03/10/2008: "Rose Asked To Assume Management Of Council Staff"

SJC Manger Pete Rose has assumed the day to day management of Council Clerk, and by extension, the Council office and staff. In a split vote, with Lichter and Myhr opposed, the Council approved a motion by Ranker to “ask the County Administrator to consider” assuming the new responsibly.

The action followed an executive session by the Council to hold an employee performance evaluation, and after coming out of the meeting a motion was quickly made by Councilman Myhr (seconded by Lichter) to accept the resignation of the Council Clerk Laura Tuttle. The vote was unanimous.

Human Resources Pamela Morais then appeared before the Council to discuss how a sharing of responsibilities for the management and “supervision” of the Council Clerk could be structured if the Council decided to turn it over to Rose.

Councilman Ranker made a motion, with a second from Peterson, to move forward with a proposal for Rose to assume the management of the Clerk. Councilman Bob Myhr was adamantly opposed, and spoke forcefully against giving up anymore administrative power to the Administrator, citing his concerns with separation of power issues.

Council Chair Rosenfeld suggested they include a sunset clause, which would force the review of the action. Lichter joined in with Myhr by expressing his concerns that the change would be unworkable, and stated there would be a contradiction in making the change, but did not state the reasons for his opinion.

Councilman Peterson took the pragmatic approach by stating the question on the floor is “do we want to transfer supervision?”

Myhr made a last attempt to sway the vote by warning there were potential issues that could be “disastrous.” The question was then called and the vote was four to two to transfer the administration duties to Rose.