Butte County proposes to separate the offices of Road Commissioner and Director of Public Works.

NOTICE OF THE BUTTE COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS ADOPTION OF ORDINANCE NO. 4274 AN ORDINANCE OF THE COUNTY OF BUTTE CALLING FOR AND GIVING NOTICE OF AN ELECTION TO SEPARATE THE OFFICES OF ROAD COMMISSIONER AND DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS BY AMENDING CHARTER ARTICLE X, SECTIONS 2 AND 8, OF THE BUTTE COUNTY CODE AND CONSOLIDATING THE ELECTION WITH THE JUNE 2, 2026 STATEWIDE PRIMARY ELECTION The Board of Supervisors of the County of Butte ordains as follows: Section 1. Recitals: California Constitution Article XI Section 3, and California Government Code Sections 23720(a) and 23722 permit a county board of supervisors to propose amendments to the county charter and to submit the amendment to the eligible registered voters of the county at an election held on the next established election date not less than eighty-eight (88) days after submission of the proposal. The County of Butte's Charter (Charter) specifies the duties and qualifications of several of the officers of the County, including the Director of Public Works and the Road Commissioner which have been merged into one office. California Streets & Highways Code Section 2006 requires the appointed Road Commissioner to be a registered civil engineer. Recent attempts to hire a Director of Public Works who is also qualified to be the Road Commissioner have been unsuccessful. The Board of Supervisors proposes to amend the Charter to separate the positions of Director of Public Works and Road Commissioner into two separate offices if approved by a majority of qualified voters in the County. A Statewide Primary Election will be held on June 2, 2026. Pursuant to California Elections Code Section 10400 et seq., the Board of Supervisors may order the consolidation of local elections with the Statewide Primary Election and therefore seeks consolidation of the countywide election on the Charter amendments measure with the June 2, 2026 Statewide Primary Election. Section 2. Findings: The Board of Supervisors finds that it is no longer advantageous to merge the office of the Director of Public Works with the office of the Road Commissioner and therefore desires to separate the two offices into their own separate offices. Section 3. Call of the Election and Purpose: An election shall be held and the same is hereby called and ordered to be held in the County on June 2, 2026, for the purpose of submitting to the voters of the County the question of whether the Charter shall be amended. Section 4. Ballot Measure: The measure to amend the Charter shall appear on the ballot substantially as follows: PROPOSED COUNTY CHARTER AMENDMENT. BUTTE COUNTY CHARTER AMENDMENT TO SEPARATE THE OFFICES OF DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS AND ROAD COMMISSIONER. Shall the measure amending Article X, Sections 2 and 8 of the Butte County Charter to separate the office of the Director of Public Works from the office of the Road Commissioner be adopted? YES NO Section 5. Proposed Charter Amendment Language: The Board of Supervisors proposes the amendments to the Charter to separate the offices of Director of Public Works and Road Commissioner as shown in the next section. Section 6. Charter Article X, Sections 2 and 8, of the Butte County Code are amended to read as follows: Article X, � 2 - Director of public works. The board of supervisors shall appoint a director of public works, who shall thereafter serve at the pleasure of the board of supervisors. The director of public works shall be a civil engineer and shall have had prior to his appointment, at least 3 years actual experience in road construction. He need not be an elector of the county, but must reside therein during his service as director of public works. He shall, under the general direction and supervision of the board of supervisors, have complete direction and control over the public works department all work of construction, improvements, maintenance and repair of county roads, highways and bridges. Article X, � 8 - Term "rRoad commissioner" defined. That whenever the term road commissioner appears in the Charter, it would be deemed to also include the office of the director of public works, and provided further that the director of public works shall have other duties as are required by law or as directed by the board of supervisors. The office of the road commissioner shall be its own office as set forth in Streets and Highways Code section 2006, separate and distinct from other county offices, including the office of the director of public works. Section 7. Proclamation: Pursuant to California Elections Code Section 12001 the Board hereby proclaims that a countywide election shall be held on Tuesday, June 2, 2026, to vote upon the Charter amendment. Section 8. Consolidation: The election called by this Ordinance shall be consolidated with the Statewide Primary Election conducted by the County Clerk-Recorder to be held in the County on June 2, 2026, and the Charter amendment shall be placed on the same ballot as that provided for in the general election. The precincts, polling places, vote centers, precinct board members, election works, and facilities shall be the same as provided for in the June 2, 2026 Statewide Primary Election. Section 9. Election Procedure: The Butte County Registrar of Voters is authorized to take any steps necessary for the holding of the consolidated election. All qualified voters residing in the County shall be permitted to vote in the election and in all particulars not recited in this Ordinance, the elections shall be held as nearly as practicable in conformity with the California Elections Code. The votes cast for and against the measure shall be separately counted and if the measure receives a majority of the votes cast by the qualified electors voting on the measure, the measure amending the Charter shall be effective pursuant to California Government Code Sections 23713 and 23714. Should another proposed measure with conflicting provisions appear on the same ballot, and each proposed measure receives a majority of votes, the proposed measure with the highest number of affirmative votes shall prevail, in conformity with California Elections Code Section 9123. The Board of Supervisors acknowledges that the consolidated election will be held and conducted in the manner prescribed in California Elections Code Section 10418. Section 10. Sample Ballot: The County Clerk-Recorder is instructed to print the Charter amendments in the Voter Information Guide, and a copy of the proposed amendment shall be made available to a voter upon request. Section 11. Authority: This Ordinance is adopted pursuant to California Elections Code Sections 10400 et seq. and 12001 and California Government Code Section 25201. The Clerk of the Board is ordered to file a copy of this Ordinance with the County Clerk-Recorder at least eighty-eight (88) days prior to the day of the election. The County Clerk-Recorder is authorized, instructed, and directed to prepare any documents and take any additional actions that may be necessary to properly and lawfully conduct the election. Section 12. Severability: If any provision of this Ordinance or the application thereof to any person or circumstances is for any reason held to be invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, such provision shall be deemed severable, and the invalidity thereof shall not affect the remaining provisions or other applications of the Ordinance which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application thereof. Section 13. Effective Date and Publication. This Ordinance shall become effective immediately pursuant to Government Code section 25123(a). The Clerk of the Board of Supervisors is authorized and directed to publish this Ordinance before the expiration of fifteen (15) days after its passage. This Ordinance shall be published once, with the names of the members of the Board of Supervisors voting for and against it, in a newspaper of general circulation published in the County of Butte, State of California. PASSED AND ADOPTED by the Board of Supervisors of the County of Butte, State of California, this 24th day of February 2026, by the following vote: AYES: Supervisors Durfee, Ritter, Kimmelshue, Teeter, and Chair Connelly NOES: None ABSENT: None ABSTAIN: None