OXNARD : Clerk’s Automatic Pay Hike Rescinded

The Oxnard City Council voted Tuesday to rescind an automatic pay increase for City Clerk Daniel Martinez that was scheduled to take effect next week.

The 4-1 decision will defer any future pay raise for at least 60 days pending an evaluation of Martinez’s performance.

Mayor Manuel Lopez voted against deferring the pay raise, saying that the action was unfair and might jeopardize the independence of the elected position of city clerk. He said that both the city clerk and treasurer were given automatic raises to free them from the political pressure of either the City Council or the city manager’s office.

“We could lower the amount of the increase,” Lopez said, “but the (people) elected them and they are accountable to the people, not to the council.”

But Councilman Michael Plisky, who proposed the change in policy, said it wasn’t right that the city clerk’s salary increase was free of any performance review. In addition, he said that the automatic 5% increase exceeded the pay raise cap of 3.5% for other city employees.

“This is not an issue about whether (Martinez) deserves a raise,” Plisky said. “It’s only an issue of whether the raise should be automatic.”

Martinez has said the issue was a personal attack on him by Plisky. Martinez defeated Plisky’s wife for the city clerk position last year.

“I’m not mad about not getting a pay raise,” Martinez said. “I’m mad that this has been turned all around as if I’m asking for this. I don’t mention names, but it’s pretty obvious that it’s a political move by one council member.”

Public comments, including a statement from Ethel Dale, who was city clerk for 28 years, almost unanimously supported ending the automatic increase.

While the City Council agreed to defer the raise, members were unable to draw up a plan for an independent evaluation of the clerk’s duties. Part of the council’s vote included a directive to its staff to study the issue.