BROOKINGS – The Brookings City Council decided Tuesday to not change the city charter regarding the appointing of a city clerk, but the topic could come back in the future.

The hot debate surrounding Hobo Day 2020 falling on Halloween has also hit city hall, but the city has no say in the matter, according to Mayor Keith Corbett. 

The Hobo Day topic came up in the SDSU Student Association report by Hattie Seten, chair of government affairs, when she mentioned that the group has discussed the event is set Oct. 31.

Corbett joked with Seten, asking if he could refer all the people calling and emailing him about Hobo Day 2020 to her. She replied that the Hobo Day Committee does not choose the date.

“That ends up being a university decision,” Seten said, adding that the football schedule only has two home games in October 2020, which is the Halloween game and the game versus the University of South Dakota on Oct. 10.

“We’re getting the calls, too, and the city has no control over that,” Corbett said. “But we’re certainly sharing the president’s (Barry Dunn) phone number.”

City clerk process

City Attorney Steve Britzman explained the proposed ordinance to change the city charter to allow the city clerk to be appointed by the city manager.

“Once an ordinance is adopted, such as this particular ordinance, which purports to change the charter, then it would be submitted to a public vote,” Britzman said.

Tim Reed spoke as a citizen of Brookings. He was on the Brookings City Council for 13 years, eight as mayor. He now serves in the state House of Representatives.

“I’m asking you not to abdicate your responsibilities because of a one-time issue,” Reed said. “And also to the full community: you don’t have a knee-jerk reaction because of the recent process.”

He suggested folks take a look at the responsibilities of the city clerk and ask if the person filling that role should be chosen by the city manager or the people’s elected representatives, i.e. the council members.

He said the city manager having responsibility for all staff is important under the city manager form of government, “and the council should never micro-manage him, especially with his staff. You should judge him and not his staff,” Reed said.

“But the city clerk is, and should continue to be, the council’s staff,” Reed said.

Many of the city clerk’s responsibilities are given in state law, he pointed out.

One of the most important is the city clerk’s role in elections, he added.

“Now, the person that oversees elections, should that person report to the city manager or to an elected body? I think you really have to consider that. ’Cause elections are of the people. Their representatives should be the one managing that process,” Reed said.

“The city clerk also counter-signs warrants and checks. They’re the holder of the city seal. So the city clerk makes your actions as a council and documents official with that seal,” he said.

The city clerk is responsible for different licenses, “that’s authority that’s given by the council to the city clerk,” Reed said.

“And one of the main things that they’re responsible for is publishing the council agenda, minutes and other notices and publications. That’s not the city manager’s work, that’s the council’s work,” he said.

He pointed out different sections of the city charter that say the council can’t interfere with an appointment made by a city officer such as the city manager. That means if the city manager appoints the city clerk, “you have no say on firing that person or who’s hired,” Reed said. “You lose your power there.”

Another section says if the city clerk is subject to the city manager, the council can only deal with the city clerk through the city manager and can’t issue orders to the city clerk “either publicly or privately. So you lose your control,” Reed said.

“With this change, you won’t be able to direct the work of the city clerk and that person is your resource,” Reed said. “You think about all the things that they’re responsible for. So I’m here to ask that you don’t abdicate that responsibility. You should be responsible for the actions of the city clerk because they’re your actions.”

Council comments

Councilor Leah Brink read a statement. 

“I think our city charter was thoughtfully designed with the separation of powers built into the system. The council makes policy decisions, city manager implements them, and the city clerk owns and runs a lot of the processes used in the proper functioning of our municipal government,” Brink said.

“In order to do our job, the city council must have direct relationships with our city manager, with our city attorney and with our city clerk. We begin those relationships through the selection and hiring process of these important roles,” she said.

“The clerk is the local official who administers our democratic processes and is often the first and most direct link between the people and the government,” Brink said.

“For American cities with the city manager/council form of government, more cities have their councils appoint their clerk than any other way, including by the chief administrator or city manager. So our current system has more precedent for it than this proposed change,” Brink said.

If the city clerk disagrees with the city manager based on law or precedent, “that’s harder to do when you report to one individual,” she pointed out.

Keeping things the way it is now protects the city from corruption, Brink said. Leaving the system in place “keeps us running smoothly and allows for checks and balances in our system,” she added.

Councilor Dan Hansen said he asked that the topic be put on the agenda for discussion due to the outpouring of public opinion the council members received during the search for a permanent city clerk.

“I think it’s important that we had tonight’s process; if nothing else to allow people who were concerned about this another opportunity to come in front of the council and voice their concerns publicly,” Hansen said, adding he was disappointed that only former Mayor Reed took that opportunity.

“Ultimately my disappointment with the process is that I feel like it got way too political. And I don’t think that this process should be political in nature. We’re trying to hire the best person and I don’t know that was always in the forefront of everybody’s mind as we moved through the process,” Hansen said.

Future topic

Hansen said there was a shortcoming in the current process and the council might want to look into that in the future.

“The way it currently works is we appoint the city clerk, but we don’t evaluate the city clerk, we don’t assess him or her on their daily activities, how they do their job, we don’t provide them feedback in a written way, we don’t affect whether they get a raise, we don’t have a say on whether or not they’re put on probation or any other type of HR direction that’s taken,” Hansen said.

Does the city clerk feel he or she can speak up to the city manager “if they know ultimately the city manager’s the one filling out their evaluation, or if the city manager can put them on leave without council approval?” Hansen asked.

“Yes, we may appoint the city clerk, but really after that, how much role do we actually play in their job from a day-to-day function outside of the things we ask them to do or they’re required to do through charter?” Hansen said.

Corbett said how the city clerk is evaluated has been discussed by the council in the past and has been a current topic between himself and City Manager Paul Briseno.

Councilor Ope Niemeyer said he and Corbett have discussed the fact that the council appoints the city clerk, city attorney and city manager, but only evaluate the city manager and decide whether to re-appoint the lawyer.

“We really by rights should have the opportunity to do the evaluation for the city clerk. So I think that’s a discussion we need to have in the future and see how that can be changed, ’cause it seems odd that we aren’t doing the evaluation,” Niemeyer said.

The council voted to not change the charter, defeating the amendment unanimously.

Contact Jodelle Greiner at jgreiner@brookingsregister.com.