(FREMONT, CA.) – Nearing the end of their series of meetings, Fremont’s Charter Advisory Committee discusses their wishes regarding the ability of the city council to appoint city staff, such as department heads, on Apr. 20.
The committee is split between two options regarding this appointment authority, which is very similar to their opposing views regarding preferred government structure in a previous meeting.
This topic was briefly discussed in one of their previous meetings, which provided little insight into the likely decision this committee would make.
Before committee members further assert their stances, however, City Manager Christina Briggs provides the committee with a presentation that details Fremont’s existing appointment authority structure and the structures utilized by various charter cities in California.
Photo Credit: https://fremontca.viebit.com/watch?hash=trd7QaLuQMQVLbMY
As seen in the photo above, Fremont currently follows the typical appointment authority of a general law city with a council-manager government structure.
This means that the city council, including the mayor, appoints both a city manager and a city attorney, but the city manager oversees the appointment of all other city staff.
Upon inquiries from the committee members, Briggs divulges in more detail the process by which the city manager typically hires other city staff.
During this time, she explains that the hiring process for city staff is often aided by professional recruitment staff. These staff help review and weed out applicants first based on their resume and application, then based on the multiple rounds of interviews that the remaining applicants go through.
Understanding these things, the committee is better able to utilize the information presented regarding the practices of the studied charter cities.
Photo Credit: https://fremontca.viebit.com/watch?hash=trd7QaLuQMQVLbMY
Many of the cities presented have expanded or altered the city council’s hiring authority by allowing them to appoint more positions than just the city manager and attorney or by giving them confirmatory authority over potential department heads.
Committee member Brad Hatton questions what happens if a city council with confirmatory authority does not confirm a potential department head presented to the council by city staff.
In response, City Attorney Rafel Alvarado explains that the city manager would then have to seek a new candidate for recommendation.
“The city manager probably has to seek a next candidate to recommend for that [position] and seek confirmation from the city council. So effectively, it serves as a veto.”
Photo Credit: https://fremontca.viebit.com/watch?hash=trd7QaLuQMQVLbMY / Rafael Alvarado
Now having this information, the committee is able to form their opinions on the subject.
Committee member Sathaya Sankaran initially expresses a general wish for the process of hiring and firing staff, usually overseen by the city manager, to include greater involvement by the city council.
She argues that allowing the council a larger role in these processes would decrease the chances of bias when hiring or firing staff.
Committee member Dharminder Dewan has a similar view, forming his stance by putting himself into the shoes of the voters of Fremont
“As a voter, I appointed the mayor and I appointed the city council members. [Therefore, I] would really love to see at least a little involvement [in the hiring of city staff] by them sometimes.”
At the same time, he places limits on how involved the city council should be, asserting that they should not be involved in assessing candidates’ merit or applications.
Committee member Rick Jones, in particular, agrees with this point made by Dewan.
“I don’t think we need politicians making appointments to these types of positions. [...] We have professional staff that knows what the qualifications are and can make the right decisions based on those qualifications and merit, not on favors and friends and political influence.
Photo Credit: https://fremontca.viebit.com/watch?hash=trd7QaLuQMQVLbMY / Rick Jones
Reaching a middle ground between the options of heavily involving the city council in the hiring process or avoiding their involvement due to potential bias, the committee unanimously decides to allow the council confirmatory authority over department heads.
This would exclude the council from participating in reviewing applicants’ qualifications and from participating in interviews. Instead, they would either confirm or deny candidates presented to them by city staff, or pick the best out of a few presented by city staff.
Covered in a separate article, the committee also discusses increasing the salaries of the city council and mayor.
If you have any questions, please email me at madison.v@lead4earth.org or comment below.
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