SUBJECT:
Title
An Ordinance of the Town Council of the Town of Erie Repealing Section 1-5-6 of the Erie Municipal Code and Enacting a New Chapter 9 of Title 1 of the Erie Municipal Code, Regarding Campaign Finance in Municipal Elections
Body
DEPARTMENT: Town Attorney and Town Manager
Department
PRESENTER(S): Kendra Carberry, Town Attorney
Malcolm Fleming, Town Manager
First Name Last Name, Title
POLICY ISSUES:
Approving this Ordinance will satisfy Article 5.04 of the Erie Home Rule Charter, which requires the Town Council to adopt and maintain by ordinance local campaign finance regulations.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
Approve the Ordinance.
End
SUMMARY AND BACKGROUND OF SUBJECT MATTER:
Erie Charter Article 5.04 Campaign Finance, requires the Town Council to adopt local campaign finance regulations. Currently, Section 1-5-6 of the Erie Municipal Code addresses campaign finance complaints only, and the Town defers to Article XXVIII of the Constitution of the State of Colorado and the Fair Campaign Practices Act, C.R.S. § 1-45-101, et seq., as amended (the “FCPA”), for any additional campaign finance related matters. This is standard practice for any statutory municipality, but it is common for home rule municipalities to adopt local campaign finance requirements as part of their charters, to regulate campaign finance in a way that aligns with the unique issues the municipality may face in terms of its local elections, and in an exercise of a municipality’s home rule authority.
Article 5.04 of the Charter provides that the Town Council shall adopt and maintain by ordinance local campaign finance regulations that address the matters covered by Article XXVIII of the Constitution of the State of Colorado and by the FCPA. Such ordinance shall control as to local election matters instead of Article XXVIII and the FCPA. The Charter requires the local campaign finance regulations to include timely disclosure requirements of all campaign contributions and spending.
The Town Attorney’s staff drafted the attached ordinance that complies with Article 5.04 of the Charter and creates a more comprehensive campaign finance regulation scheme for the Town that also includes a complaint process, which is currently the only aspect of campaign finance addressed in the Code. Thus, the proposed ordinance incorporates what currently exists while more fully addressing all aspects of campaign finance, including reporting and public inspection procedures, committee regulations, contribution and expenditure rules, communications requirements, and a reorganized complaint process. The proposed ordinance would create a new chapter within Municipal Code Title 1 as the new regulations are more comprehensive than Section 1-5-6 and thus is needed to encompass a separate Chapter within the Code.
COUNCIL PRIORITY(S) ADDRESSED:
ü Effective Governance
ATTACHMENT(S):
1. Ordinance 008-2024