California City's Measure "C" : Shall the office of the City Clerk be Appointive?

By Helen M. Dennis

The position of the City Council, and the City Clerk, is that the City Clerk should be an appointed position, appointed by the City Council.

This will be the sixth time this question has been asked of the City's voters, and each time the electorate has decided to leave the position as an elected one. While we can understand the reluctance of voters to relinquish any perceived power to elect their local government, there is a point to be considered: the City Clerk is not a political position, but a professional one. While he or she interacts with the public daily, as part of the duties of the Clerk, the work that goes on behind the counter in the Clerk's office is one of records management, maintenance of the City's historical record of the Council and RDA through minutes of the Council and RDA meetings, maintenance of the City's Municipal Code, and other original documents.

Among other duties, the Clerk is also the local filing officer for the Fair Political Practices Commission, keeping track of campaign spending and candidate information, and may also be the Public Information Officer and media contact for the City government. The Clerk needs to be computer-literate, familiar with WordPerfect or MSOffice software, able to use the Internet, and able to update the City Clerk's web page. He or she will need to be trained to operate the City's Imaging System for ongoing records storage and security. The list goes on, but dear reader, you can see that the position requires a little more than the requirement for office of an elected position: i.e. 18 years of age, a resident of California City, and a registered voter.

The City has past experience with unqualified individuals being elected to the office of City Clerk. The cost to the day-to-day operation of the City when the Clerk is unable to accomplish statutory and organizational duties is huge,and impacts operations on many levels. Because the Clerk cannot perform, other people in the organization must take over those duties in addition to their own. The quality of service drops, because the public and staff may nothave access to the records and documents they require to do their jobs. Without a strong and knowledgeable City Clerk/Records Manager, problems develop in acquiring the information needed. In a City that is already short-staffed, as we have been for many years in City Hall, the effect is to remove any expectation of providing the most efficient service to the public.

I would ask the voting residents to consider carefully the changing role of the City Clerk, and vote to have the position appointed, so that the Council can ask for and receive applicants who have the necessary qualifications for the position.