Stockton mayor, city manager duel over who gets to control releasing public information

As the process of revisiting Stockton’s founding document inched forward this week — with a citizens’ panel suggesting changes that city councilmembers and possibly voters will decide — Stocktonians may be wondering: what's the point?

Since fall, council members have debated a seemingly obscure paragraph in the city charter regarding Stockton's public information officers.

But there's more to the debate than meets the eye.

It boils down to a decision about how much power the city manager and mayor should have over city staff and information. In November, council members formed a citizen board whose recommendations could be the first step in shifting that balance of power.

“I’m perfectly OK … for (the mayor) to have a spokesperson,” Councilmember Michael Blower said Thursday. “But to have a political person being in charge of the city (information) doesn’t make sense to me.”

Not everyone agrees.

Who speaks for the city?

More than 20 years ago, Stockton gave its mayors some power over official city communications.

Voters passed a ballot measure to shift authority over public information into the mayor's office. Then-mayor Gary Podesto campaigned for the change and other expansions to the mayor’s power.

The successful vote added new language to the city charter: “the Public Information Officer shall be under the direction and supervision of the Mayor.”

It wasn't the last time mayors would seek to reshape their office by amending the charter.

In 2013, former mayor Anthony Silva considered changing the charter to establish a “strong-mayor” government. And in 2016, voters passed an amendment permitting the mayor a three-person staff.

Stockton has a “city manager-mayor” system, in which a city manager approved by the council runs government operations. The mayor has limited authority beyond that of any other council member.

Today, the mayor and the city manager each have their avenue for communicating with the press and the public. Mayor Kevin Lincoln’s office has one public information officer who communicates the office's affairs.

City Manager Harry Black’s office has a community relations officer.

That person is “responsible for providing information to the public on all city services and programs," according to the job description. She also helps manage a number of city functions and operations, the description states.

What's at stake?

Some argue it violates the city charter for the community relations officer to do public information work. They further argue it undermines the intent of voters who passed the public information officer amendment in 2000.

“We voted for this. I voted for this,” Tracie Glaves, the mayor’s appointee to Stockton’s charter review commission, said at city hall Wednesday.

“To me, it’s a simple fix,” Motecuzoma Sanchez, founder of the 209 Times website and Councilmember Michele Padilla’s appointee, said.

Sanchez has been involved in charter debates before: in 2015, he was nominated to Stockton’s charter board by then-mayor Silva, though the council didn’t approve his seat. He's also been vocal online and at city council meetings about his opposition to the city manager.

“Just have the city manager comply with the charter language,” Sanchez said.

But the charter language may not be as straightforward as it seems.

No easy fix

A section of the charter describing the powers of the city council explicitly bars the mayor from giving orders to many city employees, including those under the city manager.

The rule could make it challenging for the mayor’s office to have sole authority to communicate with the public, as that would likely involve directing city employees to find information.

The same prohibition applies to city attorney, clerk, and auditor employees.

Beyond the charter, there are transparency concerns about handing control of the city’s public information function to an elected official potentially concerned about re-election or future political campaigns.

“I would like to see our information not be a political thing,” Gregory Bahr, Councilmember Michael Blower’s appointee to the charter board, said.

Power of information

The citizen board ultimately recommended that Stockton have two information officers: one for the mayor and one for the city manager, both enshrined in the charter.

That vote passed 5-1, with Councilmember Susan Lenz’s appointee voting no and Councilmember Dan Wright’s choice absent.

The recommendation now heads to a panel of three councilmembers — Lincoln, Padilla, and Wright — before heading to the full council. Any charter change the council proposes would then go to voters.

How the process may reshape who controls city information remains to be seen.

In the Wednesday vote, the citizen board also recommended examining what city materials the mayor’s public information officer may access.

It’s not immediately clear what the mayor’s public information officer or the city manager’s community relations officer each have access to currently.

“Coming up with some of this, I know the HR department is going to be involved,” Blower said. “There’s a lot of sensitive information. They know how best to deal with that.”

“Overall, I feel like we're moving in the right direction.”

Record reporter Aaron Leathley covers public safety. She can be reached at aleathley@recordnet.com or on Twitter @LeathleyAaron. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.

This article originally appeared on The Record: Stockton mayor, city manager duel over control of public information