Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
A proposal to make the city clerk an appointed rather than an elected office died quickly in the council recently.
After much back and forth on the issue, the vote was 3-2 to keep the position elected on Tuesday evening, April 4.
The idea was to put the proposal to voters in the coming election for them to decide if they preferred to have the city clerk, and possibly the police chief, remain elected positions or make them appointed, to serve at the will of the council.
City Attorney Bruce Leinback raised the issue, explaining that the proposal stemmed from the recently learned knowledge that City Clerk Emily Anderson is not eligible for the state pension fund because of the elective nature of her office.
Monticello, Leinback said, was one of a few remaining municipalities that still elected their city clerk and chief of police.
“Most municipalities appoint their city clerk and chief,” Leinback said.
The problem, he said, arose because of the state retirement system, which makes it difficult and costly for an elected official to participate in its pension fund. Leinback reminded the council of the recent discussions of how costly it would be to make the clerk part of the state program.
The issue, he said, didn’t so much affect the chief of police, as the latter has a pension via the police retirement fund. But such was not the case for the clerk, he said.
“It would be extremely costly to have the clerk be part of the state retirement fund,” Leinback said. “If appointed, however, it would be must easier and less costly. That’s what started this discussion.”
Such a change, however, would require a charter change, he said. Which meant that it would require voters’ approval, he said.
Councilman Troy Avera said his preference was to leave the position an elected one, but he also had no problem leaving it to the voters to decide.
He pointed that currently the clerk also served as the comptroller, when in actuality the two should be separate functions. That said, he followed with a motion to put the issue on the ballot, which motion Councilwoman Julie Conley seconded.
Longtime Councilman John Jones, however, reminded the council that the idea to make the two offices appointed had been put to the voters in 1995 and they had soundly rejected it.
Maybe the voters had since changed their minds, given the change in population, he said. But he believed that like then, people still wanted to have a direct say in who filled the two positions.
When it came to a vote, the council split 2-2, with Mayor Gloria Cox wavering. After a minute or so of indecision, however, she cast her vote to keep the office an elective one.