Riverside Municipal Code Art. IV City Council and Mayor

(a) The elective officers of the City shall consist of a City Council of seven members, elected from wards, and a Mayor elected from the City at large, at the times and in the manner provided in this Charter, who shall serve for a term of four years and until their respective successors qualify. The terms of all officials, so elected, shall be deemed to have commenced on the fifth Tuesday following the general municipal election.

(b) The members of the City Council shall be nominated and elected by wards by the registered voters of the respective wards only. One member of the City Council shall be elected by each ward, and only the registered voters of each ward shall vote for the member of the City Council to be elected by that ward. In those wards where there are more than two candidates, only a candidate receiving a majority of the total votes cast for the office shall be declared elected.

(c) If in an election for a member of the City Council for any ward, or for the office of Mayor, no candidate receives a majority of the total votes cast for the office, the City Council shall immediately upon the determination of that fact, call a special election to be held on the same day as the statewide election of that same year, consistent with the general election date set by the State. The two candidates receiving the highest number of votes for the office in the general municipal election shall be declared the candidates for the special election.

(d) Notwithstanding the paragraph above, if in the June 8, 2021, election for members of the City Council for Wards 2, 4, and 6, no candidate receives a majority of the total votes cast for the office, the City Council shall immediately upon the determination of that fact, call a special election to be held on November 2, 2021. The two candidates receiving the highest number of votes for the office in the June 8, 2021, election shall be declared the candidates for the special election.

(e) Officials elected at the general municipal election shall take office on the second Tuesday following completion of the canvass, but in no event later than the fifth Tuesday following the general municipal election. Officials elected at any other election shall take office on the second Tuesday following completion of the canvass, but in no event later than the fifth Tuesday following the election.

(f) The qualifications of candidates and electors and the procedure governing general municipal elections shall apply to any special election called pursuant to this section and the notice of election shall be published at least thirty days prior to the date of such special election.

(Char. Am. of 11- 3-2020(2))

(a) A person is not eligible to hold the office of a member of the City Council of the City of Riverside unless such person is a qualified elector within the territory comprising the ward by which such person is elected or for which such person is appointed at the time of such election or appointment and continues to be a qualified elector of said ward.

If the residence of any member of the City Council is changed to a place outside the boundaries of the ward from which such member was elected or for which such member was appointed, the office of such member shall become vacant. The existence of the vacancy shall be declared and filled as provided by Section 404 of this Charter.

(b) A person is not eligible to hold the office of Mayor unless such person is a qualified elector of the City at the time of such election or appointment and continues to be a qualified elector of the City.

If the residence of the Mayor changes to a place outside the boundaries of the City, the office of the Mayor shall become vacant. The existence of the vacancy shall be declared and filled as provided by Section 404 of this Charter.

The City of Riverside is hereby and by ordinance shall be divided into seven wards, designated as first ward, second ward, third ward, fourth ward, fifth ward, sixth ward, and seventh ward.

The boundaries of wards shall be reviewed at least every ten years upon the completion of the federal decennial census or more frequently as may be determined necessary upon receipt of official census data; and the boundaries of such wards shall be adjusted by the City Council as necessary to provide for substantially equal numbers of residents in each ward. Such boundary adjustment during a Councilmember's term shall not result in disqualification for membership on the Council during such term.

The Mayor and members of the City Council shall receive compensation for their services as such, and in addition, when on official duty, shall receive reimbursement for their necessary expenses on order of the City Council. In January of every odd-numbered year, the City Council shall review the compensation including salary and benefits, of the Mayor and members of the City Council, and shall establish any increase in compensation of the Mayor and/or the members of the City Council. No increase in salary shall exceed 5 percent of their then-existing salary. Compensation shall be fixed by ordinance, adopted by not fewer than five affirmative votes of the City Council, after a noticed, public hearing, notice of which has been given by publication at least fourteen days prior to such hearing.

Once a level of compensation for City Council members and the Mayor is established, such level will not be permitted to change automatically by linking such compensation to internal or external factors.

(Effective 1/18/2005)

If a member of the City Council or the Mayor is absent from three consecutive regular meetings of the City Council, unless by permission of the City Council expressed in its official minutes, or is convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude, the office of such person shall become vacant.

Within fourteen days from notice of the vacancy, the City Council shall declare the existence of any vacancy in elected office, from whatever cause arising, except in the event of a successful recall.

For vacancies in elected office with no more than one year remaining on the term from declaration of the vacancy, the City Council shall appoint to fill the vacancy for the remaining term within sixty days after such office shall have been declared vacant. In the event the City Council fails to fill such vacancy by appointment within sixty days after such office shall have been declared vacant, the City Council shall cause an election to be held within one hundred twenty days to fill such vacancy.

