monterey county notice and demand

NOTICE AND DEMAND

TO:

Claudio Valenzuela (elections@co.monterey.ca.us)
Monterey County Registrar of Voters
1444 Schilling Pl North, Salinas, CA 93901 P:831-796-1499 F:831-755-5485

Luis Alejo (district1@co.monterey.ca.us)
John M. Phillips (district2@co.monterey.ca.us)
Simon Salinas (district3@co.monterey.ca.us)
Jane Parker (district4@co.monterey.ca.us)
Mary L. Adams (district5@co.monterey.ca.us)
Office of Clerk of the Board (cob@co.monterey.ca.us)
Monterey County Board of Supervisors
166 W Alisal St, Salinas, CA 93901 P:831-755-5066 F:831-755-5888

Charles J. McKee (mckeecj@co.monterey.ca.us)
County Counsel, County of Monterey
166 W Alisal St, Salinas, CA 93901 P:831-755-5045 F:831-755-5283

Dr. Nancy Kotowski (kotowski@montereycoe.org)
Monterey County Superintendent of Schools
901 Blanco Cir, Salinas, CA 93901 P:831-755-0301 F:831-753-7888

Mary A. Zeeb (treasury@co.monterey.ca.us)
Treasurer-Tax Collector, County of Monterey
166 W Alisal St, Salinas, CA 93901 P:831-755-5015 F:831-424-6536

August 28, 2017

While this letter is primarily directed at the Registrar of Voters, you all have a statutory role in connection with school district bond elections. Furthermore, you have all taken an oath to uphold the laws of California.

NOTICE

North Monterey County Unified School District ("District") measures designated E and F by the Monterey County Registrar of Voters do NOT qualify to be placed on the ballot at the regularly scheduled November 7, 2017 local election.

The controlling law for Proposition 39 bond elections, Education Code 15266(a), states, in relevant part,

An election may only be ordered on the question of whether bonds of a school district ... shall be issued and sold ... at a primary or general election, a regularly scheduled local election at which all of the electors of the school district ... are entitled to vote, or a statewide special election. [Emphasis added.]

Of the four types of elections at which Proposition 39 bonds may be ordered, the third, a "regularly scheduled local election," is restricted to one at "at which all of the electors ... are entitled to vote." It is a condition precedent for an election order and not curable by the order itself.

The District has opted to have its five-member governing board elected by trustee area. Only two of those trustee areas are scheduled for election on November 7th and one of them will not be on the ballot.

Therefore the qualification that "all of the electors of the school district" be entitled to vote at this election is not met. There is no other regularly scheduled local election on November 7th that includes "all of the electors of the school district."

DEMAND

The undersigned, on behalf of all of the people of Monterey County, demand that you follow the clear and unequivocal statutory prohibition and remove both Measures E and F from the ballot.

Allowing the election process to proceed will waste public resources and cause the people of Monterey County immeasurable and irreparable harm.

The unlawful acts of District officials have already wasted both District and County public resources. You should not force taxpayers of Monterey County to file a lawsuit and further waste County and State public resources.

Sincerely,

Lawrence Samuels, Vice Chair
Seaside Taxpayers Association

Alex Aliferis, former Executive Director
Contra Costa County Taxpayers' Association

Jon Coupal, President
Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association

Kevin Dayton, President
Salinas Taxpayers Association

George Guynn Jr, President
Solano County Taxpayers Association

Rick Heuer, President
Monterey Peninsula Taxpayers Association

Mike LaMond, Taxpayer Watchdog

Richard Michael, Web Site Owner
California School Bonds Clearinghouse

M. Kevin O'Neill, President
California Taxpayer Action Network (CalTAN)

Stephen Petzold, Chair
Taxpayers Against Measure E (TAME)

Ourania Riddle, Award Recipient
2015 HJTA Taxfighter of the Year

Ludd Trozpek, Taxpayer Watchdog

Dawn Urbanek, Taxpayer Watchdog
People for Student Rights