REPORT TO SALARY SETTING COMMISSION
SUBJECT
Title
Action to Consider Additional Comparative Information and to Set Salaries of Mayor, Council, City Clerk and Police Chief
Report
BACKGROUND
Charter Section 702 requires the Salary Setting Commission (Commission) to set the compensation of the Mayor and Council prior to March 15, 2019 and thereafter, every two years. The Charter provision also provides that salaries so established by the Commission shall not exceed one hundred ten percent (110%) of the previous figure. City Code Section 2.20.015 requires the Commission to set the City Clerk’s compensation on July 1, 2019, and every two years thereafter. City Code Section 2.80.015 requires the Commission to set the Chief of Police’s compensation on July 1, 2019, and every two years thereafter.
DISCUSSION
At its previous meeting, the Commission requested updated information regarding comparator agencies and particular information related to the positions of Mayor, Council, City Clerk and Police Chief. The Commission’s information requests from that meeting are:
1. What is the salary growth of the City’s Unit 9 bargaining group over the last 10 years?
2. Are there any available existing studies regarding Mayor and Council salaries?
3. Compare and contrast City Clerk and Assistant City Clerk;
a. What were their respective duties before and after the recent change?
4. Compare and contrast Police Chief and Assistant Police Chief duties;
a. What is the organizational structure of the Police Department?
b. What are the Sheriff requirements mentioned in the Charter?
c. What are POST requirements needed for Police Chief and are they different than APC or other positions in the Department?
5. Provide a compensation survey for City Clerk and Police Chief;
6. What is the salary history of the Assistant City Clerk position?
7. What do the Charter Review Committee minutes reflect regarding its consideration or justification for raising the salaries to $2000/$2500 in 2016?
a. What are the prior methods used to raise salaries of all positions: Mayor, Council, City Clerk, and Police Chief?
Responsive information regarding comparator agencies as available and compiled is included in Attachment 1. Responsive information for the additional seven categories is provided below:
1. What is the salary growth of the City’s Unit 9 bargaining group over the last 10 years?
The City’s unclassified management employees’ salary increases are shown in the table below.
2. Are there any available existing studies regarding Mayor and Council salaries?
Staff has researched the League of California Cities available publications and there do not appear to be any studies related to setting compensation for mayors and councils. Staff is providing additional salary surveys for the positions of Mayor and Council as Attachments 2 and 3.
3. Compare and contrast City Clerk and Assistant City Clerk;
a. What were their respective duties before and after the recent change?
Staff directs the Commission’s attention to the following meetings (agendas, materials, and video available on the City’s website):
• March 29, 2018 Council Study Session on duties and responsibilities of a professional city clerk
• April 24, 2018 Agenda Item entitled “Discussion and Council Direction on Assigned Responsibilities and Commensurate Salary Options for Elected City Clerk”
• June 26, 2018 Agenda Items entitled “Consideration of an Ordinance Assigning the City Auditor Function to the Assistant Finance Director” and “Discussion and Council Direction on Assigned Responsibilities and Commensurate Salary Options for Elected City Clerk”
• July 5, 2018 Agenda Item entitled “Introduction of an Ordinance Assigning Professional Responsibilities from the Elected City Clerk to the Assistant City Clerk and Setting the Salary of the Elected City Clerk Commensurate with the Stipend and Benefits of Council Members”
City Clerk Duties BEFORE Council’s recent adoption of Ordinance No. 1983:
• Attend all meetings of the City Council and be responsible for the recording and maintaining of a full and true record of all the proceedings of the City Council in books that shall bear appropriate titles and be devoted to such purposes;
• Maintain separate books, in which shall be recorded respectively all ordinances and resolutions, with the certificate of the clerk annexed to each thereof stating the same to be the original or a correct copy, and as to an ordinance requiring publication, stating that the same has been published or posted in accordance with this Charter;
• Maintain separate books, in which a record shall be made of all written contracts and official bonds;
• Keep all aforementioned books properly indexed and open to public inspection when not in actual use;
• Publishing and attesting the publication of all official notices;
• Administer oaths or affirmations, take affidavits and depositions pertaining to the affairs and business of the City and certify copies of official records;
• The issuance of certified copies of official records as required and requested;
• Officially recording the rights, titles and interests in all real properties acquired by the City;
• The handling of all Council correspondence unless otherwise specifically designated;
• Preparing of the agenda and supplemental material for Council meetings in cooperation with the City Manager;
• Routing Council assignments to the respective officers having primary responsibility for their execution;
• Duplicating and distributing the minutes, ordinances, resolutions, policies and orders of the City Council to the various boards, commissions and administrative officers;
• Be the custodian of the seal of the City;
• Have charge of all City elections.
