Does Pacific Grove City Council have too many members?

Sara Rubin here, with local government on my mind. That’s partly because it’s an election year, and candidates are already beginning to announce their campaigns for city councils in November. (There’s also a primary on June 7, with several key local offices—including sheriff, county supervisor for District 2 and Monterey County Office of Education Area 1—up for election. Monday is the deadline to register to vote in the primary.) 

But really it’s on my mind because tonight when the Pacific Grove City Council meets, one item up for discussion is the composition of the council itself. The specific issue at hand: Should they shrink the council from seven members (including a mayor) to five members? 

If the council wants to go that route, as is recommended, it would require an amendment to the city charter, which would go to voters for consideration on the Nov. 8 ballot. That’s because the city’s current charter, adopted by voters in 1927, established a seven-member council. When P.G. was first incorporated in 1889, at one square mile with 1,300 residents, it had just five members, according to a report to council from Councilmember Luke Coletti. But then advocates—including P.G. heavyweights Julia Platt and W.R. Holman—based a new charter on the “model city charter” published by the League of California Municipalities in 1926. 

That model charter, however, recommended five council members—for reasons that still resonate today. They include: “A larger council increases the tendency to divide into factions. Besides, citizens having business before a city council are invariably given plenty of opportunity to press their views, and a large council usually means more ‘hot air’ and less accomplishment.”

Do more councilmembers equate to better governance? I don’t think so. But as the League of California Municipalities warned 96 years ago, it makes the speechifying take longer and it doesn’t mean more work gets done. Healthy competition for local government seats is a good thing, and four council seats plus a mayor still leaves plenty of opportunity for Pagrovians to serve.

For comparison, most other local jurisdictions also have five members. Monterey, population 28,100: five councilmembers. Soledad, pop. 26,300: five councilmembers. Seaside, pop. 32,100: five councilmembers. Only the city of Salinas, population 160,000, has seven members. Pacific Grove’s population is 14,800.

The contentious election to get P.G.’s 1927 charter approved is documented in a newly published memoir of W.R. Holman, My Life in Pacific Grove, about the life of this early influencer—it includes tons of clippings that are a delight to read today. 

Per a circular Holman wrote and paid for at the time: “The proposed charter for Pacific Grove is a good chapter and a protection to the city taxpayers and voters; insures honesty and fair treatment in place of insults.” 

The city’s 1927 charter was approved by voters 613 in support, 571 against. That means a 42-voter margin, 95 years ago, structured the P.G. city government—and council—the way it still is today. Luckily, the current council is reconsidering one part that is easy to change. And hopefully, P.G. voters will reconsider too. 

The council meets virtually tonight, May 18, at 6pm. You can attend via Zoom or by calling in to (888) 788-0099 and use webinar ID 09 579 290#. One critical part of the functioning of local government is public engagement.

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