STOCKTON GOVERNMENT

HOW IT WORKS AND HOW TO MAKE IT WORK FOR YOU

Within Stockton, a proud and unique waterfront city lays waiting to be created. This city cannot be built
solely with brick and mortar. It also requires your understanding of city government and your
participation. The citizens behind the creation of this book invite you to use these pages as a tool in
building that better city.
-Michael Fitzgerald, columnist for The Record newspaper,
founding member, Stockton Civics Group.

FOUNDING MEMBERS OF THE STOCKTON CIVICS GROUP

Michael Fitzgerald...The Stockton Record
John Beckman..BIA Greater Valley
Doug Wilhoit...Greater Stockton Chamber of Commerce
Jose Hernandez.PT Strategies
Dr. Steve Lowder.Ed. D. Stockton Unified School District
Donna Brown..League of Women Voters and Campaign for Common Ground
Dianne Barth-Fiest..Stockton Unified School District
Angel Picon..Tierra Luna Engineering, LLC
Jeff Wright/Erica WestphalParks Printing
Logos
Reproduction of this booklet is permitted as long as no alterations of any kind are made and
distribution is free of charge.

1.

For Stockton to be the best City it can be, citizens must understand how
City Government works. This booklet is your users manual. It will explain
how City Government is set up, what City Officials do, and the importance
of staying informed. It will tell you about things such as the city budget, the
policies of City Leaders, and how to rate City Officials job performance.
The goal is for you to understand how to make government work for you.
City Government is there to serve you. It should serve you whether you are
rich or poor, American citizen or immigrant, lifelong Stocktonian or
newcomer. But sometimes citizenship requires us to take responsibility to
ensure government works as it should. If your neighborhood is unsafe or
blighted, for instance, you should know what to do.
Yes, you are busy. That is why we elect and appoint representatives to run
government for us. But they alone are not enough to pilot the airplane.
Too many people and special interests want to grab the controls. Some
people want to flat-out hijack the plane. We all have to keep an eye on the
cockpit.
This does not mean you must live and breathe politics. It means good
citizens should have at least a modest sense of what leaders are doing, what
they propose, who is trying to influence them, and how to can change
things if need be. The bonus for good citizenship: understanding how to
make government work for you personally. Good citizens have more
power.
City Government has basic jobs to do: ensure public safety, provide safe
water and decent roads. But city government also goes beyond the basics.
It can build things such as an arena or ballpark. It can fix up old
neighborhoods by sprucing up the roads, curbs, gutters, sidewalks and
trees. It can improve the literacy rate by providing library services. How to
get these services?

In a way, City Government is like a negotiating table. Different people and

groups come to the table, and sit down with their government
representatives. They ask City Hall to address their wants and needs.
Perhaps more police. Perhaps a recreation center. Perhaps businesses want
to partner with government in some sort of project; Stocktons downtown
multiplex is such a public/private partnership. Or perhaps city laws need
changing. That can be done. City Hall can even hand out tax dollars.
Government cannot satisfy everyone 100% of the time. But good leaders
work out compromises to give people at least part of the services and
support they deserve. If you do not participate, however, City Government
might not take your needs into consideration. Others might get more than
their fair share of services or tax dollars. Believe it: Someone is always at
that table, asking something from government. They are there whether you
choose to be there or not.
So be there. Attend City Council and town hall meetings. Talk to your
Council members. Pay attention to candidates when they are running for
office. But first, educate yourself on the basics.
Stockton has a council-manager form of government. That means it is
run by: A City Council, which is elected. A City Manager, who is hired.
THE CITY COUNCIL
The City of Stocktons website defines the council this way: The City
Council is the governing body for the City of Stockton. The council has
six Council members and a mayor.
The map shows the City of Stockton. The City is divided into six council
districts.

