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7.A. - Page 2 of 16 <br />statements will appear on the website in the form submitted by the candidate without editing, <br />proofreading, or spell checking by the City Clerk. <br />Any violation of the voluntary expenditure limit by candidates who had agreed to abide by it shall, within <br />seventy-two (72) hours of the City's knowledge of the violation: <br />1. Be forwarded to a newspaper of general circulation for publication <br />2. Be posted on the City's website <br />3. Be posted at a reasonably accessible location at City Hall <br />4. Result in the removal of the 400 -word written candidate statement from the City's website, unless a <br />fee is paid, in which case the statement will then be relocated below statements from candidates that <br />agree to voluntary expenditure limits, in accordance with Section 2.154(D). <br />City Council candidates who do not agree to voluntary campaign expenditure limits or who otherwise do <br />not qualify for inclusion on the city's election webpage may have their statement appear below those of <br />candidates who agree to voluntary expenditure limits by tendering a fee to the City Clerk in an amount <br />established by Council resolution. <br />ANALYSIS <br />Staff researched neighboring jurisdictions with local campaign finance regulations to inform the <br />establishment of a campaign statement fee for candidates who do not agree to voluntary campaign <br />spending limits. While numerous municipalities have local campaign finance regulations, only one city <br />imposes a fee for publishing candidate statements on their website for violations of the voluntary <br />agreement. The City of Santa Cruz imposes a fee equal to that of the county elections candidate statement <br />fee for candidates who do not comply with voluntary spending limits. An important distinction between <br />the Santa Cruz model and Redwood City is that Santa Cruz publishes only the candidate statement that <br />appears in the county voter guide, which the City pays for on behalf of candidates who comply with the <br />ordinance which justifies the high cost of the fee for violations. <br />The statement in question for Redwood City is a 400 -word statement in addition to the candidate <br />statement that appears in the San Mateo County voter guide, which has historically been published during <br />previous elections on the City's website free of charge. For this reason, staff does not recommend <br />following the Santa Cruz model for establishing the fee amount. <br />Fee Recommendation <br />The fee assessed for publishing a candidate statement on the website may not exceed the cost of <br />providing the service. Minimal staff time will be required to execute the posting of these statements, as <br />candidates are directed to submit statements to the City Clerk via email and statements will be posted <br />without editing or formatting by the City Clerk, in accordance with the ordinance. Once received by the <br />City Clerk, and word count has been verified, the statement is prepared for posting to the City's website <br />and then sent to the website administrator for final publication. Staff estimates the total time spent <br />Page 2 of 4 <br />City of Redwood City 1017 Middlefield Road, Redwood City, CA. 94063 Tel: 650-780-7000 www.redwoodcity.ore <br />447 <br />