Measure M, placed on the ballot in the November election for Stockton voters, seeks to clarify the process for how the city sends out information to the public and who is responsible for the communication with residents.
Voting “yes” on the measure would mean the city manager’s public information office would oversee in general the public information for the city and would still allow for the mayor to have their own public information office that would work in conjunction with the city manager’s office, according to Katherine Roland, Stockton’s interim city clerk.
Roland said that previously, language in the charter regarding the public information office had caused some confusion about who was responsible for what information.
The city of Stockton’s charter would be amended to state that the information given to the public will come from a public information officer who will be appointed by the city manager and who will serve the city manager.
An addition to the charter through the measure would give the mayor permission to have a public information officer, who will be provided access to information that is needed to complete their role in coordination with the city manager’s public information office.
Councilmember Michael Blower submitted an argument in support of passing the measure.
He said the current charter states that the public information office and officer serve under the mayor, but the change was made to the charter over 20 years ago and was never implemented.
“I think it’s important that our governing documents reflect our practice,” Blower said. “That language was put in the charter back in 2000 … I think to have a political person be in charge of the city’s flow of information is problematic and doesn’t make any sense.”
He said the measure is more of a clean-up measure for language in the charter.
The city established a committee to decide what was the best way to implement the public information office role. The committee’s primary purpose was to review and recommend appropriate placement of the two roles serving the city manager and mayor.
The public information officer for Stockton Mayor Kevin Lincoln was not immediately available for comment on the measure.
The ordinance would take effect 30 days after passing if it is approved by voters.