Which district do you live in? Each district elects one Council member.
Council members serve a four-year term. They may serve two terms, but
not more (Stockton sets term limits on Council seats. After eight years
Council members term out). In addition to electing a Council, voters
citywide also vote on a Mayor. The Mayor must live in the City. The Mayor
may come from any district. The mayor too terms out after two four-year
terms.
What makes a good City Council person? Opinions vary, but a City
Council person should be reasonably intelligent, reasonably educated, and
aware of the issues both in his or her district and in the City as a whole.
They should be hard-working, honest and able to work with other council
members and with the public.
All these traits are important. But the ability to work with other Council
members requires explanation.
If the council is to set policy (a course of action) council members must
be able to work with each other. Good Councils have goal-setting
sessions in which they agree on what is most important for the city. Bad
councils just argue. A Council member who cannot get along with other
members undermines efforts to set goals and to reach them. A Council
member also may fail in his or her duty if they are consumed by amassing
more power. Or if his or her nature is argumentative or domineering.
Even a Council member too preoccupied with the legitimate needs of his
or her district can hamper good government. They must sometimes look
beyond district issues to the needs of the City as a whole.
If all Council people cared only for their district, they would act more like
rivals vying for tax dollars and services, than colleagues aiming to serve
both their district and the City as a whole.
Still another bad characteristic is a lack of decorum. Decorum is proper
behavior, speech and dress in public service. It may sound trivial. It is not.

Council members who lack decorum may offend fellow council members.
They may be rude to citizens who come before the Council. Such bad
actors send the signal that it is OK to be rude. Others pick up that signal.
Council meetings become combative and unproductive.
Good Council members also listen to citizens. They make themselves
available should you wish to contact them. They respond to phone calls,
letters and e-mails. They keep office hours, or hold open hours at meeting
halls in your district. They see themselves as public servants. A good
Council member is independent. They do not unduly favor one group over
another. They are not puppets of powerful groups or individuals. They are
not locked into a rigid way of thinking; they are practical and open to
getting things done in a variety of ways. They operate by the precept, The
good of the many outweighs the good of the few. Thats a key principle.
Remember it.
You can communicate with the Council in several ways. Attend a council
meeting. Meetings have public comment periods. Write a letter. Send an email. Place a phone call. Visit a public official at City Hall. Visit your
Council person during their office hours, often at community centers in
your district. Circulate a petition, gather signatures of people who agree
with you, and present it to the Council.
Some people join groups or organizations to advance their political goals.
Some of these groups work to make their neighborhoods safer. Others
scrutinize city spending. Still others advocate for the humane treatment of
animals at the city animal shelter.
Whatever the issue, you can usually find a group interested in it. Groups
wield more influence than individuals.
THE MAYOR

The Mayors position is both like and unlike a Council members. Like
other members, s/he has one vote. Unlike council positions, which are
part-time, the Mayors position is full time.
The Mayor has ceremonial duties. The Mayor represents the city at official
ribbon-cuttings, community meetings and award ceremonies. The Mayor
represents Stockton to the outside world. A good mayor champions the
city, making it look attractive to people and businesses. The Mayor is the
face of the city, appearing at public gatherings, in the media, and
advocating for the city at other levels of government. The Mayor lobbies
state and federal government for more funding for things such as roads,
housing grants and public safety. The Mayor also represents Stockton on
regional boards and other governmental bodies. Some of these boards have
authority over such things as the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, roads and
transportation, and the annexation of more land for the city.
What about schools? Schools are independent of City Government. But
schools are important to the success of our community, so the mayor
might assist the schools in lobbying for money.
A good Mayor has a vision for Stockton. The Mayor can collaborate with
other Council members and city staff members to lead the city toward its
goals. A good Mayor does not take office for prestige or profit but to help
the City realize its potential. And to help the people of Stockton enjoy a
better quality of city life.
A good Mayor has the political skills to advance an agenda. That means
s/he has the skills to persuade a majority of council members to support
his or her course of action. And to get support from the public.

