City council affirms clerk's finding that Save the Garden petition is insufficient after hours of testimony

The Clearwater City Council voted unanimously on May 21 to approve the city clerk's certificate that a citizen initiative petition asking for voter approval on downtown right-of-way vacations was insufficient under the charter.

Interim City Attorney Owen Koehler and City Clerk (referred to in the hearing as Ms. Kahl) reviewed the charter process for initiative petitions and the city's signature-verification steps. The clerk described using the active voter roll provided by the Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections, explained that signatures gathered before the petitioner committee met the five-voter requirement were treated separately, and said staff validated thousands of signatures while identifying a substantial number that were duplicates, outside the city limits, on inactive voter rolls, or missing the required attached ordinance text.

Petition organizers and dozens of supporters urged the council to reject the clerk's certificate and let the initiative go to the ballot. "We urge you to reject the clerk's certificate of insufficiency," one petitioner said, summarizing arguments that the clerk incorrectly excluded eligible signatures, including signature forms circulated with the full text of the ordinance and signatures collected before the committee formally reached five registered-voter members.

Council members repeatedly praised the petitioners for their effort but framed the vote narrowly. Several members said they had reviewed the clerk's counts and the charter language and concluded the office applied the standards required by the charter and the active voter roll guidance. After discussion, the council voted to approve the clerk's certificate of insufficiency, effectively determining the petition did not meet the charter threshold to place the measure on the ballot. The certification vote was procedural (about sufficiency under the charter); council did not take action to adopt the proposed ordinance or order a referendum.

What the clerk reported: the clerk described a multi-step review process and cited document-level problems (missing or mismatched address information, multiple instances of signers recorded as non-residents or duplicates, and signatures gathered before the committee included five registered voters). The clerk's presentation included counts of valid and invalid signatures as reviewed against the active voter roll; the clerk concluded the petition was insufficient under Charter Section 6.

Next steps for petitioners: Petitioners said they have undertaken an audit and asked council to put the proposed ordinance directly on the August ballot; council members noted alternatives include future petitions or raising the matter in the upcoming election campaign but declined to override the clerk's certificate at this meeting.