Which Kind of Petition?

Start with what you want. Every petition asks the Council for one thing, because the Charter allows the Council to act only by a resolution, ordinance, franchise or formal recorded action. Each of our three petition types produces one of those.

You want answers — Questions

Ask the Council to direct the City Manager to answer your specific questions in writing by a deadline. The answers must be attributed to a named official, answer every part of each question, and say plainly when the City has no answer or no policy. The Council acts by formal recorded action.

Answers are not records. The City can cite records in its answers, but getting the records themselves is a records petition.

You want records — Records

You don’t need a petition to request public records. Arizona law already requires the City to produce public records promptly. But “promptly” can stretch for months. A records petition asks the Council to set a firm final deadline for a request you have already submitted, with production on a rolling basis and public status reports.

Submit your records request first. The petition identifies it and does not restart it, so the City can’t use the petition to reset the clock.

You want a change — Change

Ask the Council to adopt new City law or policy:

• Change the City Code. Amend, add or repeal sections of one chapter of the Phoenix City Code by ordinance. You write the change; the template puts it in the form the Charter requires, with every amended section set out in full.
• Adopt a City policy. A resolution states the policy and directs the City Manager to carry it out by a deadline.
• Undo a prior action. Repeal an ordinance or rescind a resolution.

What a petition can’t do

Some goals can’t be accomplished by a citizen-petition measure, because the Charter or state law puts them somewhere else:

• Hiring, firing or directing a specific employee. The Charter forbids the Council from directing City staff except through the City Manager.
• Spending money, buying or selling property, or setting taxes. These run through the budget and other required processes.
• Charter amendments and franchises. These require a vote of the people.
• Investigations, and actions of other governments such as the county, a school district or the state.
• Asking staff to draft or recommend something. That invites the City to treat your petition as a staff assignment instead of voting on it.

Our tools explain why and won’t produce a complete package for these goals.