A majority of votes on the 7-person council is four. If the Mayor has at

least four votes, s/he can get things done. If a Mayor cannot muster four
votes, the Mayor will not be able to advance goals through the system.
That is one way to tell an effective Mayor from a dud. In recent times, the
Mayor also has delivered an annual State of the City address. You can see
recent ones on the City of Stocktons website.
When Mayor and council create policy, they communicate their desired
course of action to the City Manager. The City Managers job is to direct
the City workforce to get it done.
THE CITY MANAGER
The City Manager is not elected. He is hired by the Mayor and Council.
It is important to understand the City Managers role. The City of
Stocktons website describes the job like this: The City Manager is
appointed by the City Council to direct the administration of the City
under the policy direction of the Council:

implementing City Council policy

providing information to assist the Council in setting up policy
reporting to the Council on administrative activities
supervising the operation of City Departments
In other words, the City Manager is the head of all city departments
Police, Public Works, Libraries, etc. the chief executive with authority
over the citys department heads, middle managers and rank and file
workers. The City Manager appoint or promote department heads such as
the Fire Chief or head of Municipal Utilities (waterworks). He fires or
demotes managers if need be.

Because the City Manager does not run for office, the City Manager
operates largely out of the public eye. For this reason, many people think
the mayor, who is more visible, is Stocktons top official. This is not so. In
Stocktons council-manager form of government, power resides with the
majority of the Council members. They, in turn, delegate to the City
Manager the authority to operate the city services.
The Council is there to ensure the citizens are heard. But actually running a
city is a very complex job. Most council members do not have the time or
skills to do it. A good City Manager has the education, seasoning and skills
to run the City well. When the Mayor and council create policy, the City
Manager decides how best to carry it out, and directs the appropriate City
employees to do it.
The City Manager also advises the Council. The City Manager may do this
personally or direct staff in various departments to study a problem and
write up a staff report. Such reports are given to the Council for study.
Staff reports cover a variety of topics: crime, growth, parks, library funding,
you name it. Staff reports are included in Council agendas and discussed at
Council meetings.
Sometimes these reports go to Council committees which have been
established to consider such subjects as the budget, legislation, and
community improvement. The committees later return to the Council with
their recommendation. Staff reports are public documents. You can find
them in Council agendas, posted on the city website. Hard copies are
available at City Hall.

The Council cannot make good decisions without good information. In the
run-up to Stocktons bankruptcy, Council members sometimes was not
advised of the true cost of the salaries, benefits, debts and public works
projects they voted on. Nor were citizens. Seek information.
Perhaps the City Managers most important job is annually to prepare the
Citys budget. Working with the Citys fiscal team, the City Manager
decides how many millions to budget for police, fire, public works,
libraries, recreation programs and other city expenses.
The City Manager does this with Council policy in mind. For instance, if
the council says more police are needed, the city manager may budget more
money for the police department.
Every year, as part of the budget process, the City Manager also negotiates
with city workers over how much pay and benefits they get. This is a key
part of the budget. Most of a Citys costs are not capital costs, that is,
construction; most of a Citys costs are people costs, the costs of salary and
benefits for the City workforce.
City workers are unionized. There are around 10 City worker unions. They
bargain collectively (as a group) with City Hall. Public employee unions
are a good example of a group that is always at the table. Usually the
unions bargaining team asks for more money and better benefits.
Sometimes the City can afford to give them these raises. Sometimes it
cannot. The City Manager must decide. S/he then submits the budget to
the Council for approval. The Council can approve the budget or reject it,
asking the City Manager to change it.
You have a say in this.
Some citizens act as fiscal watchdogs. They study proposed budgets and
decide whether the city is spending wisely. If they think the budget needs
improvement, they may contact the mayor and council to make their case.

Copies of proposed budgets, like staff reports, are put in council packets
and posted on the city website. Or you can request hard copies. They are
public documents.
A rule of thumb: The City should not spend more money than it collects.
When City expenditures exceeded revenue, the City is forced to lay off
employees and cut services to you to balance the budget. Often
overspending is a matter not of short-term spending but long-term debt.
Good fiscal policy requires taking a close look at those long-term
expenditures.
While the City Manager has more authority than the council, the City
Manager serves at the pleasure of the council. If a majority of Council
members think the City Manager is doing a poor job, they can vote to fire
him or her.
Picking a good City Manager is one of the most important things the
council can do.

