How a change in Oakland’s laws would shift Mayor Barbara Lee’s powers

OAKLAND As the story goes former Mayor Jerry Brown had a plaque on his desk during his first months in Oakland s top political office that directed anyone stopping by to instead speak to the city manager who handled the local regime s daily operations The anecdote dovetails with one of Brown s bulk crucial moves in his eight-year mayoral tenure persuading voters in to change Oakland s laws so that the mayor could skip City Council meetings and run the executive separately The amendment to the city charter also gave Brown along with future mayors the ability to hire and fire City Hall s top official which in contemporary times is the city administrator Nearly three decades later Mayor Barbara Lee a political figure with similar name recognition has begun a shortened term in which she has promised to re-examine the mayor-council power dynamic that controls much of how Oakland is governed Voters once again would need to decide on Lee s eventual proposal which may be influenced by a citizen campaign that has declared the current system of governance broken as it gives mayors no legislative power while separating them from the council The campaign the Oakland Charter Revision Project led by former City Administrator Steve Falk has now settled on a specific recommendation after months of studying the issue In a new analysis they call for Oakland s mayor to return to leading council meetings and casting just a single vote like a regular member of what is at this time an eight-person body In addition the council would collectively hire and fire not just the city administrator but also the city attorney which in the present is an elected position Oakland mayoral candidate Jerry Brown interacts with local residents at the Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Oakland Saturday April Brown spent the day talking and listening to small groups of the voting population around Oakland Kendra Luck Bay Area News Group Archives Kendra Luck Bay Area News Group Archives Oaklanders the group writes would benefit from the expertise of a dependable and professional city manager who is selected and supervised by the entire City Council thus working for all of the people of Oakland There s no indication of whether Lee will take up the group s advice but the new mayor is expected to meet privately with Falk in the coming days to discuss his group s findings Largest part cities have specific version of either a strong mayor who can propose laws and veto council decisions or a weak mayor who is often more akin to what is known as a council-manager San Francisco is the popular example in California of a strong-mayor system though New York City gives its mayor even more control over the city s various agencies It is one reason why those big-city mayors come to resemble political celebrities San Jose has a council-manager setup which certain have argued creates more long-term stability in a administration by de-centering a single individual in major decisions A city administrator would be a hard job if every scarce years you have a new mayor who wants to make sweeping changes and replace all the leadership explained Nick Kaspar a former chief of staff to San Jose City Councilmember Maya Esparza who served until Newly elected Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee arrives at her swearing-in ceremony at City Hall in Oakland Calif on Tuesday May Dai Sugano Bay Area News Group Dai Sugano Bay Area News Group He right now does the same job for a council member in Long Beach a city whose strong mayor can veto the council s decisions though the elected body can also override a veto by two-thirds vote In its latest assessment Falk s group notes that Long Beach is one of six cities among California s largest that grant veto power to their mayors The group does not take a formal stance on whether Oakland should follow suit but there s an obvious reason why Brown never pursued it for himself Jerry Brown knew that putting veto power into the ballot proposal would ostensibly sink it because the inhabitants was not likely to patronage that declared former City Manager Henry Gardner who noted that two previous Oakland mayors had unsuccessfully sought to have voters amend the city charter Right now Oakland s mayor alone controls the administrator and police chief s job protection But the mayor otherwise has no legislative power except to break ties in deadlocked council votes The split governance appeared to create divisions between the last two mayoral administrations and the councils at the time But authorities from Brown s mayoral tenure which took place from to and between his two stints as California s governor still defend the move At the end of the day the buck has to stop somewhere Ignacio De La Fuente who served as the council s president when Brown was mayor declared in an interview The mayor has got to be the person accountable Oakland City administrator Jestin Johnson during a press conference on Tuesday July Shomik Mukherjee Bay Area News Group Shomik Mukherjee Bay Area News Group Meanwhile Oakland is among a small handful of California governments to elect a city attorney Falk s group contends that Oakland s dual powers of mayor and council often conflict with the interests of the attorney s office which represents both parties The political nature of the office came into full display during last November s polling in which winning candidate Ryan Richardson went up against an opponent who had openly backed and even formerly led the movement to recall Sheng Thao the ex-mayor ousted November The race became a flashpoint of how toxic Oakland s politics can become Falk s group believes that should change And others attest to alternative styles of regime offering far more balance It s just a little bit less political in nature Kaspar explained of San Jose s city leadership A council can sustain waves of pressure a lot easier than if you re a single person Shomik Mukherjee is a reporter covering Oakland Call or text him at - - or email him at shomik bayareanewsgroup com