City Hall insiders have proved that what Sacramento needs is Mayor Flojaune Cofer | Opinion

An obscure measure on the March ballot called Measure C is a timely illustration of why the culture at Sacramento City Hall is badly in need of a reset.

Measure C seeks to increase the business operations tax by about 75% over time, but that’s not why we believe voters should reject it. The city violated the letter and spirit of a transparency requirement for Measure C within its own charter, the rules that are supposed to govern Sacramento. Measure C ended up on the ballot without an argument against it, the city saying that is the fault of opponents rather than its flawed noticing.

Since The Bee Editorial Board brought this issue to the attention of city leaders, Mayor Darrell Steinberg has admitted they made a mistake while staff move forward with Measure C anyways. That’s why we oppose it.

The same city leaders trying to justify their actions on Measure C also violated the Brown Act as they placed on a Dec. 12 agenda with scant notice a preposterous raise for City Manager Howard Chan. The action was rescinded and is now in limbo. The city manager recommended large raises for city employees in December and just weeks later, he told the council that the city couldn’t afford them.

Why didn’t one member of the council or one city charter officer pump the brakes on violating the Brown Act back in December? Why didn’t Chan say in that December meeting that the city couldn’t afford the raises they were about to give? And why is Steinberg admitting a mistake on Measure C while also suggesting that media critics are “confused”?

We could cite other examples of flawed decision-making among Sacramento leaders, but there is the bigger point to make here. We believe that the remedy for Sacramento City Hall is fresh leadership. That’s why The Bee Editorial Board endorsed Flojaune Cofer for mayor.

Opinion

Though she faces three veteran politicians in her candidacy for mayor, Cofer offers the most sober assessment of what is needed in Sacramento. She stands alone as the public advocate who understands the issues and knows the players at city hall but isn’t of city hall.

“I have often felt blindsided by things that were happening (at city hall), and I consider myself fairly aware,” Cofer said. “What I hear time and time again from people is that they don’t know about things (because) most people are not eat-sleep-breathing local government the way these elected officials are. We need to slow down.”

Cofer remembers when the city held an emergency meeting in July of 2021 to establish the Department of Community Response, which deploys specialists to help unhoused residents and oversees the city’s homelessness services. It was the creation of an entirely new department, yet the public had barely any notice at all — and their comment time was cut to just two minutes.

“We only got 24 hours notice,” Cofer said. “Nothing that was done there was illegal, but the looming perception is that we weren’t included, that we weren’t appreciated and anything we had to add was a hindrance.”

If Cofer becomes mayor, that perception looks to change.

The standard process at the city is to “keep things very close to the vest and then share them at the last minute so there’s limited opportunity for amendments or input,” she said.

“I recognize that change is hard, but if you want things to be successful, you have to offer opportunities for people to be involved, to have a role, voice their concerns and make your initial idea better.”

The city may think it’s governing by the book, but if the public feels left out, then what’s technically legal — or a blatant violation, in the case of Measure C — just isn’t cutting it for Sacramento, she said.

“I’m really committed to ... shifting the way we make decisions so that even if we do things by law, people don’t feel like they weren’t included,” she said.

That kind of outreach boosts people’s willingness to participate in their government. Cofer believes more community outreach is within the power of the mayor’s office, even if it doesn’t have the “strong mayor” title that allows this leader to singularly hire and fire top managers.

“There’s a lot that the mayor’s office can do that can yield dividends that aren’t just policy,” Cofer said. “It’s also culture-setting and offering the opportunities for collaboration and outreach. That does not require five votes, it just requires someone with the will and desire to do that work.”

As we said in our endorsement editorial, in a field of aspirants loudly calling for change, Cofer is the one most likely to bring it. She has the most potential to dramatically transform the Sacramento political landscape in the next four years, and that landscape desperately needs transformation.

Given the Measure C mess that has unfolded since our endorsement of Cofer, the need for change has grown greater than ever. Measure C deserves to fail because the city flunked a pretty minimal transparency test. This is not a tax increase miraculously without any opposition, which is the illusion of this flawed ballot.

The first step toward ending the city’s pattern of information control is for top leaders to recognize the problem. Cofer sees it clear as day, and the heavy dose of sunshine she would bring to city hall is precisely what Sacramento needs.

Vote yes for Flojaune Cofer for mayor. Vote no on Measure C.

Coming next: The city clerk and city attorney