City attorney warns council of legal uncertainty as it balances court order and state election law

The city's attorney described the legal posture facing Newport Beach: the court of appeals denied the city's request for a stay of the writ, requiring the city to act, while the city also faces state election code and charter consolidation provisions that typically require consolidation with the county. The attorney said the city plans to file for review at the California Supreme Court and scheduled an ex parte hearing Monday with Judge Bancroft to seek clarification of how the writ interacts with other law.

"We're asking her to tell us whether her order means that that code section doesn't apply to the city," the city attorney said, referring to statutory and charter provisions that ordinarily require consolidation. He warned the council that if the judge interprets the order to require compliance with the elections code and charter, "I don't see how we can move forward with an election because there's direct conflicts between the elections code and the charter and what we're proposing to do to comply with the writ." The attorney urged that the council move carefully and that staff maintain a phased contracting approach to limit costs in case the court's guidance changes.