Burbank City Council settles on interview process for appointing city clerk, treasurer
The City Council on Tuesday agreed to the framework for how they will make two interim appointments for the office of city clerk and treasurer during a special meeting on Thursday, including sequestering candidates during the televised interview process.
Seventeen people are applying for the two positions, including current city employees and one who submitted an application for both jobs. Written applications and a video presentation from each of the candidates have been available on the city’s website in the lead up to the special meeting — the final hurdle before a vote is taken on Thursday.
The council chose to appoint interim candidates following the early retirement of City Clerk Margarita Campos and City Treasurer Donna Anderson, citing the costs of holding a special election before April 2013.
On Thursday, candidates are expected to gather in City Council Chambers for their public pitch. When not at the podium, candidates will be sequestered. They will be asked not to bring their cell phones, lest they’re tempted to watch the proceedings or communicate with anyone from the outside.
Each of the candidates will make an opening statement of about three minutes, and then council members will have about 10 minutes to ask questions, a suggested list of which will include input from Campos and Anderson.
Council members on Tuesday agreed to interview and then vote on the candidates for city treasurer before moving on to the city clerk applicants. The order of their appearances was determined via a random drawing, officials said.
While most of what will be asked won’t be known until the meeting Thursday, council members did say they plan to asked all city treasurer candidates if they’ve ever filed for personal bankruptcy, or been involved with a business that has filed for bankruptcy protection.
All candidates will also be asked in writing to list any criminal history after Councilman David Gordon noted that the question was not included on the original application. Council members will also want to know if the applicants plan on running for election in April 2013.
The annual salary for the city clerk position is just under $126,000 and about $131,700 for city treasurer. In addition to medical and dental benefits, the positions include a $100 monthly bonus for being bilingual and a $125 monthly car allowance.
The special meeting begins at 4 p.m. Thursday at City Hall and will be broadcast on the city’s government access TV channel.
For information on the candidates, visit the city’s website at www.burbank.ca.gov.