Final party ordinance vote postponed to June

From left, Mayor Teresa Smith, Councilman Fred Whitaker, Councilman Mike Alvarez and City Attorney Wayne Winthers discuss the postponement of the noise ordinance’s final reading. Photo by Rebeccah Glaser.

The final reading of the stricter noise ordinance amendments, scheduled to be conducted at the May 10 City Council meeting, has been postponed until June 14 due to clerical errors, said City Attorney Wayne Winthers.

“That ordinance and the other ordinance on the agenda both were continued because there was an error with our publishing,” Winthers told The Panther. “They could be subject to being challenged because they weren’t properly published. It had nothing to do with Chapman or anything else.”

This is the second time a second reading of harsher noise ordinance amendments has been postponed. The amendments were originally supposed to be passed April 12 but were pushed back because of minor changes to the ordinance’s language.

Winthers said that the Council is legally obligated to publish information about an ordinance or make it available to the public in some manner prior to its final reading or adoption. Because this was not done, the ordinance could have been challenged at a later date if the Council had gone through with the scheduled final reading.

From left, Councilman Mike Alvarez and Orange resident Steve Lichten engage in discussion prior to the Council meeting May 10. Photo by Rebeccah Glaser.

A summary and certified copy of the full ordinance must be made available to the public at least five days before the board of supervisors adopting the ordinance meets, according state law.   If the legislative board is unable to provide a fair summary, a one-quarter page minimum advertisement must be published in one of the county’s general circulation newspapers at least five days prior to a meeting where an ordinance or amendments to it are put into place, the code states. Neither of these actions were taken, Winthers said.

“Unfortunately, there was a mix up in the clerk’s office and neither of (the ordinances) got published,” Winthers said.

The sudden change was announced halfway through the City Council meeting on May 10. Winthers’ movement to continue the ordinance, meaning the final reading would be postponed until a later date, was met with a unanimous vote of approval from the Council.

Winthers said that the change was only made known to the public mid-meeting because the Council members are the only government employees who are permitted to postpone the readings of ordinances.

“I learned of (the clerical error) Monday afternoon and the City Council is the only one could continue (the reading of the ordinances),” Winthers said.

Although the decision to postpone the final reading of the ordinance was announced until well into the meeting, the only Chapman student present was newly-elected Student Government President Annabell Liao, who briefly addressed the Council after being introduced by Jack Raubolt, Chapman’s vice president of community relations.

During her concise address to the council, Liao discussed her intent to foster better community relations and increase communication between neighbors and Chapman.

“I look forward working together (with neighbors and the Council) to find more mutually agreeable long-term solutions,” Liao said.