A City Council majority has agreed on new standards for recalling the mayor and City Council members.
Council members, by a 6-3 vote, agreed to change the standard for recalling the mayor to that provided in state law - 15 percent of the registered voters.
Council members said that would be too high a standard for City Council members to be recalled so that was set at 15 percent of the registered voters of the district where the recall was being attempted.
City voters must vote in November on whether or not to approve the city charter change.
The current city charter requires a lesser standard for both the mayor and City Council. It is 50 percent of those that voted in the last mayoral election.
A group attempted a recall of Mayor Ron Littlefield and got approval from the Election Commission for the petition, but it was thrown out in court.
Councilman Peter Murphy said aligning the city recall requirement with the state's would make it clearer for all involved.
But he and other council members agreed that, as far as council members are concerned, that a requirement for 15 percent of the registered voters of the city as a whole (mayor's race) was too high a barrier.
Councilwoman Pam Ladd said a recall of a council member "should be obtainable, but it shouldn't be a cakewalk."
Several council members, including Sally Robinson and Carol Berz, said they were troubled with the notion that a city official can be recalled for no particular reason. But City Attorney Mike McMahan said that is the way the state law is written.
Voting no were council members Robinson, Deborah Scott and Andrae McGary.