For vacancies in elected office with more than one year remaining on the term, the City Council shall call a special election for the purpose of filling the vacancy for the remainder of the term. Such special election shall be held within one hundred twenty days after such office shall have been declared vacant.

If in a special election to fill a vacancy for a member of the City Council for any ward, or for the office of Mayor, no candidate receives a majority of the votes cast for the office, the City Council shall immediately upon the determination of that fact, call a special runoff election to be held within ninety days. The two candidates receiving the highest number of votes in the special election to fill the vacancy shall be declared the candidates for the special runoff election.

If for any election called pursuant to this section, there is a local or statewide election scheduled within one hundred eighty days after such office shall have been declared vacant, the City Council shall consolidate the special election with such local or statewide election.

Appointed officials shall not be permitted to reference "incumbent", "member of the City Council", "Mayor", or other designation indicating incumbency in a Statement of Qualifications published in the sample ballot materials at the subsequent election for the same seat.

(Char. Am. of 11- 3-2020(1))

The Mayor shall be the presiding officer at all meetings of the City Council and shall have a voice in all its proceedings but shall not vote except to break a City Council tie-vote which exists for any cause. The Mayor shall be the official head of the City for all ceremonial purposes. The Mayor shall have the primary but not exclusive responsibility for interpreting the policies, programs and needs of the City government to the people, and of informing the people of any major change in policy or program. The Mayor shall advise the City Council on all matters of policy and public relations and perform such other duties as may be prescribed by this Charter. During the months of January or February, the Mayor shall deliver a State of the City message at any location within the City that the Mayor deems appropriate at which the Mayor will present the Mayor's programs, objectives and priorities.

The City Council shall designate one of its members as Mayor Pro Tempore, who shall serve in such capacity at the pleasure of the City Council. In the absence of the Mayor, the Mayor Pro Tempore shall assume the duties of the Mayor. The Mayor Pro Tempore shall conduct the Council meetings and shall vote only as a member of the Council, not as Mayor Pro Tempore. In the event of a tie vote, the Mayor Pro Tempore shall not have a tie-breaking vote and Council vote shall be recorded as a negative or "nay" vote. With regards to the veto power, the Mayor Pro Tempore shall not have the power to veto acts of the City Council.

Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Charter, when a tie-vote exists for any cause, in order to break that tie, the Mayor shall have the same voting right as a member of the City Council for or against the item before the City Council. The Mayor's vote shall be deemed a City Council member's vote for all purposes, including the introduction or adoption of both ordinances and resolutions.

(Effective 12/27/1995 and 12/11/1986)

All powers of the City shall be vested in the City Council except as otherwise provided in this Charter.

Neither the Mayor nor the City Council nor any of its members shall interfere with the execution by the City Manager of his/her powers and duties, or order, directly or indirectly, the appointment by the City Manager or by any of the department heads in the administrative service of the City, of any person to an office or employment or their removal therefrom. Except for purpose of inquiry, the Mayor, the City Council and its members shall deal with the administrative service under the City Manager solely through the City Manager and neither the Mayor nor the City Council nor any member thereof shall give orders to any subordinates of the City Manager, either publicly or privately.

(Effective 12/27/1995)

The City Council shall hold regular meetings at least twice each month at such times as it shall fix by ordinance or resolution and may adjourn or readjourn any regular meeting to a date and hour certain which shall be specified in the order of adjournment and when so adjourned each adjourned meeting shall be a regular meeting for all purposes. If the hour to which a meeting is adjourned is not stated in the order of adjournment such meeting shall be held at the hour for holding regular meetings. If at any time any regular meeting falls on a holiday such regular meeting shall be held on the next business day.

Special meetings may be called in accordance with State law.

Meetings of City Council-appointed and Mayoral-appointed standing and ad hoc Council committees, regardless of the number of City Council members who might be on such committees, shall be open to the public and the time and place of such meetings shall be publicly announced at the City Council meetings prior to such committee meetings.

All meetings of the City Council conducted in closed session under the Ralph M. Brown Act (California Government Code Sections 54950 et. seq.) shall be audio recorded. The recording shall be confidential and shall be available for inspection only as permitted by state law. The recording shall be retained for a period of at least two years.

(Effective 1/18/2005)

All meetings shall be held in the Council chambers in City Hall, or in such place to which any such meeting may be adjourned, and shall be open to the public. If, by reason of fire, flood or other emergency, it shall be unsafe to meet in the place designated, the meetings may be held for the duration of the emergency at such place as is designated by the Mayor, or, if the Mayor should fail to act, by four members of the City Council.

