Institute reforms to prevent future corruption

By Rita R. Boggs

A number of reforms need to be instituted in the process by which the city operates so as to avoid the kind of corruption we have seen in the last few years.

According to California state law, in a general law city where there is an elected mayor, the mayor has the right to name all the commissioners. The way this affects the operation of the Planning Commission is very important. Up until now, the Mayor has named the majority of the commissioners with the remaining Council members naming the rest (one each Council member). In my mind this gives too much power to the Mayor.

I would suggest we strongly consider becoming a charter city where we can decide how this should be dealt with. Further, if the residents wish to institute term limits, we would need to be a charter city. Finally, if we wish to initiate clean money campaign reform, we would need to be a charter city. Campaign finance reform will be discussed further down.

For those who would be concerned about such things as the Council paying itself too much or losing the requirement for using prevailing wages on redevelopment projects, I would alleviate those concerns simply by requiring that both of these things be included in the Charter in a way which requires them to parallel the general law city requirement.