After months of planning and discussion, Santa Barbara leaders took formal steps Tuesday to run their own city election this fall, and to place a charter amendment on the ballot that would change the election year so they don’t have to do it again.

Normally handled by the county, the massive undertaking of running an election was necessary this year because of cost, leaders say. Santa Barbara County was going to charge about $600,000; the city figured it could run its own election for about half that amount.

The Santa Barbara City Council voted unanimously to spend about $300,000 to run the Nov. 6 election with help from an election consulting firm. The ballot includes three open council seats -- those held by Das Williams, Helene Schneider and Brian Barnwell, who are all seeking reelection.

Das Williams

Helene Schneider

Brian Barnwell

The ballot will also include a charter amendment, which would align the city’s elections with presidential, state and other elections. Combining more races will make the city’s portion of the election cheaper in the future, staff members said.

If voters pass the amendment, it would extend terms by one year for the open seats, as well as the seats currently held by Iya Falcone, Roger Horton, Grant House and Mayor Marty Blum.

Because of that conflict of interest, council members decided not to write a position on the measure, but give that responsibility to a community group.

“We’re not impartial,” said Council member Iya Falcone. “We don’t have any business writing a ‘pro’ or a ‘con’ position.”

Others agreed.

“This is a tough call,” said Council member Das Williams. “It’s a tough decision, and it should be left to voters.”

There is no doubt the measure would save money, but more information is needed to determine whether it would increase voter participation, said Steve Amerikaner, a lawyer and long-time resident.

“The problem is that the city election would be at the end of a very long ballot,” said Amerikaner, citing concern over “voter fatigue” and possibly losing the focus of voters.

Amerikaner, as well as David Pritchett of Santa Barbara Clean Elections Workers Group, supported placing the measure on the ballot for city residents to decide.

Marcelo Lopez, who oversees Santa Barbara’s City Clerk office, said staff will run the election as closely to the county protocol as possible, including keeping the same polling places and notifying residents the same way. The ballots will be counted in City Council Chambers and televised on government access television.

City leaders also made changes to the way candidates disclose their campaign donations, but it was a more divided vote. Frustrated by the timeline of implementation, Mayor Marty Blum and council members Iya Falcone and Helene Schneider voted against a measure that would set stricter and more frequent requirements for disclosing donations.

The three dissenters were hoping staff would be able to get financial statements online by this fall’s election.

"I’m frustrated that nothing would really change for this fall,” Blum said. “We’ve been working on this for two years now.”

The City Clerk, along with others who have worked on the proposal for the last two years, said it would be too much to handle because the city is already overloaded by having to run the election. The addresses of donors would have to be redacted before they are scanned and posted because of legal concerns, the clerk said.

The measure passed, however, which means candidates will have to disclose individual donors every two weeks, and will have to list all donations immediately that are $500 or above, among other changes. The electronic posting of statements won’t be implemented until the city gets a computer system that would allow easier transfer of the information.

Those who supported the measure said it was a step -- albeit a small one -- to ensuring that the city’s elections are clean and open.