4.

ELECTIONS
In Stockton, the election of council members is a two-part process.
First comes the primary election. In the primary, candidates run in their
districts. Any number of candidates may run. Voters in each district vote
for candidates. The voters in District 1 vote on District 1 candidates, voters
in District 2 vote on District 2 candidates, and so on.

The Mayor runs citywide. They are on the ballot in all districts. The top
two vote-getters in each district, the primary winner and runner-up, go on
to compete in the general election in November. In the general election,
voters citywide choose between the top two winning candidates in each
district. The Council candidates who win the most votes in the general
election win a seat on the Council.
If one mayoral candidate wins over 50% of the vote in the primary, they
are elected outright and does not have to run in the general election. If no
candidates wins more than 50% in the primary, the top two vote-getters
also go on to a runoff in November.
The idea of Stocktons voting system is to elect council members who
understand their districts needs and issues, but who also work for the good
of the city as a whole. For this system to work as it should, however,
citizens must first understand how campaigns work.
When a person decides to run for the Council they set up a campaign
committee. A campaign committee works to elect the candidate.
Committee members may be volunteers or paid staffers. Most campaign
committees combine both.
A big job of the committee is raising money. Money is needed to pay
campaign consultants and other paid staffers, to buy campaign
advertisements on television, billboards, radio, street signs, websites or
mailers sent to peoples homes, and to pay other expenses such as gas
and food.
You can donate money to a council persons campaign if you think they
would be a good leader. Public employee unions, to give another example,
donate because they want labor-friendly candidates to win office and give
them fair compensation. Developers donate to candidates that support the
building industry. Etcetera.

It is important to understand who is giving money to candidates and what

the donors want.
For this reason, the law requires candidates to file campaign disclosure
forms. These forms, which list the campaign donor and the amount of
money given to each candidate, are available on the City website. Click on
City Clerk.
This information helps us to understand what a candidate stands for and
what s/he will do if elected. The newspaper helps, too. It routinely analyzes
campaign finance during campaigns.
A city has only so much money. When money goes to one thing, often
money cannot go to something else. You have to decide when evaluating a
candidate who will spend tax dollars in the citys best overall interests. And
who may be too beholden to campaign donors.
Some candidates just want to win the prize of office. Such politicians will
favor the special interests which help them get elected. Public service is
secondary to them.
Campaign disclosure forms are only one way to learn about a candidate.
Campaigning candidates may stage rallies at which they make speeches
declaring their principles and aims. Most rallies are free and open to the
public.
Sometimes candidates hold debates. At debates rival candidates discuss
their positions and argue over the best policies. Others hold town hall
meetings. At a town hall meeting, a candidate invites the community to ask
questions.

Newspapers, TV, radio and internet media often report what a candidate
says and does. Newspapers usually also privately interview all candidates
and pick the ones they think best. The paper then issues endorsements,
their voting recommendation.
You can judge a candidate by several basic standards. One is their record.
Have they held office before? Did they do well or poorly?
Another is by their platform, their declared principles and aims. Another
is by how many planks are in the platform: whether the candidate has
well-thought-out positions on a number of issues, or whether s/he is a
one-issue candidate all fired up about one thing but indifferent to the
rest of the issues. Still another is whether they listen to you and others and
incorporate peoples concerns into their platform.
The campaign mailers you get in your mail are not the best way to learn
about candidates. Sometimes there are half-truths and distortions. Learn to
know the difference, seek better information. If you dont inform yourself,
you may find yourself voting blindly. That is how unqualified people get
elected. They will not do the job. The quality of City life will suffer.

REGISTERING TO VOTE
If you will be 18 year of age on or before the next election, a U.S. citizen
and resident of California, you are eligible to vote. But before you can vote
you must register. Register online at sjcrov.org. Or pick up a registration
card at the Registrars, 44 N. San Joaquin St., Ste. 350. Registration cards
also are available at public libraries, post offices, and the Department of
Motor Vehicles. Youll have to have a drivers license, California ID or
other acceptable forms of identification. The Registrars website has details.

