Mayor Kevin Johnson’s latest strong mayor proposal drew strong reactions from a councilwoman and members of the public even though it was not officially on the City Council agenda.

Johnson’s new strong mayor package was taken off the agenda Tuesday night without explanation from city officials.

Even though the proposal was pulled from the meeting, the council heard comments from several members of the public, pro and con.

Then, Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy spoke of her opposition to Johnson’s plan.

“I think the entire city is suffering from a case of strong mayor fatigue,” she said, adding that the city needs to stop focusing on the issue of a strong mayor form of government. Sheedy suggested focusing instead on the city’s budget and problems with its Utilities and Community Development departments.

Trisha Flynn, an owner of Chops Steakhouse downtown, spoke in favor of Johnson’s proposal, calling the City Council “slow-moving” and “antiquated.”

Carolyn Veal-Hunter also supported Johnson’s plan. “The voters want to be heard in June,” she said.

Meanwhile, Bill Camp, the plaintiff who challenged the original strong mayor initiative in Sacramento Superior Court, said he wanted to see “adequate public vetting” of the new plan.

Matt Kelly, an opponent of Johnson’s original strong mayor initiative, was skeptical about the two-week timeline to complete the proposal.  

The proposal is on a two-week timeline because the City Council has a Feb. 23 administrative deadline to complete the measure. The Feb. 23 deadline is for measures that will be placed on the June ballot.

Kelly said two weeks to complete the proposal was “a bit sudden.”

Johnson provided specifics on his new plan at a press conference Tuesday. The mayor said he has ideas but the proposal has not yet been written.

“Yes, we have two weeks left before this has to be on the ballot,” Johnson said. “But this has been debated in our community at a minimum over the last nine (or) ten months, and certainly while I was campaigning.”

Under the new proposal, the mayor would maintain three main elements of the original plan, Johnson said. The new plan would enable the mayor to propose the budget; hire and fire “key personnel”; and have veto powers over specific items. The council would have the power to override the mayor’s veto, he said.

Johnson also said he plans to make key changes. The mayor would not appoint the city attorney and certain city officials. However, the mayor still would appoint the city manager.

Johnson noted that he wants to add language specifying that the mayor’s hiring powers would not extend to all city employees who are not represented by unions. The city’s charter review committee said the original initiative would have allowed the mayor to hire about 800 employees.

Johnson further said he wants to include other elements in the measure, including language creating term limits, an ethics committee and an independent budget analyst.

He also called for adding a “voter reapproval” section to the measure. This means that the new strong mayor form of government would expire after a certain time, Johnson said. Citizens then would vote on keeping or removing the strong mayor government, he added.

Photo by Anthony Bento.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.