Oakland may seek to give its mayor more power, signaling big-city ambitions

OAKLAND — Oakland has long stood out among major metropolitan cities for how little power its mayor holds, a problem that critics blame for an often dysfunctional political climate.

That could change in the upcoming November election. The president of the Oakland City Council said Monday he is preparing to work on ballot language that would grant Mayor Barbara Lee — and future city mayors — the power to veto council decisions for the first time.

Late last month, a group of officials convened by Lee formally recommended the city shift to a “strong mayor” system in which the mayor would hold crucial veto power while continuing to operate independently of the council.

This would be an unprecedented change in Oakland, where critics say the mayor’s relative lack of legislative authority has driven divisions in the local government, including political fights and budget standoffs.

The mayor proposes the city’s two-year budget, though its final approval and any amendments depend solely on the council’s vote.

But the proposed fix is quickly polarizing key advocates, some of whom argue for the mayor to instead become the head of the city council and vote with the rest of the eight-member body. That idea, known as the “council-manager” model, is a staple of most California municipalities, including San Jose, where Mayor Matt Mahan votes with the council but does not hold veto power.

But many of the country’s largest cities — including New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Detroit — have so-called “strong mayors.” Oakland’s leaders envision their town attaining similar big-city status.

Advocates of the change say Oakland’s current structure spreads authority across the mayor, council and city administration, making it difficult to clearly assign responsibility when policies fail.

“There should be no ambiguity about who leads the administrative branch of city government. It should be the Mayor,” the working group, which includes former City Attorney Barbara Parker and San Francisco Foundation CEO Fred Blackwell, said in its findings.

Lee, who did not participate in the group’s discussions, has yet to take a formal stance on what kind of governance structure the city should pursue.

In a statement to this news organization, she instead called broadly for voters to establish a government that “works” — “one that is transparent, accountable and clear about who is responsible for what.”

Under the city’s current power structure, the council oversees almost all policy decisions, though the mayor hires and can fire the city administrator responsible for implementing policies, along with the police chief.

Oakland’s council has swung in a less activist-friendly political direction this past year, awarding robust police surveillance contracts and entertaining more restrictive policies around clearing homeless encampments. These discussions have involved almost no input from Lee.

Elected bodies in smaller cities usually hire a city manager to handle most executive duties, but under the new proposed system it would be the mayor acting as Oakland’s chief executive.

For advocates who suggest the mayor simply sit on the council and vote with other members, the idea of an even-stronger mayoral structure rings alarm bells because it was grant a single individual great authority over policy decisions.

“The problem with Oakland is that it has not had professional, objective administration,” said Greg McConnell, a longtime political consultant in Oakland. “It has become too politicized.”

McConnell said he had encouraged a former city administrator, Steve Falk, to more aggressively push for a ballot measure that would revert Oakland to the council-manager system it had until 1998.

In an op-ed published by this news organization, Falk warned that the federal corruption case involving former Mayor Sheng Thao — an investigation that began while Thao was still in office — is evidence enough that a single elected official holding veto power is unwise.

Falk helped revitalized calls by policy groups for Oakland to reconsider how it is governed. He is disappointed with the working group’s new findings.

“The longterm damage that an unqualified, incompetent, compromised or immoral — but super-powered — mayor can inflict on the city is too great,” Falk wrote in the Feb. 6 op-ed, co-authored with Nancy Falk and Ben Gould.

The mayor of Oakland had sat on the council for decades before Jerry Brown pursued a voter-approved change when he took office in 1998.

Brown, who was between stints as the state’s governor, famously did not want to attend council meetings — a kind of high status that would eventually make Oakland’s mayor feel more akin to a political celebrity.

Supporters of a strong-mayor structure include former Mayor Libby Schaaf, who authored a post on an online political blog, the Oakland Report, arguing the city “does not need to turn the mayor into a ninth legislator.”

“Oakland has big-city challenges, so it needs a big-city structure to address them,” Schaaf, who governed under the existing system, said in an interview.

The debate could emerge as the central political issue in Oakland over the coming months. City leaders have invited public feedback, scheduling a Feb. 23 community forum at Allen Temple Baptist Church in East Oakland.

A survey conducted between October and January by Lee’s working group appears to show residents supporting both proposed models.

The results found 72% of 433 respondents are in favor of the city’s mayor holding veto power over council decisions. A separate question about “giving the Mayor a role on the City Council to help shape policies and laws” received 82% support.

Long Beach, a city that Falk describes as sharing traits with Oakland, has a governance model along these lines: the mayor sits on the council but holds veto power over policy decisions.

In Oakland, at least, most agree some kind of change is in order.

“Too often, Oakland looks like that Spider-Man meme where every Spider-Man is pointing at another Spider-Man,” said Kevin Jenkins, the council president who intends to help author the new ballot language. “It’s important we have a government that works for everyone.”

Shomik Mukherjee is a reporter covering Oakland. Call or text him at 510-905-5495 or email him at shomik@bayareanewsgroup.com.