A proposal to add part-time administrative support for Antioch’s mayor and council members was postponed, with council members asking instead for the city to consider hiring interns.
Mayor Lamar Thorpe had proposed the new expenditure at a council meeting in mid-December, but the item was delayed to allow for three separate votes on the three part-time positions: one for the mayor, one for Districts 1 and 4; and one for Districts 2 and 3. At $18.53 to $25 an hour, the new positions would cost the city $45,000 to $65,000 annually, with money coming from the general fund.
Currently, the city manager’s secretary provides such help to the council and mayor. The new employees would help to prepare and file documents, keep records and perform receptionist duties, according to the staff report.
Residents had mixed reactions to the idea of the new positions at Friday’s special council meeting.
“I believe that if a council member works a full-time job somewhere else and has either underage children or a senior or somebody that they’re responsible for, then they should have the opportunity for an assistant to help with some of the city business,” Leslie May said.
Melissa Case said she was concerned because other city positions are unfilled.
“Why are we filling assistants when our other positions that we really need on city staff aren’t filled?”
Bur Edgar Martinez suggested the city consider creating internships instead of permanent positions.
“We have a local college here, Los Medanos, and I think that we need to give opportunities to students who are focused on … political science or whatever,” he said. “I mean, to help them get their foot in the door.”
Mayor ProTem Tamisha Torres-Walker agreed, though at first she had wanted a part-time secretary.
“This was my idea,” she said. “I was like, hey, this government has not caught up to the growth of this city. And there needs to be something done, and council people often need support to return those phone calls and those emails and attend those very important county, statewide and federal meetings, to be able to draw down resources to be able to govern effectively.”
However, she has since changed her mind, Torres-Walker said.
“The right direction will be internships,” she said. “It will be internships, not just because people might be upset that we create more positions – because more positions will be created, especially for a city that’s growing and in need of high-functioning government – but because they should be positions that young people and young adults who live in this city have an opportunity to become public policy interns or fellows to learn to work in local government.”
Though Antioch has never offered separate administrative support for the mayor or council members, a check of other similar-sized cities shows it’s not unusual. In Richmond, the mayor has a handful of assistants, while council members share one liaison but sometimes seek interns or part-time help.
In nearby Concord, the city council members and mayor receive support from the city manager’s administrative assistant but may temporarily hire more assistants to help, while in smaller-sized Brentwood, the council members and mayor get help from the city manager’s assistant.
Even so, Thorpe, who has worked with interns in the past, said he preferred a permanent position.
“We get them trained … but the frustrating thing is they (later) leave,” he said of the college interns.
City Attorney Thomas Smith pointed out, however, that there are legal differences between the secretary and intern positions, and the council agreed to revisit the matter once those nuances are laid out.
The council also briefly discussed a possible 16% council pay raise — 5% for each of four years — would take effect in 2025, but the item did not move forward.
The last time council members approved a raise was in 2019 – the first one in 13 years – which took effect in 2021, raising the salaries to $1,604 monthly. Each year the council must consider the matter according to city rules, the mayor said.
Thorpe was in favor of an increase, but Torres-Walker and Councilwoman Monica Wilson indicated they were not. Councilwoman Lori Ogorchock had previously voted against a raise and Councilman Mike Barbanica was absent.
Source: www.mercurynews.com