(Effective 12/27/1995)

A majority of the members of the City Council shall constitute a quorum to do business but a lesser number may adjourn from time to time. In the absence of all the members of the City Council from any regular meeting or adjourned regular meeting, the City Clerk may declare the same adjourned to a stated day and hour. Notice of a meeting adjourned by less than a quorum or by the clerk shall be given in the manner provided by State law.

Each citizen shall have the right, personally or through counsel, to present comments at any regular meeting of the Council, or a Council standing or ad hoc committee, or offer suggestions with respect to municipal affairs.

(Effective 1/18/2005)

The City Council shall judge the qualifications of its members as set forth by the Charter. It shall judge all election returns. It may establish, and uniformly apply rules for the conduct of its proceedings and evict any member or other person for disorderly conduct at any of its meetings.

The Mayor and each member of the City Council shall have the power to administer oaths and affirmations in any investigation or proceeding pending before the City Council. The City Council shall have the power and authority to compel the attendance of witnesses, to examine them under oath and to compel the production of evidence before it. Subpoenas shall be issued in the name of the City and be attested by the City Clerk. Disobedience of such subpoenas, or the refusal to testify (upon other than constitutional grounds), shall constitute a misdemeanor, and shall be punishable in the same manner as violations of this Charter are punishable.

All votes of the City Council shall be by recorded call vote and entered in the minutes of the meeting.

With the sole exception of ordinances which take effect upon adoption, referred to in this Article, no ordinance shall be adopted by the City Council on the day of its introduction, nor within five days thereafter nor at any time other than at a regular or adjourned regular meeting. At the time of its introduction an ordinance shall become a part of the proceedings of such meeting in the custody of the City Clerk. At the time of adoption of an ordinance or resolution it shall be read in full, unless after the reading of the title thereof, the further reading thereof is waived by unanimous consent of the Council members present. In the event that any ordinance is altered after its introduction, the same shall not be finally adopted except at a regular or adjourned regular meeting held not less than five days after the date upon which such ordinance was so altered. The correction of typographical or clerical errors shall not constitute the making of an alteration within the meaning of the foregoing sentence.

Unless a higher vote is required by other provisions of this Charter, the affirmative votes of at least four members of the City Council shall be required for the adoption of any ordinance or resolution.

Any ordinance declared by the City Council to be necessary as an emergency measure for preserving the public peace, health or safety, and containing a statement of the reasons for its urgency, may be introduced and adopted at one and the same meeting if passed by at least five affirmative votes.

At any time before the adjournment of a meeting, the Mayor may, by public declaration spread upon the minutes of the meeting, veto any formal action taken by vote of the City Council including any ordinance or resolution, except an emergency ordinance, the annual budget or an ordinance proposed by initiative petition. Thereupon, pending the vote to override the veto as herein provided, such ordinance, resolution or action shall be deemed neither approved nor adopted. The Mayor shall, no more than twenty days following the veto, provide to Council members, in writing, reasons for the Mayor's veto. If the Mayor fails to provide a written veto message within the time allotted, the original action of the Council shall stand. At any regular or adjourned meeting held not less than thirty days, nor more than sixty days after veto the City Council shall reconsider such ordinance, resolution or action and vote on the question of overriding the veto. Five affirmative votes shall be required for its adoption or approval. The Mayor shall have no right to veto the veto override of any ordinance, resolution or action.

All ordinances and resolutions shall be signed by the Mayor and attested by the City Clerk.

(Effective 12/27/1995)

The City Clerk shall cause to be published at least once in a newspaper of general circulation within fifteen days after its adoption the number, a title, a brief synopsis of the content of each ordinance and the Statement that a full copy of the ordinance is available in the office of the City Clerk.

Any or all ordinances of the City which have been enacted and published in the manner required at the time of their adoption, and which have not been repealed, may be compiled, consolidated, revised, indexed and arranged in a comprehensive ordinance code, and such code may be adopted by reference, with the same effect as an ordinance, by the passage of an ordinance for such purpose. Such code need not be published in the manner required for other ordinances, but not less than three copies thereof shall be filed for use and examination by the public in the office of the City Clerk prior to the adoption thereof. Ordinances codified in a separate action from their adoption shall be repealed as of the effective date of their inclusion in the code. Amendments to the code shall be enacted in the same manner as ordinances.

Detailed regulations pertaining to the construction of buildings, plumbing and wiring, when arranged as a comprehensive code, may likewise be adopted by reference in the manner provided in this section. Maps, charts and diagrams also may be adopted by reference in the same manner.

No ordinance shall become effective until thirty days from and after the date of its adoption, except the following, which shall take effect upon adoption:

(a) An ordinance calling or otherwise relating to an election.

(b) An ordinance adopted under some law or procedural ordinance providing for a different effective date.

