Submit citizens' initiative
Would you like to have a particular issue addressed by the City Council? Submit your proposal to the City Council.
Approach
Here's how to submit your citizens' initiative:
- Submit your proposal to the City Council.
- Indicate in the proposal:
- what goal you want to achieve
- What should or should not be done to achieve that goal
- What the plan will cost approximately
When the council considers the proposal, the proposers may come and explain the proposal. Once the council makes a decision, we notify the proposers and publish the proposal.
Cost
Filing a citizens' initiative is free of charge.
Description
You can have an issue brought before the City Council. You do this with a citizens' initiative. It must be a subject on which the municipality may make a decision.
You can propose an issue if more people in your neighborhood or district think the issue is important. To do this, you need signatures from other residents.
Examples include:
- the construction of a youth center
- placing a bench where the elderly can congregate
- establishing a new museum
- Giving a property listed status
Terms
The requirements for a citizens' initiative include:
- The City Council has not decided anything on this topic in the last 2 years. Check with the council clerk's office to see if your issue has been discussed during that period.
- The subject is serious and concrete.
- The citizens' initiative is not about municipal policy.
- Anyone 16 and older may submit proposals.
- The citizens' initiative must have the support of:
- 300 residents in the city if the initiative is about the city
- 100 residents in a neighborhood if the initiative is about that neighborhood.