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Salary cut sparks outrage by former Daly City Clerk
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2009 Daly City City Council
The fallout from the recent "Pay-gate" scandal in Daly City has generated the following letter from former Daly City Clerk Helen Flowerday, who served for eight years. She raised concerns about the questionable actions of the present City Council members, Carol L. Klatt, David J. Canepa, Maggie Gomez, and Vice Mayor Michael P. Guingona and Mayor Gonzalo “Sal” Torres. The letter below may provide some insight into the matter from a former Daly elected official.
-Bruce Balshone
Contact Bruce at bruce.examiner@gmail.com
As a former Daly City Clerk, I am upset by the Council’s shameful attack on the Office of the City Clerk. Annette Hipona was elected City Clerk last November, and the Council recently decided that her salary should be reduced by over one-half.
While it pains me to point it out, all five members of the City Council endorsed Mrs. Hipona’s opponent in the Clerk’s election. Now that Mrs. Hipona occupies the office, the Council appears to be trying to take it out on her by a large reduction of her salary. This is deja-vu! When I was elected City Clerk in 1996 (over the Councils' favored candidate), the City Council cut the Clerk's salary drastically.
This sort of political reprisal is embarrassing and inappropriate, not only because it has at its purpose, undermining the effectiveness and independence of the City Clerk’s Office, but also because it injects the kind of ugly politics that we all want kept away from the day to day operations of our government.
Mrs. Hipona was elected by the Daly City voters by a nearly two-thirds margin. This is a clear declaration of our faith in her abilities. The largest city in San Mateo County is now home to the lowest paid Clerk in the County, which is completely at odds with the responsibilities that come with the post. In fact, she is also the lowest paid employee in the department that she is in charge of.
We, the people of Daly City, are in trouble if the position of City Clerk goes from being the head of an impartial city department that is free to function independently from political whims of the Council to an isolated underfunded job with its support staff left to answer to someone outside the department.
The City Clerk is chosen by the voters to be an advocate for their right to public information, to run fair and impartial elections, to keep accurate record of Council’s decisions, to record, archive, and protect city documents, and to provide the primary means of communication between the people of Daly City and their City Government.
The City Clerk exists to protect our public interest. The strength of that protection is under attack when the City Manager recommends and the Council unanimously votes to permanently cut the City Clerk’s salary in half without a single word of explanation or discussion.
I ask my fellow citizens of Daly City to make your voices heard on this important issue. Please write or call them to let them know that they should not continue to take out their disappointment on the newly elected City Clerk.
Helen Flowerday
Daly City City Clerk 1996 – 2003
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