(c) An ordinance declaring the amount of money necessary to be raised by taxation, or fixing the rate of taxation, or levying the annual tax upon property.

(d) An emergency ordinance adopted in the manner provided for in this Article.

A violation of any City ordinance shall constitute a misdemeanor unless by ordinance it is made an infraction, and may be prosecuted in the name of the People of the State of California or may be redressed by civil action. The maximum fine or penalty for any violation of a City ordinance shall be the sum of one thousand dollars, or a term of imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months, or both such fine and imprisonment.

The City Council shall not have the power to make or authorize any contract or lease or extension thereof for a longer period than shall be provided by the laws of the State of California with respect to general law cities unless said contract, lease or extension be approved by a majority of the qualified electors of the City voting on such question at any election. A contract, lease or extension for a longer period shall be valid without such approval if it provides for the right of acquisition by the City at the end of such period of the real or personal property leased or contracted for. This section shall not apply to airports or to any franchise granted pursuant to the provisions of this Charter or to any contract for the furnishing, or acquisition of the products, commodity or services of any public utility.

The City shall not be bound by any contract except as hereinafter provided unless the same shall be made in writing, approved by the City Council and signed on behalf of the City by the Mayor and City Clerk or by such other officer or officers as shall be designated by the City Council. Any of said officers shall sign a contract on behalf of the City when directed to do so by the City Council.

By ordinance or resolution the City Council may authorize the City Manager to bind the City, with or without written contract, for the acquisition of equipment, materials, supplies, labor, services, or other items, if included within the budget approved by the City Council, and may impose a monetary limit upon such authority.

The City Council may by ordinance or resolution provide a method for the sale or exchange of personal property not needed in the City service or not fit for the purpose for which intended, and for the conveyance of title thereto.

Contracts for the sale of the products, commodities or services of any public utility owned, controlled or operated by the City may be made by the manager of such utility or by the head of the Department of Public Utilities upon forms approved by the City Manager and at rates fixed as in this Charter provided.

The provisions of this section shall not apply to services rendered by any person in the employ of the City at a regular salary.

(a) There shall be an Office of Inspector General which shall have the power and duty to provide a full-time program of investigation, audits, inspections, and operational performance evaluations in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards to provide increased accountability and oversight of entities of city government, special districts and joint powers authorities of which the City is a member and entities receiving funds through the City, to assist in improving agency operations and in deterring and identifying fraud, waste, abuse, and illegal acts.

(b) The Office of Inspector General shall be headed by an appointed Inspector General, as otherwise provided in the Charter. The process for the selection of the Inspector General shall be determined by the City Council and Mayor. The City Council and Mayor shall appoint, by majority vote, the available person believed to be best qualified based on executive and administrative qualifications, with special reference to experience in, and knowledge of, accepted practice in respect to the duties of the office as set forth in this Charter. The Inspector General shall serve at the pleasure of the City Council and Mayor, with the Mayor entitled to vote on any appointment, suspension or removal of the Inspector General.

(c) The City Council shall include in its annual budget or through supplemental appropriation such appropriations of funds sufficient for the efficient and proper functioning of the Office of Inspector General. At least six months prior to the beginning of each fiscal year, the Inspector General shall provide to the City Manager a budget containing estimates of revenues and expenditures for the Office of Inspector General.

(d) Neither the Mayor nor the City Council nor any of its members shall interfere with the execution by the Inspector General of his/her powers and duties or order, directly or indirectly, the appointment by the Inspector General of any person to an office or employment or their removal therefrom. Except for purpose of inquiry, the Mayor, the City Council and its members shall deal with the Office of the Inspector General solely through the Inspector General and neither the Mayor nor the City Council nor any member thereof shall give orders to any subordinates of the Inspector General, either publicly or privately.

(e) The duties of the Inspector General may include, but not be limited to, oversight and supervision of audits, investigations, inspections, and operational performance reviews.

(f) The Inspector General is authorized to have access to City records, reports, audits, reviews, plans, projections, documents, files, contracts, memoranda, correspondence, data, or other information, both hard-copy and electronic. Additionally, the Inspector General shall have access to the City Council, the Mayor, offices of the City Manager, City Clerk, and City Attorney, Board Members, Commissioner, and City personnel as appropriate.

(g) The Inspector General shall exercise such other powers and perform such other duties as may be prescribe by ordinance not inconsistent with any of the provisions of this Charter.

(h) The Inspector General shall be accorded a place in the weekly City Council Agenda Setting Conference and shall be entitled to place a matter before the City Council and Mayor for discussion and consideration.

(i) The Inspector General shall report, at least annually, the final findings and recommendations from its activities to the City Council at a public meeting.

(Effective 1/13/2025)