A CITY CHARTER AMENDMENT FOR PACIFIC GROVE

Mayor Nick Smith and the Council chose a June special election costing $63,000 for a single measure (Measure C) to increase the pay of seven elected officials. The Monterey County Registrar of Voters stated that if the same measure had been placed on the November 2026 general municipal election ballot, the additional cost would have been “negligible.”

Our City Charter Amendment, drafted last year, anticipated this exact kind of City Council self-dealing and was designed specifically to prevent it. That is why the amendment requires voter approval of City Council pay and benefits only at general municipal elections, where voter participation is highest and ballot measure costs are negligible.

In August 2025, we specifically requested that the referendum measure (Measure C) be placed on the November 2026 ballot and stated that a Charter Amendment was necessary to prevent future self-dealing. Mayor Smith and the Council ignored our request.