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The Morgan Hill City Council has amended a resolution placing a measure on the November ballot to appoint, rather than elect the city treasurer and city clerk. The Nov. 6 ballot measure will now only include a change in the the clerk position.
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At the July 18 meeting, the council unanimously passed a resolution to put a measure on the ballot that would make the positions of city clerk and city treasurer appointed, rather than elected positions. Following opposition voiced after the meeting, about the treasurer change, being included, a special meeting of the City Council was called July 27 to discuss how to proceed with the measure.
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At the special July 27 meeting, Councilmember Larry Carr said he was concerned whether the measure would pass, because of the treasurer position. Carr said he could not support a resolution to put the treasurer position on the ballot, because of the concerns personally expressed to him by current City Treasurer David Clink.
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Eight years ago, a similar measure failed to gain voter support, which City Attorney Donald Larkin said at the meeting was for similar reasons. Larkin said at the July 18 council meeting that he didn’t believe there was any organized opposition against the current measure. Mayor Steve Tate said July 18 that Clink was supportive of the measure as long as he was able to finish his term.
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Some council members voiced confusion over why Clink had changed his position. “I share [Councilmember Rene] Spring’s concern that [Clink] was okay with it, and now he’s not,” said Councilmember Rich Constantine.
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Clink was not present at either meeting. However, he told the Times that while he knew the council may have been discussing an amendment, he was unaware when the special meeting was or if it was open to the public. All meetings of the City Council are open to public, except sessions to discuss labor negotiations, personnel matters, lawsuits or real estate negotiations.
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Clink said in an interview with the Times that he never supported the measure and could not support it in the future because he believes it is a necessarily separate roll from the council. He said, “People like that choice of an extra voice within the city.”
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Had the measure been put on the ballot, Clink thinks there would have been organized opposition by the California Municipal Treasurers Association, an organization whose mission statement is “to lead in promoting and enhancing the fiduciary responsibility and integrity of individuals responsible for public funds.”
Clink said that he believed the council made the right decision to remove the ballot measure.
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Morgan Hill is currently the only city in Santa Clara County to have an elected city treasurer. The treasurer focuses on the investment of city funds and collecting city taxes and licensing fees.
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However, the City Council staff report presented on the measure states that many of the treasurer duties outlined in the California Government Code have been delegated to the Finance Director.
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The council unanimously voted on the amendment. City Manager Christina Turner said at the special meeting that the issue could be revisited in the next two to four years.
The council considered putting the resolution on the ballot as two separate measures, one for the city clerk position and one for city treasurer. Ultimately, councilmembers felt the risk of the measure not passing and wasting the money it would take to place a losing measure on the ballot was too great.
Voters will still get to decide Nov. 6 if the city clerk’s position should be appointed. The city clerk position has been an elected position, for a four-year term, since the city’s founding. Irma Torrez is currently Morgan Hill’s city clerk.
