Surprise, AZ News blog

Truth about Recall

City Council authority under Arizona Statutes

I am asked many times, why when I was on the council did I want the council to have the authority to hire and fire certain department heads.

The Arizona Statutes so states that the council will hire and fire certain heads of specific departments. I do not believe that the council can delegate this responsibility to the city manager, unless we adopted a city charter that said these departments’ heads would be under the city manager.

This is why I was recalled, by the SOS group led by Lyn Truitt assisted by Cliff Elkins.

Until we adopt a charter we operate under what is called common council government, under Arizona Statutes.

Bob Vukanovich

9-271. Procedure for change; city officers

A. When a town has acquired a population of three thousand or over and the council shall by resolution so declare, the town may by majority vote of the qualified electors voting thereon assume a city organization having and exercising all rights, powers, authority, duties and privileges of a city under such name as the council may designate.B. Upon making the change from a town to a city organization the officers of the city shall consist of:l. Seven councilmen elected at large by the qualified electors residing in the city at the regular election which would have been held had the change not been made.

2. A mayor elected by and from among the members of the council.

3. The following officers appointed by the mayor and city council:

(a) A city clerk and ex officio treasurer.

(b) A city attorney.

(c) A city marshal or chief of police.

(d) A city physician.

(e) A city engineer.

(f) When provided by ordinance, a city health or sanitary officer, a superintendent of streets, a fire chief and such other officers as the council deems necessary.

C. The same person may hold two or more of the appointive offices enumerated in paragraph 3 of subsection B.

D. Pending the holding of the first regular election after the change, the officers of the municipality and their terms of office shall continue as though the change from town to city government had not been made. 2. The city put this issue on the ballot and the voter’s voted that they would elect the Mayor.

9-236. Mayor; duties The mayor of the common council shall be the chief executive officer of the town, and shall perform such duties as may be prescribed by law and ordinance. In case of the absence of the mayor the council may appoint one of their number to act in his stead.

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Surprise recycling business being evicted by zoning laws

Erin Zlomek

The Arizona Republic . The Arizona Republic

Sept. 7, 2007 04:31 PM

Julio Hernandez started a recycling business with his dad, Ramiro, 27 years ago in Surprise’s historic Original Town Site.He later changed the outfit’s name to J&R Recycling in honor of his dad, and ran an active business up until recently, when the city forced him to shut his doors.No city ordinances had changed, and code enforcers were only doing their job, Hernandez admits. He simply learned 27 years later that his business, which was classified as a salvage yard, should never have been allowed to operate in the first place at 12912 Santa Fe Drive because of the area’s zoning restrictions.checks, and it is likely that many unauthorized operations went unnoticed in years past, said city spokeswoman Diane Arthur.“What was allowed to happen back then we obviously have no control over. Our focus is on the here and now,” she said.Hernandez’s operation may have continued to go unnoticed had it not been for complaints sent to the city by neighbors. Nearby residents called in to report piles of soda cans stacked against a fence bordering their properties, Arthur said. Upon code enforcers’ arrival, other violations, such as improper storage of discarded appliances, were found.

Even if Hernandez had corrected those violations, the area’s zoning classification would not have been allowed to stay.

Hernandez leased the property from Chaim Avraham, the owner of a nearby landscaping store, Grand Sprinkler. The property is zoned for light industrial use. To continue his operations, Hernandez would need a heavy industrial zoning that allowed for landfill and mineral extraction.

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09/08/2007 1:23:36 PM

Square Mile

BIG GOVERNMENT

Well the City of Surprise is at it again, when I rented this property to Ramiro and Julio in 1980 recycling was listed under light industry, as were swap meets. About 10 years ago they eliminated classifying property as light industry, there were a few parcels of land and mine was one that was light industry and the code did not change for them, it remained the same (not grand fathered).

For a swap meet other then on the above property you would have to have a C-3 property, for recycling, other then the above you would need heavy industry zoning.Did the City of Surprise cause me to close the swap meet, which I had for over twenty years so that they could run their own swap meet like they are now doing?Trust me they already have plans for a recycling company to take Julio’s place.

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