Here is the text of Measure I listed as the "Impartial Analysis from the City Attorney of the City of Burlingame" as shown at The League of Women Voters' smartvoter website
The City Council of the City of Burlingame has placed this measure on the ballot to ask the voters of Burlingame if the position of City Clerk should be made appointive rather than elective. Persuant to California State law, the City Clerk of any general law city, such as Burlingame, is an elective office unless the voters of the city approve a measure to make the office of City Clerk an appointive position. The Burlingame City Clerk is currently an elective office with a term of four years.
There are two qualifications for the position of elected City Clerk: first, the individual must be a resident of the City, and second, the individual must be a registered voter. Some, but not all, of the City Clerk's duties include preparing, indexing, and maintaining accurate minutes of City Council meetings and all City documents and records; printing, assembling, and distributing Council agenda packets; administering municipal elections; receiving and maintaining candidate campaign forms and City officials' statements of economic interest; revising bi-annually the City's conflict of interest code; and preparing, mailing, and publishing all official notices in a timely manner.
A simple majority of those persons voting on the measure is required to approve the measure. If the measure is approved by the voters, the position of City Clerk would become an appointive office at the end of the four year term which begins in December of 2009. Stated another way, if the measure is approved by the voters, the position of City Clerk would become an appointive office effective December of 2013. If the measure is approved by the voters, the City Council would appoint the City Clerk in the same manner as the Council now appoints the City Manager and the City Attorney.
A YES vote approves the measure.
A NO vote rejects the measure.
Comments, bloggers?
Missing from this reporting is one item: How much is this position going to cost the citizens of Burlingame? I'd like to know what sort of salary do they pay the current elected position? What sort of benefits? Lifetime healthcare like the city council gave themselves? What sort of salary would they pay if it was an appointive position? Why is this stuff not reported?
Considering that the state of California is broke with a rather low probability of bailing itself out without taking away a lot of money from cities like Burlingame we need to be very careful with every penny we spend going forward. Is this proposed change to the city clerk position a money saver or will it cost more? In fact do we really even need this position? It's time to get serious and become fiscally responsible so that the future residents of Burlingame can have a decent life too.
There's a lot missing from the discussion so far.
Posted by: Ron Fulderon | September 30, 2009 at 08:40 PM