The current duties of the Elected City Clerk, per Ordinance No. 1983 are as follows:
• Be the custodian of the seal of the City;
• Have charge of all City elections.
In addition, the Council has the right under the Charter to appoint any City employee to act as the City Auditor. Prior to his resignation, the City Clerk was acting as both the City Clerk and City Auditor, and he received compensation for both roles (a base pay of $200,976, of which $178,500 correlates to the City Clerk’s Office and $22,476 correlates to City Auditor). Under the City Charter, the City Council has the authority to assign any of the City Clerk’s duties and responsibilities to any other employee of the City, and grant such person the commensurate additional compensation. Based upon a review of the job duties for both Clerk and Auditor, the Council assigned the auditor duties to an Assistant Finance Director (a new employee was hired in the Finance Department to fill this role, among other functions) and many of the City Clerk duties to the assistant city clerk. In particular, the City Council was concerned about continuity for the Clerk’s Office and the ability to ensure that a qualified individual would be able to fill this professional position. The two duties italicized above are the duties that remain for the City Clerk. All other duties have been formally assigned to the Assistant City Clerk by ordinance. The Assistant City Clerk was, in actual practice, already performing these functions and acting as back-up for the City Clerk in all functions, and therefore neither the job description nor the salary range for the assistant city clerk had to be amended as a result of this change to the formally assigned duties. There was previously no ordinance representing the Assistant City Clerk’s duties and responsibilities (the current 2.20.030 was adopted in 2018). However, the Assistant City Clerk job description is included as Attachment 4.
4. Compare and contrast Police Chief and Assistant Police Chief duties;
The minimum qualifications of the Police Chief are that he/she is a resident and qualified elector of the City, and can exercise all powers as conferred upon sheriffs and police officers in the State. Assistant Police Chief’s duties are essentially to assist the Police Chief in the overall operation and command of the department and to act as the Police Chief in his/her absence. The position’s minimum qualifications require education equivalent to a Bachelor’s Degree in an approved field and must have held the rank of Lieutenant for two years (see Attachment 5).
a. What is the organizational structure of the Police Department?
See Attachment 6.
b. What are the Sheriff requirements mentioned in the Charter?
The current Charter Section 701.1 was adopted in 2000 (Measure I) and introduced the requirement that the Chief of Police be able to satisfy the state law qualification requirements imposed upon candidates for County Sheriff. Prior to the 2000 election, the only requirements were that the Chief of Police be a City resident and qualified registered voter. The requirements of the state law are not stringent. Government Code Section 24004.3 sets forth the requirements for County Sheriff as follows:
(1) An active or inactive advanced certificate issued by the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training.
(2) One year of full-time, salaried law enforcement experience, and possesses a master's degree from an accredited college or university.
(3) Two years of full-time, salaried law enforcement experience, and possesses a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university.
(4) Three years of full-time, salaried law enforcement experience, and possesses an associate in arts or associate in science degree, or the equivalent, from an accredited college.
(5) Four years of full-time, salaried law enforcement experience, and possesses a high school diploma or the equivalent.
The job description for Assistant Chief of Police is Attachment 5. Both an advanced certificate and a management certificate from POST are required and it is desirable to possess completion certificates from POST Supervisory Leadership Institute (SLI), FBI National Academy, or POST Command College.
c. What are POST requirements needed for Police Chief and are they different than Assistant Police Chief or other positions in the Department?
Pursuant to California state law and the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST), every person appointed to the position of chief of police, either as an interim or permanent appointment, must be a peace officer and must satisfy all the applicable peace officer selection standards. In addition, as a condition of continued employment, a chief of police must obtain the POST Basic Certificate within two years of appointment, if the individual does not possess the certificate. Certain persons are disqualified from holding the position of chief of police: persons convicted of a felony; persons convicted of an offense in any other jurisdiction which would be a felony in California; those adjudged by a court to be mentally incompetent, a mentally disordered sex offender, drug addicted or in danger of becoming drug addicted; and any person found not guilty of a felony by reason of insanity. (California Government Code Section 1029) These requirements would also apply to the Assistant Police Chief and anyone running for the elected office of Police Chief in the City.
