Shall the City Clerk be elected or appointed

City of DeKalb Ballot Question (Nov. 6 election): Shall the City Clerk in the City of DeKalb, Illinois be selected by the City Manager with the advice and consent of the Mayor and City Council, rather than elected? YES or NO

Arguments for a YES vote…

Steve Kapitan served as 3rd Ward alderman from the late 1990s until 2005. His re-elections as alderman suggest he had a skill set for politics and had developed voter trust from his years on the city council.

In 2009, following the retirement of Donna Johnson, Kapitan won a crowded contest for city clerk. But he abruptly resigned from the elected position reportedly because he couldn’t take, transcribe and/or produce minutes for closed session meetings. He evidently did not possess the clerical skills to take minutes and most importantly he lacked the management skills required to delegate those responsibilities to clerical support staff. He succumbed to neocracy (politics) in allowing his staffing budget to be cut a full time position just after his election before he had acquired working knowledge or experience of the office.

When Kapitan resigned he received some $10,000 — the equivalent of two months’ severance pay plus continuation of benefits. The unconditional resignation included among other conditions that Kapitan and the City of DeKalb zip their lips about the details of his departure.

That’s a pretty strong example for why the city clerk position should be appointed and not elected.

Arguments for a NO vote…

During the late Frank Van Buer’s midterm as DeKalb mayor he spearheaded a similar referendum to appoint the city clerk failed by a wide margin. Frank was so popular they named a $16 million downtown plaza after him yet voters overwhelmingly rejected changing the elected city clerk to one hired by the city manager. Why?

Trust but verify. That sums up the purpose of the city clerk. The duties of the clerk provides taxpayers with verification that their elected and appointed officials are fulfilling their obligations in public trust. An elected clerk is held accountable to the trust of the voters. An appointed clerk is held accountable by their boss, the city manager, in that form of municipal government.

After Kapitan’s resignation an accelerated agenda to transfer the duties and control of the city clerk position to the city manager whisked through the city council. Without an elected city clerk to represent the office the city council voted to place the clerk’s support personnel under the city manager’s direction. Licking their wounds from the public backlash over the silence clause and the two month salary package of about $10,165 plus continuation of benefits extended to Kapitan the mayor and council slashed  the salary for the city clerk position from an annual salary of around $61,001 plus benefits to $5,000 with no benefits.

The ballot initiative was approved with the understanding and somewhat of a consensus that if the referendum for the city manager to appoint the city clerk passed the position would need to be paid at a rate likely higher than the FY2012 level of $61,001 plus benefits. But if the referendum failed only an idiot would run for the office. It takes as many signatures to run for city clerk as it does for mayor.  And aldermen who need fewer than 16 signatures to get on the ballot reduced the city clerk’s annual salary to less than half of the two month severance package they gave to Kapitan?

Who provides taxpayers with better verification and transparency, a clerk held accountable by voters or one hired and fired by the city manager? Trust but verify.

Did you know:

Summarized, these provisions require the clerk to keep a correct list of all outstanding bonds, showing number and amount of each, and for what and to whom the bonds were issued. These records must also indicate if such bonds are purchased, paid, or cancelled. — Duties of the Municipal Clerk by THOMAS A. MATTHEWS, J. D., Legal Consultant, Illinois Municipal League