There’s some confusion about the current referendum attempt regarding the arena lease agreement between the City of Glendale and IceArizona. Hopefully questions are answered here.
Who Is It?
Mr. Ken Jones is running solo this time for the petition circulating. Since he began his quest, the other man that had “pulled a packet”, Robert Rebich (‘Cotton’), has joined up with Mr. Jones and has been frequenting the Main branch of the Glendale Public Library. Mr. Rebich, by the way, has been significantly more amiable than Mr. Jones.
Mr. Jones failed twice before with referendum attempts regarding this same matter.
Goldwater Insititute
Goldwater says they are out (click here), the deal doesn’t violate anything they’re interested in.
Signature Count
The number of signatures required for a successful referendum is 10% of the votes cast in the last general election. In this case, the number of votes was 69,558 (click here), so 10% rounded up would be 6,956.
A signature is valid if the person signing is a registered Glendale voter. A petition may only be signed once by an individual.
There are a bunch of other rules for petition sheets.
Signatures Due
Signatures are due to be turned in to the Glendale City Clerk by close of business August 1, 2013.
Because the ordinance documentation was available for any citizen to have on July 3 (the morning after the vote), the “clock” started that day.
The chart below shows how the calendar date relates to the count of days. The first five days are grayed out because Mr. Jones didn’t file his referendum paperwork until Monday, July 8. Mr. Jones left five days on the table, ending up with 24.5 (he filed his papers around noon on the 8th) days to gather his 6,956 signatures.
| Date: | 7/3 | 7/4 | 7/5 | 7/6 | 7/7 | 7/8 | 7/9 | 7/10 | 7/11 | 7/12 |
| Day: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Date: | 7/13 | 7/14 | 7/15 | 7/16 | 7/17 | 7/18 | 7/19 | 7/20 | 7/21 | 7/22 |
| Day: | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
| Date: | 7/23 | 7/24 | 7/25 | 7/26 | 7/27 | 7/28 | 7/29 | 7/30 | 7/31 | 8/1 |
| Day: | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
Paid Circulators
During the press conference yesterday, Reverend Maupin stated that the group had hired paid circulators to help gather signatures for this referendum. That’s fairly standard procedure when so many signatures are required. The Prop 457 people had paid circulators and were able to gather over 4,000 total signatures for their initiative.
Council Support
During the press conference, Rev. Maupin stated CM Norma Alvarez (who spoke at the presser), CM Ian Hugh and mayor Jerry Weiers “supported the initiative”. Since then, the mayor has claimed he is “neutral”, while Hugh confirmed his support.
Referendum Impact
If the number of signatures turned in to Glendale and then verified by the Arizona Secretary of State meet or exceed the 6,956 signature threshold, the Glendale ordinance #2855 would be referred to a ballot. As I understand it, the vote would be taken March 14, 2014. Until then, the ordinance would not be in effect.