CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake City Council voted unanimously Thursday night to change from a city administrator-led government to the council-manager form.

Council members agreed that it was the time to make the change in order to improve city operations.

The council-manager form is used by the city of Lakeport, which instituted it in by ordinance in 2000 and hired its first city manager in 2001.

In a council-manager government, council sets policy and the city manager carries it out, oversees city operations and is responsible for hiring department heads, with the exception of the city attorney position.

In the current administrator format, major hiring decisions are at the council’s discretion, and the administrator carries out city operations at the council’s direction.

Council member Judy Thein said Tuesday that Clearlake initially had a city manager but changed to city administrators because previous councils felt the city manager held too much power.

“Years have passed and the proof is in the pudding,” she said.

The council initially discussed the matter at its Feb. 23 meeting, but held over making a decision so city staff could review government code language about hiring responsibilities.

Specifically, interim City Administrator Joan Phillipe said Government Code Section 34856 explains that a city manager “may” be responsible for hiring department head positions such as the police chief, but that the council could retain those decisions if it chose to do so.

Phillipe said she believed that issue of hiring responsibility was the outstanding question from the Feb. 23 meeting.

“This is really kind of a housekeeping measure,” she said, noting that city code currently is not definitive in the hiring area.

Thein shared information about the city manager form of government, which she said combines strong political leadership in the form of elected officials with a strong manager. She quoted statistics that said the council-manager form is used by 3,000 governments representing 71 million Americans.

Since the early 1980s, Clearlake has had a city administrator form of government, but had a city manager at one time, she said.

Thein said times change, and maybe the city should, too.

“As with many things, old habits are hard to break,” Thein said.

She said the council can’t micromanage the city manager. “Our role is to provide policy for the city manager.”

The buck would stop with the city manager, and if the council wasn’t happy with its manager, then that is what evaluations and closed sessions are for, said Thein.

She warned that if the council wants to micromanage, it’s setting itself up for defeat.

“Personally, for me, I’m ready to make that change,” and allow Phillipe to take over the reins as city manager, Thein said.

Chuck Leonard, who retired from the council at the end of 2010, said it was his opinion that the hiring and firing of department heads belongs to the elected council members. He said the city has had some city administrators that he was glad weren’t city managers.

County Supervisor Jeff Smith also questioned the move to the council-manager form. He explained that the Board of Supervisors hires and fires every department head.

Smith was reluctant to see the council give up hiring control, as he worried that a future city manager could start dismissing people for no reason. Thein responded that the council could retain the power of hiring and firing decisions.

Vice Mayor Jeri Spittler said she had thought about the matter since the Feb. 23 meeting, during which the council hosted a heated discussion on offering interim Clearlake Police Chief Craig Clausen the job permanently. The majority of the council ultimately did so over Spittler’s objections.

Spittler said that she never wanted to put a council member through what she went through at that meeting two weeks ago.

“At this point I’m for management,” she said.

Mayor Joey Luiz also favored the conversion. “We’ve done a lot of hiring this year.”

Thein moved to direct city staff to draft the appropriate ordinance and bring it back at an upcoming meeting. The council approved the motion 5-0.

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