Once elected officials take office, they hold regular meetings. The Council
meets once every two weeks on Tuesdays at 5:30 pm. The meetings are
held in Council chambers in City Hall. Meetings are open to the public.
Each meeting has an agenda, a list of matters to be acted upon. Copies
of the agenda must be made available to the public. An agenda is usually
divided into three parts: the consent calendar, the main agenda and closed
session.
The consent calendar is supposedly full of routine, non-controversial items
the Council can pass in one motion with no discussion: the small stuff. Its
purpose is to move meetings along so they do not run too long. But, if you
see something on the consent calendar you think deserves public scrutiny,
you have the right to pull an item off the consent calendar and open it up
for public comment and council debate. You may pull an item off the
consent calendar right at the council meeting. Fill out a request to speak
card giving the agenda number of the item you wish to address. The cards
are available at the back of the Council chamber before each meeting.
Simply give your card to the City Clerk (who is present at the meeting) and
the mayor will call on you to speak when the agenda item is called. Items
on the regular agenda are discussed and voted upon by the council. You
may comment on these, too. Every citizen who asks to speak on an issue
gets a brief time to speak.
As for closed session, when discussing closed session items, the council
may by law meet in private. If they take action, though, they must report
what they did to the public.

PUBLIC RECORDS ACT REQUESTS

Yet another way to get information about the goings-on in City Hall is to
make a Public Records Act request. The 1968 California Public Records
Act, a state law, recognizes that access to government records is a
fundamental right of citizenship. Under this law, you can ask to see a
government record, and officials must show it to you. Or you can ask for
copies of a record, and officials must provide you with a copy within 10
days at a reasonable cost.
There are exceptions. One is an officials purely personal information
that has no bearing on government. But an official declining your request
must provide you with an explanation in writing that cites the specific
exemption carved out under the law. If they claim an invalid exemption,
you can resubmit your request. You can politely but firmly insist the official
produce the record.
In general, the courts have ruled that your right to see records covers
every conceivable kind of record that is involved in the governmental
process. Instructions on using the Public Record Act and form letters for
writing a Public Records Act request are available online. Familiarize
yourself with this powerful tool. Use it.
6.
THE IMPORTANCE OF YOU
Stockton has huge untapped potential: the shell of a historic downtown
ripe for revival, a unique waterfront ready for new uses, an economy with
room for new jobs, industries and technologies, numerous neighborhoods
with real character. But a healthy city requires a healthy civic culture.

In a healthy civic culture, citizens understand city government. They keep

informed about city issues of the day. They debate the best policies. They
vote. And they hold leaders accountable.
That is where you come in. Be it a healthy urban forest, waterfront housing
with boat docks, or more bicycle trails you name it -- if you can imagine
it, you can set City Government on a course to creating a better Stockton.

Stockton civics test

1.
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3.
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9.

Name three functions of city government.

What is Stocktons form of government?
How many council districts are there?
Which district do you live in?
Who is your city council person?
Who is mayor of Stockton?
Name three ways of contacting your council person.
The council works part-time. Is the mayors position part-time, too?
Stocktons voting system is a combination of district voting and ----voting.
10.
True or false: if a mayor gets more than 50 percent of the vote
in a primary election s/he is elected outright and does not have to
run in the general election.
11.
Name one standard by which a candidate can be judged.

12.
How do you register to vote?
13.
The council meets once every two weeks on -----.
14.
Is the city manager elected or appointed?
15.
A council agenda is usually divided into three parts: the consent
calendar, the main agenda and -----.
16.
Name the state law citizens can use to obtain state and local
government records.
17.
The good of the ---- outweighs the good of the ----.

Extra Credit: Write a Public Record Act request letter.

For answer key, please log on to the SUSD website: stocktonusd.net/citycivics