HomeMy WebLinkAbout01 03 05 John WhitePaper
Charter Review Committee
White Paper on Election vs. Appointment of City Recorder and Municipal Judge
Date: January 2005
Sub Committee Member(s): Kate Culbertson, John Enders
Issue Statement:
Should the City Recorder and the Municipal Judge continue to be elective positions, or should
Corollary Issue
the charter be amended to make them appointive positions? (: Should the
formula for computing salaries of both public officials be removed from the charter?)
Background:
Recorder: Election of city recorders formerly was more commonplace. The Ashland City
Recorder is the city “clerk,” and also the city “treasurer.” S/he ensures that public meetings and
records laws are followed, proper administrative processes followed, oversees banking and
handling of cash and investments for the city, and ensures city officials perform under municipal
contracts. S/he also is the city elections officer. While under state law the organization of and the
counting of votes in elections are performed by the County Clerk, the City Recorder handles the
filing/nominating process for electoral office. Under the present City Charter, the City Recorder
is the only fulltime elected city official.
Election of the City Recorder has often been viewed as providing citizens an official independent
of the City Council, Mayor and Administration to whom they can communicate concerns or
address complaints. Such independence allows the recorder to be free of political interference or
pressures from other city officials; s/he answers only to the voters. Although it is not a part of the
City Charter, the current mayor has allowed the present City Recorder to occasionally look into
citizen complaints regarding the city council and/or staff, effectively making the recorder the
city’s defact “ombudsman.” The citizens and the committee may wish to address this matter in
the charter regarding the powers of the City Recorder.
Judge: The election of city judge in a small city is rare, if not unique. The Ashland Municipal
Judge hears cases involving all misdemeanors not associated with felonies, and infractions of
city ordinances. The term is four years, and commonly the post is held by a practicing attorney.
There is no requirement that the Municipal Judge be a resident of the city; that could be an issue
the citizens of Ashland would want to examine.
Salaries: Salaries of both elected officials are set under a formula set in the charter. They use
1974 as the base year and are to increase annually based on the “average” increase for other
supervisory staff. The City Recorder’s salary in 2005 is ___________________. The Municipal
Judge’s salary in 2005 is _________________.
Pros and Cons:
City Recorder:
Pros— The City Recorder’s term is four years; city recorders frequently learn on-the-job. An
elected City Recorder may take time to come “up to speed,” but there is no graduate school for
recorders. It’s mostly on-the-job training. The present recorder believes that an elected City
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Recorder gives citizens an important place where they can have input, free from the current
Administration and staff.
Cons—The City Recorder position is more administrative and clerical today than in the past;
more developed skills and expertise are required. The Recorder develops a constituency of
friends and allies, and attempting to change the position to an appointive one can lead to
significant opposition. In the worst case, the recorder can be a partisan official who divides the
city administration. There also is the possibility in the future that an unqualified or inappropriate
candidate for the position would seek and obtain the position. Appointment of a City Recorder
could allow the appointing official or body to find a professionally trained recorder.
Municipal Judge:
Pros: Election of the Municipal Judge provides for a separation of powers of the judicial branch
of city government from the executive (mayor) and legislative branches (council). An elected
Judge connects the city to its citizens; local minor offenses are heard locally, and the community
retains more control over the justice meted out to its citizens. Justice is based on local
“community standards,” which can vary dramatically between communities. The state court
system is overburdened and could not properly absorb the extra load. An elected Judge is not
beholden to any mayor or council, and can rule based on the law, not on political or police
pressures. (Example: Tree-sitting and/or nudity ordinances).
Cons: The municipal judge hears relatively minor cases. The current charter also does not require
the judge to be a resident of the city. His/her work could be done by a circuit judge (state) or a
justice of the peace (county). There also is the possibility in the future that an unqualified or
inappropriate candidate for the position would seek and obtain the position.
(Salary issue: Retaining the salary formula in the charter allows the recorder and the judge to be
independent from the mayor and council. If the salaries were set by the budget committee, it
would undermine the political independence of those two officials).
Budget Implications:
If the municipal judge’s judicial workload were taken over by the
county courts, the city could reduce its expenses, unless the county charged back to the city the
judicial costs. There are no apparent budgetary differences in whether the municipal judge and
recorder are appointive versus elected; presumably their salaries would be the same in either
case. The election of both officials, however, adds an additional electoral expense for the city.
The cost of electing the city recorder every four years is _______________. The cost of electing
the municipal judge every four years is ______________.
Summary:
The Charter Committee should decide whether to recommend leaving the City Recorder
and Municipal Judge as elected positions and having that clearly defined in a new City Charter,
leaving them as elected officials but not so defined by the charter, or recommending a change to
appointive positions. There also is the possibility of contracting with the county to handle
municipal court cases, effectively abolishing the judgeship. The committee also should deliberate
and hear input on whether one or both positions, if they are changed to appointive, should be
filled by the mayor and council or by the city administrator/manager.
Regarding salaries, the committee should examine the possibility of establishing a new
formula for determining City Recorder and Municipal Judge salary levels.
Resources consulted:
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Model Charter, National Civic League; Model Charter, League of Oregon Cities; Roy
Bashaw; Kathy Shaw; Brian Almquist; Alan Drescher; Barbara Christensen, etc.
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