Legal counsel retained by Manteca has made it clear the city, if needed, will seek a court order to block the current wording of a proposed petition seeking to place the issue of a homeless navigation center being built on a future municipal ballot.

In an email dated July 20 attorney Mona G. Ebrahimi informed Lei Ann Larson representing Mantecans4Change and who is also running for mayor in the Nov. 8 election that “the city will seek declaratory relief from the court” if the group seeks to circulate their petition in its current wording.

A declaratory relief is a judgment issued by a court that establishes and outlines the obligations and rights of each party involved. They have the same power as a final judgment.

Mantecans4Change submitted a petition calling for a vote by the electorate on whether Manteca should allow a homeless navigation center.

They asked the council to place the measure on the ballot instead of requiring the group to collect signatures of 20 percent  of Manteca’s 46,329 registered Manteca voters  to do so.

When the council passed on placing the measure on the ballot, the group filed notice with the city on July 6 of their intent to circulate a petition to force a citywide vote.

The city’s issues center around whether what the ballot measure is calling for is legal under law adopted by the California Legislature to prevent communities from effectively banning homeless shelters within local jurisdictions.

City Attorney Dave Nefouse, noting the politically charged nature of the issue, recommended at  a council meeting on June 21 the city secure outside neutral counsel to advise them on legalities involved the actual petition wording.

The city then retained the law firm of Kronick, Moskovitz, Tiedemann & Girard on June 27 to address issues in the initiative

Ebrahimi is an attorney employed by the firm.

One of the issues is the wording of the proposed ballot measure that seeks to amend the Manteca Municipal Code to read  ”Low Barrier Navigation Centers shall not be permitted to operate in any location within the City of Manteca, including but not limited to areas zoned for mixed use and nonresidential zones permitting multifamily uses.”

California State Senate Bill 2 established right zoning for shelters.

The state law requires each jurisdiction to identify a zone or zones where shelters are permitted without discretionary approval (by-right) with sufficient capacity to meet the unmet housing need.  In Manteca’s case that would be 129 beds based on the latest point in time count conducted in January of this year

The jurisdiction must also demonstrate that existing or proposed permitting processes are objective and encourage the development of shelters.

Manteca several years ago amended its municipal code to comply with state law.

On July 25, Larson received an email from the city attorney stating “for purposes of having an initiative that meets the procedural parameters of the elections code, please continue to work with the Clerk’s Office”.

As of Wednesday, City Clerk Cassandra Candini-Tilton confirmed there is no measure submitted for placement on the ballot that has qualified for circulation under state law.

Larson argues that the constitutionality of the proposed ballot measure is an issue best settled after a vote is taken.

Assuming that could occur, the petition Mantecans4Change submitted also states “if any portion of this initiative is declared invalid by  a court of law or other legal body with applicable authority, the invalidity shall not affect or prohibit the force and effect of any other provisions or application of the initiative that is not deemed invalid.”

That is reference to the other substantive point in the proposed initiative dubbed the Protect and Preserve Mantecans’ Quality of Life Initiative.

That section reads, “Additionally, no shelter designed to house any person, whether designated a Low Barrier Navigation Center or not, shall be permitted to operate within the City of Manteca without first imposing barriers to entry including mandatory sobriety (on-site breathalyzers and drug screens); strict curfews; mandatory work program or career enhancement participation classes and criminal background checks.”

That means the measure, if passed and the constitutionality of whether a shelter can be blocked from being located anywhere in the city is found in question, there would be rules of operations imposed on a navigation center that may not reflect what the city has in mind.

City officials believe they would be remise and not performing their duties if they knew something in a ballot measure would not likely pass legal muster if they approved it for circulation, roughly 11,200 registered voters within the city limits signed it to qualify it for the ballot, the measure passed, and then only to see the courts negate the measure by declaring what it wants to do as unlawful under California law.

They opted not to simply pass on addressing the issue on the assumption the group wasn’t likely to obtain 11,200 signatures of registered Manteca voters as they viewed that as sidestepping the city’s legal and moral responsibility to citizens.

 Larson also contends the act of the city spending money on outside counsel “to oppose the approval of a ballot measure” is in violation of California Government Code Section 54964(a).

The section reads: “An officer, employee, or consultant of a local agency may not expend or authorize the expenditure of any of the funds of the local agency to support or oppose the approval or rejection of a ballot measure, or the election or defeat of a candidate, by the voters.”

That prompted Larson on Wednesday to contact the San Joaquin County District Attorney Office’s Bureau of Investigations Public Integrity Unit to make a written complaint.

DA staff has agreed to meet with her on Friday to review her concerns.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, e mail dwyatt@mantecabuletin.com