Journal News: Yonkers Charter Commission mulls changes.

By MICHAEL GANNON.

YONKERS — City voters could have at least four ballot referendums to consider — and maybe several more — as a volunteer board that has been considering City Charter changes for five months completes its work.

The Charter Revision Commission, which last year proposed new ethics laws that voters approved in November, is considering proposals to change the way City Council vacancies are filled and to adopt limits on the length of time environmental reviews can be considered, among other changes.

The changes are subject to voter approval because they alter the power the City Charter bestows to the mayor under the city's strong-mayor form of government. The commission, which has been considering the proposals since convening in February, has tentatively planned two public hearings the second week of August before it finalizes the changes.

"We want to have the public's ideas before making a recommendation," commission Chairman Julius Walls Jr. said.

Walls, the president and chief executive of Greyston Bakery and a member of the commission last year, took over as chairman after former chairwoman Aileen Flath resigned last month because of other time commitments.
At its meeting at City Hall last week, the commission worked to fine-tune ballot proposals on which it will base next month's public hearings. Among the proposals

• Council vacancies: A special election would be required to fill City Council vacancies that occur 17 months or earlier into a vacated four-year term. Currently, council vacancies are filled through mayoral appointment. Voters, acting on a commission recommendation, lengthened council terms from two to four years in 2003.

• Resign to run: Elected city officials who want to run for another city office would have to commit to resigning their current post, allowing voters to choose their replacement in the same election.

• Environmental deadlines: The commission is looking at ways to streamline the environmental review process by consolidating technical work under the city's Department of Planning, rather than under outside consultants. It also is considering setting a hard deadline to complete reviews once a draft environmental impact statement is deemed complete. New York City has a 210-day deadline.

• Purchasing limits: The commission is looking to modernize the cost amounts that trigger a Board of Contract and Supply review of equipment purchases.

The commission is appointed by the mayor, but free to propose any changes to the City Charter it deems necessary. Mayor Phil Amicone's spokesman, David Simpson, said the mayor had not yet formulated opinions on the proposals.

Simpson said, however, he would not be surprised if the commission whittles the number of proposals it recommends for the Nov. 7 ballot down to one or two, as it has in the past.

"The way the process has worked has been they come up with a number of proposals and narrow them down," he said.

The number of ballot questions, could, however, also increase.

Robert Flower, a real estate investor, was part of an effort to create term limits by referendum in 1992 and helped to block an effort to repeal them four years ago. He said he was now spearheading the Citizens Control Crusade, a group of city residents who plan to collect petition signatures to put other referendum items on the ballot.

The group is in its nascent stages, Flower said. Among the changes the committee is mulling, he said, is shortening City Council terms back to two years and creating an ability for the public to recall elected officials — much like the process that led to Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger's rise to be governor of California.

The effort will not be easy. The group would have to collect nearly 3,000 signatures — 10 percent of the total number of voters in the last general election in the city. The certified petitions then would need to be submitted to the Board of Elections by Sept. 7.