An executive mayor, an independent redistricting commission and new ethics and transparency guidelines were the highlights of a new plan to reform city government introduced by representatives from the mayor’s office Wednesday.

“This (proposal) represents how to fundamentally restructure how City Hall works,” Kunal Merchant, chief of staff to Mayor Kevin Johnson said Wednesday.

Merchant said the new charter reform proposal is based on previous reform ideas and represents three years of discussion with members of the public and city and community leaders throughout Sacramento. The proposed legal language was prepared by Nielsen Merksamer Parrinello Gross & Leoni – a local law firm that specializes in government, political and initiative law.

“You can’t just let one group of people have all the power,” Merchant said. “There needs to be checks and balances. There needs to be accountability and transparency in Sacramento.”

The mayor had prior commitments that prevented him from attending the press conference, Merchant said, but the charter reform proposal "goes beyond the mayor," he added.

Some of the significant reforms in the proposal – called the Sacramento Checks and Balances Act of 2012 by supporters – include:

* an executive mayor who proposes the city budget and has limited veto authority
* an independent city council presided over by a council-selected president. The council would have authority to override mayoral vetoes
* a code of ethics for city officials and a citizen’s ethics committee to lead an ethics review every two years
* voter approval of salary raises greater than 5 percent in any year for the mayor and council members
* “sunshine ordinances” that require key public records (including council votes, budgets and audit information) to be immediately available after council takes action

For the city charter to be changed, the state constitution requires an initiative to be placed on the ballot by the City Council for a public vote – something the City Council has previously been hesitant to do.

A “strong mayor” initiative was considered in 2008 after Johnson was elected as mayor, but that proposal faced steep criticism – and a lawsuit against the city initiated by local labor leader Bill Camp. The initiative ultimately failed to reach the ballot for 2010.

Now, three years after Sacramento was introduced to the notion by Johnson and his staff, the newest version is being touted as a more thorough and more responsible proposal.

“This is arguably the most important potential vote facing people in the coming years,” said Jeff Dorso, a local attorney and member of the coalition that supports the charter reform measure.

“It’s put together with public input and reflects a lot of the positive changes that have been requested,” he added. “It deserves to be weighed by the voters in 2012.”

Merchant said that, over the past three years, the mayor’s office has received many phone calls and emails from city residents with ideas, suggestions and critique of previous charter reform measures. That public input was considered in the creation of the new reform measure, Merchant said.

Supporters from local business groups, a local law enforcement union and building and development organizations spoke at the press conference Wednesday to encourage the City Council to allow the proposal to go to the voters in June.

“Just let the people have their say on the matter,” Pastor Darryl Heath of St. John’s Missionary Baptist Church said Wednesday. “That is true democracy. That is what we want. Just let the people vote on it.”

Heath said that members in the faith community have been disappointed by the conduct of the City Council, and the time has come for a change.

“The time has come for a city governed by one vision,” Heath said. “Right now we have eight visions for one city – we can’t work with a monster with so many heads.”

The new proposal would also change the way the city handles redistricting – the process of redrawing district lines to equalize population among the districts – which happens every 10 years.

The most recent redistricting process ended in September after months of discussions and recommendations by a citizens advisory committee, and resulted in new boundaries for city council districts that were largely drawn – not by the advisory committee – but by council members themselves.

The process was highly contentious among residents and council members alike and led to hundreds of residents speaking out at council meetings over the course of eight weeks.

With the new charter reform proposal, redistricting would happen under the authority of an independent redistricting commission whose decisions – unlike those of the recent Citizens Advisory Committee – would be binding.

Merchant said that the most critical aspect of the charter reform initiative is that voters will have the opportunity to vote it into place, and they will have the ability to reconsider the reform measures after eight years.

If city voters do not re-confirm the charter changes at the November 2020 election, Merchant said, then the reform package sunsets – it would be automatically repealed – at the end of December 2020.

“That gives voters the chance to make sure (the changes) are working for them,” Merchant said. “It gives a little time to see if the city has benefited from the changes or not. Either way, it’s up to the voters.”

The full charter reform proposal can be read here.

Merchant said City Attorney Eileen Teichert is reviewing the legal language of the Checks and Balances Act and will give an analysis of the proposal to the City Council at its Jan. 17 meeting.

Council members have until Feb. 28 to put the initiative on the June ballot.

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter with The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.