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Referendum (One Broadway Plaza) October 4, 2004 Page 2 On September 3, 2004, the Registrar of Voters was asked to review and certify whether the petition contained a sufficient number of qualifying signatures. The Registrar was further asked to utilize the random sampling process to verify the signatures. On September 7, 2004, the City Council authorized the Clerk of the Council to reimburse the County for signature verification in an amount not to exceed $35,000. This authorization would allow the County to perform a full count of the petition, if required. On September 13, 2004 the Registrar verified that 360 of 500 signatures examined were found valid. Pursuant to the random sampling formula provided by the Secretary of State it was projected that the petition contained approximately 112.5% of the signatures required by law to be found sufficient. In accordance with the Elections Code, if the statistical sampling shows that the number of valid signatures exceeds 110%, the petition is found to be sufficient. Because One Broadway Plaza is a major project in the City of Santa Ana and interest in the community is extremely high on both sides of the issue, the Clerk did not certify the results based on the random sampling and determined that a full count of the petition would remove any doubt regarding the number of qualifying signatures. The Registrar was requested to continue verifying signatures on the petition and conduct a full count. On September 27, 2004, the Registrar of Voters notified the Clerk of the Council that 8,475 signatures have been verified as valid. Pursuant to Elections Code Section 9241 the City Council must either: (1) put the referendum question to a vote at the next general municipal election or call a special election, or (2) repeal Ordinance NS 2649. If the decision is to repeal Resolution NS 2649,the City Council should adopt the attached repealing Ordinance. With such adoption, the One Broadway Plaza project could not go forward as proposed. Further, the ordinance could not be reconsidered by the City Council for one year. If the decision is to call the next regular municipal election occurring not less an ordinance ordering the scheduled for June of 2006. an election, the election must be held at election (November 7, 2006), or a special than 88 days after the City Council adopts election. The next statewide election is If the Council decides to call a special or a consolidated election, staff is recommending that the matter be continued 45 days so that an Ad Hoc Council Committee can be formed to discuss the various alternative approaches. Staff would need to determine the costs of the various alternative election dates and work with the County Registrar 508-2