5. Provide a compensation survey for City Clerk and Police Chief.
See Attachments 7 and 8.
6. What is the salary history of the Assistant City Clerk position?
Based upon the agenda reports and information provided to Council, there was no change to the Assistant City Clerk salary range as a result of allocating the duties to that position because it was already performing those functions and being paid a commensurate salary.
7. What do the Charter Review Committee minutes reflect regarding its consideration or justification for raising the salaries to $2000/$2500 in 2016?
Staff has reviewed the minutes from the 2016 Charter Review Committee meetings as well as the City Council meetings at which Measure O was placed on the ballot. The following discussion points are noted in the minutes relative to the bodies’ decisions to alter Mayor and Council salaries:
• Review of prior Charter section 702 (adopted in 2000) which set Council salary at $600/month and Mayor salary at $1000/month, with annual increases at CPI level, not to exceed 5% per year. By the time of the 2016 election, the Council was paid $855.27 and Mayor was paid $1425.47
• The Committee reviewed comparison of data for nearby cities: population, budget size (general fund) and salaries of its elected officials, as well as the time commitment involved with being a council member (see Argument in Favor of Measure O, drafted by members of the Charter Review Committee, Attachment 9)
• It was determined that the average Council salary was $1,500 in comparator agencies. Based upon the 67% difference between current Council and Mayor salary, the new Mayor salary should be $2500
• It was noted that payment to elected officials for attendance at other meetings (such as other Authorities) is limited by State law
• The final recommendation from the Charter Review Committee to Council was $1500/mo for Council members and $2500/mo for Mayor, with no limit on amounts of increases awarded by the Salary Setting Commission
The Council heard the Committee’s recommendation on July 12, 2016. A Council member commented that in 2000, the difference between Council and Mayor salary was only $400, so the delta should be similar (rather than $1000 delta proposed by the Committee). Upon further discussion it was proposed that monthly compensation would be set at $2,000 for Council members and $2500 for Mayor. It was also proposed that a 110% cap on increases in compensation should be included with language similar to that which existed in the 2000 version of charter section 702. The Council passed the motion, and the matter was placed on the ballot as Measure O.
a. What are the prior methods used to raise salaries of all positions: Mayor, Council, City Clerk, and Police Chief?
Since 2000, the Council and Mayor increases occurred based on CPI adjustments as described above. Staff is still researching this question with the intent of providing additional information at a future meeting, if needed.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The action being considered does not constitute a “project” within the meaning of the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines section 15378(b)(5) in that it is a governmental organizational or administrative activity that will not result in direct or indirect changes in the environment.
FISCAL IMPACT
Increased salary costs for the positions of Mayor, Council, and City Clerk could result in a maximum annual increase of up to approximately $19,800 for the next fiscal year; the maximum annual increase for the Police Chief is approximately $31,369. Any additional costs associated with approved salary increases will be incorporated in the development of future budgets.
COORDINATION
This report has been coordinated with the City Attorney’s Office and the Finance Department.
PUBLIC CONTACT
Public contact was made by posting the Commission agenda on the City’s official-notice bulletin board outside City Hall Council Chambers. A complete agenda packet is available on the City’s website and in the City Clerk’s Office at least 72 hours prior to a Regular Meeting and 24 hours prior to a Special Meeting. A hard copy of any agenda report may be requested by contacting the City Clerk’s Office at (408) 615-2220, email clerk@santaclaraca.gov <mailto:clerk@santaclaraca.gov> or at the public information desk at any City of Santa Clara public library.
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
Staff has no recommendation other than to encourage the Commission to consider the available responsive information and when ready, act to set the salaries of the Mayor, Council, City Clerk, and Police Chief.
Staff
Reviewed by: Teresia Zadroga-Haase, Director, Human Resources
Approved by: Nadine Nader, Assistant City Manager
ATTACHMENTS
1. Comparator Agency Information
2. Salary Survey, Mayor
3. Salary Survey, Council
4. Assistant City Clerk Job Description
5. Assistant Police Chief Job Description
6. Police Department Organizational Chart
7. Police Chief Salary Survey
8. City Clerk Salary Survey
9. Argument in Favor of Measure O