The Fremont Charter Advisory Committee (CAC) held its first meeting on March 23. Assistant city manager Christina Briggs facilitated the member introduction.
As a topic starter she asked the committee members to name two cities they consider model cities. San Diego and Fresno were cited as examples.
The committee has seven members. Dharminder Dewan has been a Fremont resident for 27 years. He was part of the Human Relations Commission and Library Advisory Commission for more than a decade. Dewan is an IT professional leading teams.
Sue Kwong has been a resident for 32 years, president of Citizens for Better Community, a Fremont charitable organization, and a recent Washington Hospital retiree. Santhya Sankaran is a Fremont Unified School District employee, a rent review board member and a resident for more than 15 years.
Ben Yee is a planning commissioner and has lived in Fremont for 39 years. He has been in 11 committees the past 34 years. Kim Marshall is a resident of Fremont for over 35 years and is a recent retiree and former city employee. Rick Jones has lived in Fremont for over 46 years. He is a former police officer and council member. Brad Hatton is the seventh member of the group and did not attend the first committee meeting.
Committee members agree to talk about topics recommended by council members, including form of government, staffing options and executive authority. Jones asked if the topic involving staff meant hiring or firing employees.
Briggs said the council asked to evaluate staffing in a broad sense. Staff plans to share how staffing is handled in other charter or general law cities. She said the council is not asking for specific direction on specific employees. City attorney Rafael Alvarado said staffing levels can be managed without a charter city status.
Towards the end of the meeting Yee gave packets of printed information to committee members about past charter city attempts, and information on three charter cities that are about the same size as Fremont. They are Modesto, Huntington Beach and San Bernardino. Previously, Fremont tried to become a charter city in 1998 and 2008.
The next meeting would include discussion about the form of government, council authority, meeting structure and council voting policies.
For more information on the city charter, go to fremont.gov/government/charter-city-initiative.
