(FREMONT, CA.) – Beginning on Mar. 23 and ending on Apr. 27, Fremont’s Charter Advisory Committee has discussed a plethora of topics they wish to make recommendations on for the city council.
In their final meeting, Assistant City Manager Christina Briggs reminds the committee of each of their recommendations before formally labelling them as the ones they will present to city council.
Photo Credit: https://fremontca.viebit.com/watch?hash=25HakgNdbrRMEDt8 / Christina Briggs
The two topics that were discussed in the most depth over the course of all the meetings of this committee are hiring authority and city council compensation.
Fully discussed during their second to last meeting, the committee initially agrees that they want the city council to have more hiring power, but disagree on how exactly to implement that.
Committee member Sathya Sankaran, for example, wants to heavily involve the city council in hiring city staff, allowing them to appoint heads based on their merit and applications.
Photo Credit: https://fremontca.viebit.com/watch?hash=25HakgNdbrRMEDt8 / Sathya Sankaran
Committee members Dharminder Dewan and Rick Jones, however, believe that the city council is not qualified to assess applicants in this way, and that the current process allows professional recruiters to review such things for a reason.
Ultimately, the committee is able to reach a middle ground on the scale of how much power the city council should have in hiring staff, recommending that the council have the power to confirm candidates before they are officially appointed.
Given more time than the previous topic, the committee debated increasing the city council’s salary on both Apr. 13 and Apr. 20.
The committee was almost unanimous in their decision to match the part-time council’s Health Benefit Allowance to that of the city’s full-time employees while maintaining their part-time status.
This would increase the council’s overall salary by $2,445.
The only committee member who found this concerning was Jones, who claims that this is 95% increase of the council’s current Health Benefit Allowance.
He reiterates this during the committee’s final meeting in an attempt to change their mind before they make these recommendations official.
“Looking at the potential of a 95% total compensation number [...has] really raised some eyebrows.
He also cites a separate measure regarding raising one of Fremont’s taxes that may appear on the November ballot alongside these recommendations, should the city council accept them.
“I really have concern that if we put both of these ballot measures on this November [ballot], that they will both fail,” he says.
Photo Credit: https://fremontca.viebit.com/watch?hash=25HakgNdbrRMEDt8 / Rick Jones
Despite his efforts to call the committee’s attention back to this topic, they are unwilling to reopen it for discussion and no comments are made on Jones’ concerns.
Other recommended changes that were discussed in previous meetings were passed with little issue. These include:
Increasing term limits for city council and mayor to three consecutive four-year terms
Allocating 1.5 staff members dedicated to supporting city council
Becoming a charter city
The only recommendation that, if accepted by the city council, will not change anything about Fremont’s government, is the committee’s recommendation to maintain Fremont’s city-manager structure of government.
Though the committee asks many clarifying questions and reiterates their opinions that are not addressed by these recommendations in their final meeting, there are no changes made to any of them.
If you have any questions, please email me at madison.v@lead4earth.org or comment below.
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