The open session of the meeting will begin at 6 p.m. in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive. TV 8 will broadcast the meeting live.
At 5 p.m. the council will convene for a closed session to discuss the Sierra Club lawsuit against the Clearlake Redevelopment Agency and KK Raphel Properties LLC regarding the city's proposed shopping center at the now-closed Pearce Field airport property on Highway 53
At the Thursday meeting the council will discuss the process for appointing a city treasurer, a position that city staff members have filled since 2006 in lieu of any candidates coming forward.
Another recruitment was held earlier this year and six community members applied, but last month the city council put off making an appointment after Council member Judy Thein raised concerns that the 30-year-old job description was out of date and needed to be reevaluated.
A report to the council from interim City Administrator Steve Albright explains that the city attorney has since researched the issue and determined that the city council cannot change the authority given to the treasurer under the California Government Code if the position continues to exist.
He reported that the vast majority of California's cities have eliminated city treasurer and city clerk positions and delegated them to professionally staffed positions. “The apparent reasons for doing so is to assure that persons who fulfill these responsibilities have certain knowledge, skills, experience, and training in these fields.”
Albright suggests three options in his report.
The first is to eliminate the elected position and make it an appointed spot, which would require a vote of the city's residence in the 2012 general election. The city council could then appoint someone to fill the job or the duties could be transferred to the county treasurer.
Albright's second option is to interview the six applicants and appoint one of them to serve the remainder of the current term, which ends in 2014.
Finally, he suggests the council could not fill the position but instead continue to appoint staff to cover it. While City Clerk Melissa Swanson is covering it on an interim basis, Albright said it's not reasonable to maintain that arrangement long-term, and suggests instead appointing the finance director to cover the position, as the treasurer's and finance director's responsibilities are parallel.
In other council business, council members will consider the South Shore Little League's request to pain the Redbud ballfield buildings, and also will receive reports on the Clearlake Police Department's grants and statistics, as well as a report on the Public Works Department.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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