This is an archive of a past election.
See http://www.smartvoter.org/ca/sm/ for current information.
San Mateo County, CA November 8, 2011 Election
Smart Voter

City Clerk Salary

By Terri Cook

Candidate for City Clerk; City of Belmont

This information is provided by the candidate
The Belmont City Clerk is the lowest paid department head and is at the lower end of salaries paid in other cities.
Much attention has been drawn to the city clerk's salary in Belmont. The City of Belmont has a policy whereby salaries for city positions should be set at or near median. This should be no different for the City Clerk. And as part of the full-time management team, the City Clerk earns the same benefits package offered to all other department heads. The City Clerk is the lowest paid department head, and my salary is at the lower end of other similar cities. While it may be true that "the duties and responsibilities of the City Clerk's office does not need to be done by the elected City Clerk", those complex duties need to be done by SOMEONE. Right now, under the current structure, the voters elect a full-time City Clerk. If they would like to bifurcate the elected duties from another position to carry out the administrative duties, that is something the voters would need to decide. Regardless, having a part-time volunteer City Clerk to manage only the statutorily outlined duties of the elected City Clerk's duties doesn't make the rest of the work go away. The City Clerk + whether elected or appointed + does not have the authority to reassign duties of the office to other staff within the City organization. And the so-called savings that are being asserted in this election could be eaten up by creating another position to take on all the duties that would NOT be done by a part-time Clerk.

All other cities in San Mateo County have full-time City Clerks (whether elected or appointed). Those cities obviously recognize the value of the service of the position, and some of these cities are in much more difficult financial constraints than the City of Belmont.

Next Page: Position Paper 2

Candidate Page || Feedback to Candidate || This Contest
November 2011 Home (Ballot Lookup) || About Smart Voter

ca/sm Created from information supplied by the candidate: November 4, 2011 07:47
Smart Voter <http://www.smartvoter.org/>
Copyright © League of Women Voters of California Education Fund.
The League of Women Voters neither supports nor opposes candidates for public office or political parties.