AGENDA TITLE:
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Waive the Second Reading and Adopt Ordinance No. 2033 Amending Lodi Municipal Code Section 2.44.040 “Appointing Authorities” Allowing the City Council to Temporarily Appoint Staff to Perform Required Duties During Appointee Vacancies and Acknowledging that City Manager and City Treasurer Are Not Conflicting Offices (CLK)
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MEETING DATE:
August 20, 2025
PREPARED BY:
Olivia Nashed, City Clerk
recommendation
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Waive the Second Reading and Adopt Ordinance No. 2033 Amending Lodi Municipal Code Section 2.44.040 “Appointing Authorities” Allowing the City Council to Temporarily Appoint Staff to Perform Required Duties During Appointee Vacancies and Acknowledging that City Manager and City Treasurer Are Not Conflicting Offices.
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BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Ordinance No. 2033 entitled, “An Ordinance of the Lodi City Council Amending Lodi Municipal Code Section 2.44.040 “Appointing Authorities”” allows the City Council to temporarily appoint staff to perform required duties during appointee vacancies and acknowledging that City Manager and City Treasurer are not conflicting offices.
The appointed City Treasurer position has historically been filled by the Assistant City Manager or the Deputy City Manager. However, the full-time Assistant City Manager position currently remains vacant and other qualified staff members in the Accounting Division are newer to their positions and the City of Lodi. Due to the efforts underway to update the City’s financial policies and procedures, Council expressed the need to quickly appoint a seasoned leader with financial experience to the City Treasurer role in order to maintain public peace and the City’s fiscal health.
After considering who to appoint as the City Treasurer at the July 16, 2025 City Council meeting, Council chose Acting City Manager James Lindsay to also serve in the role of City Treasurer and directed staff to prepare an urgency ordinance amending the Lodi Municipal Code (LMC).
Following Council’s direction, staff presented an urgency ordinance to amend LMC Section 2.44.040 for Council consideration at the August 6, 2025 City Council meeting. The positions of City Manager, City Attorney, City Clerk and City Treasurer are separate and distinct in LMC Section 2.44.040, and the proposed urgency ordinance clarified Council’s ability to make temporary appointments and that the City Manager and City Treasurer roles are not incompatible offices. Pursuant to Government Code Section 36937(b), the City Council has the power to enact an urgency ordinance as necessary to protect public peace, health, and safety if approved by a 4/5 vote of the Councilmembers. However, at the August 6th meeting, the Council vote was 3-1, with Mayor Pro Tempore Yepez dissenting and Councilmember Nakanishi absent. Therefore, the votes in favor of the urgency ordinance did not meet the minimum requirement for an expedited process under state law and it did not pass.
To meet the procedural requirements, staff has brought the proposed LMC amendment back to Council to proceed with a traditional ordinance adoption process. The attached ordinance would amend LMC Section 2.44.040 allowing the City Council to appoint another qualified City employee whose duties do not conflict with a role that is vacant (including the City Manager in performance of City Treasurer duties) to temporarily perform the vacant appointee role until the permanent appointment process is complete.
At its Regular Meeting of August 20, 2025, the City Council held a public hearing and waived the first reading and introduced the ordinance. Staff recommends waiving the second reading and adopting Ordinance No. 2033.
ADOPTION: With the exception of urgency ordinances, no ordinance may be passed within five days of its introduction. Two readings are therefore required - one to introduce and a second to adopt the ordinance. Ordinances may only be passed at a regular meeting or at an adjourned regular meeting; except for urgency ordinances, ordinances may not be passed at a special meeting. Id. All ordinances must be read in full either at the time of introduction or at the time of passage, unless a regular motion waiving further reading is adopted by a majority of all council persons present. Cal. Gov’t Code § 36934.
Ordinances take effect 30 days after their final passage. Cal. Gov’t Code § 36937.
This ordinance has been approved as to form by the City Attorney.
STRATEGIC VISION:
3A. Fiscal Health: Promote City's transparency & fiscal fluency.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Not applicable.
FUNDING AVAILABLE:
Not applicable.