By Megan Ma

Following the recommendation of Mayor Ron Packard and Councilwoman Val Carpenter the Los Altos City Council voted to invoke a state government code that allows the council to appoint the city clerk. Currently, the city manager appoints the city clerk, now Susan Kitchens, who is considered part of the city staff. The council appoints the two other members of its staff - the city manager and the city attorney - through the code.

Packard, a former mayor of Mountain View, said the city councils in Palo Alto, Mountain View and San Jose appoint their city clerks. In his experience, he said, city councils work far more closely with city clerks than do city managers, “even though their respective functions are completely different.”

In a memo to the Los Altos council, Packard wrote that the change should not reflect dissatisfaction with the performance of the “competent” city manager or the “excellent and experienced” city clerk.

“I simply believe that more independence of the city clerk will provide a healthier mix between city hall and the council regardless of who holds those positions,” he said.

The change in who appoints the city clerk would have very little impact on the public, Packard said, but the slight shakeup does reflect “internal politics.”

Carpenter said she agreed that the city clerk’s independence from city staff would be beneficial for working relationships.