority view of the people is,'' Waters said. ``With advisory referendum power, they would.''
With signatures from 15 percent of the city's registered voters, advisory referendums allow citizens to place a question on the next election ballot, giving voters a chance to express their views for or against a specific issue.
Council members would still have final say because the referendum's outcome would not be binding - ``just really hard to ignore,'' Waters said.
Like all other Virginia cities and counties, Chesapeake does not have the power to place items on the ballot without permission from the state legislature. The General Assembly must pass a bill to change the city's charter to allow the public to initiate ballot questions.
Lawmakers in Richmond prefer not to force cities and counties to allow the ballot initiatives unless the local council or board of supervisors requests it, said state Sen. Mark L. Earley, R-Chesapeake, who plans to introduce the bill for Chesapeake if asked by the City Council.
Early said he is also studying a way to give Chesapeake residents referendum power without changing the city charter if the city chooses not to pursue the issue.
Virginia Beach citizens have had the power to initiate referendums for more than 20 years, and more than 24 states offer their citizens the option of placing issues on the ballot, Waters said.
Chesapeake has about 80,000 registered voters. Waters' group has no specific goal for the number of signatures it will collect.
Waters called the advisory referendum power ``a very democratic, grass-roots thing'' that will give council members a tool to measure the public's mood.
Waters cited the City Council's decision for two consecutive years not to hold a referendum on growth control. That denied citizens the chance to vote for a referendum calling for legislation to limit growth if public facilities were deemed inadequate. Those opposed to the referendum said growth control would hurt commercial businesses.
Waters said the referendum was about letting citizens express their opinions.
Tuesday night, the City Council approved this year's legislative agenda without an item that would have asked the General Assembly for the right to hold referendums. The council wanted to hold a public hearing on the matter before members include it in their package. The hearing, not yet scheduled, will be held sometime next month.
Some council members already have said they support the civic leagues.
``It's hard for me to imagine anyone would be opposed to this kind of effort on the part of citizens to ask for an opportunity to comment publicly and universally on issues that a high percentage of citizens of a locality feels are important,'' said Councilman John M. de Triquet.
Councilman Alan P. Krasnoff said, ``Some say the public does have a voice and exercise it once every four years when we have an election. I think there are some issues that are so compelling and important that the public ought not have to wait for four years before they're heard from again.''
Other council members said they supported the idea of more citizen input, but wanted more information on the process.
``I would tend to support the concept,'' said Councilman Dalton S. Edge. ``But you have to be cautious. We don't want the process to be so easy you have a whole list of issues. I would like to see the details so I know that Election Day there won't be 51 issues on the ballot making it confusing for everyone.''
Councilman Peter P. Duda said he opposes the referendum power.
``We're not going to please everybody all the time with our decisions, but that's what we were elected to do,'' he said. ``We have a couple of members of the council playing games with the citizens of Chesapeake because they don't want to make any decisions. If they can't make hard decisions they need to resign and get off the council.''
Duda added that citizens can come to council meetings and public hearings and ``my door is open to anyone who wants to come in.'' MEMO: The Chesapeake Council of Civic Organizations will sponsor a rally
at 7 p.m. Monday at Deep Creek High School. Local officials who support
advisory referendum power are expected to speak. More information is
available by calling the group's corresponding secretary at 547-8885.
KEYWORDS: ELECTION CHESAPEAKE by CNB