June 3, 2004

S.J. Council appoints new city clerk
Almaden’s Lee Price is the former clerk of San Luis Obispo

By Sheila Sanchez
Staff Writer

The San Jose City Council has appointed Lee Price, the former city clerk of San Luis Obispo, as its new city clerk.
Price replaced Pat O’Hearn, who retired last year after serving 18 years with San Jose. Deanna J. Santana had served as interim city clerk.

The 49-year-old Price began her official duties as city clerk May 3 after the city council unanimously voted March 23 to appoint her. Price’s salary was set at $125,000.

The city clerk is one of six positions appointed directly by the council. Using the executive recruiting firm of Wilcox, Miller & Nelson, the city conducted an extensive national search for candidates to fill the vacancy left by O’Hearn. The search yielded 30 candidates, which was narrowed down to nine, five and finally two candidates.

Price had one interview with all 11 city council members, including San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales. She also had interviews with the mayor’s office staff, community members and department heads.

The city clerk’s duties include maintaining the city’s public records, conducting municipal elections, and supporting the city council’s legislative process with agendas, taking meeting minutes and tracking legislative history.

In addition, the clerk’s office supports the city’s advisory boards and commissions, maintains the Municipal Code, administers provisions of the California Political Reform Act, and ensures public access to records and notification regarding meetings.

Price’s office has a staff of 12 people. “I’m really impressed with them,” Price said of her colleagues in the office. “They’re competent, capable and well trained.”

“I’m deeply honored to be appointed as city clerk in San Jose,” added Price. “The Clerk’s Office here has a strong professional reputation for providing excellent service to the county, staff, and public and I’m eager to build on this foundation with the tools of technology to meet the challenges of a changing community.”

The mother of four and grandmother of one is a San Luis Obispo native who started her city clerk career more than 15 years ago working for the San Luis Obispo County Planning Department.

When she was 13 years old she helped her mother fulfill her duties as the San Luis Obispo County Planning Commission secretary. As she got older, she began typing and learning computer skills, working part time in the summers for the San Luis Obispo County Planning Department while attending college.

She officially began her career as city clerk in 1989 with the city of Atascadero. Soon after, the elected city clerk died and the Atascadero City Council appointed her as an interim city clerk. She ran for the office serving as an elected clerk for two terms in Atascadero.

She then moved to Santa Clara County where she worked in Morgan Hill as city clerk for two years and then she served for six years as city clerk of San Luis Obispo.

That’s when she learned of the opening in San Jose. “I just couldn’t pass it up,” she said.

She had known O’Hearn for several years and, “I thought this would be a wonderful opportunity to work for such a fabulous city, a much larger city than I’ve been accustomed to.

“The area and the community just enticed me. I wasn’t really looking to move on, I was quite satisfied in San Luis Obispo, but the challenges of the position were just so attractive that I thought I better apply for it,” Price said.
Price moved to Almaden Valley recently with her fiancé, Kevin Spry, her high school sweetheart. Between Price and Spry they have eight children. She’s hoping her daughter, Emily, 14, can attend Valley Christian High School next year.

Price bought a home in the gated-community known as Villas of Almaden on Coleman and Meridian avenues. “I love Almaden Valley. It has such a strong sense of community. Coming from a small town into a large city feeling a part of the community was important to me.”

Price said although the transition has been smooth, she’s had to hit the ground running in light of the city’s Blue Ribbon Task Force on Ethics hearings.

Mayor Gonzales, Vice Mayor Pat Dando, and council members Cindy Chavez, Chuck Reed and Ken Yeager created the task force to tackle what critics say are outdated ethics policies allowing special interests to influence city lawmakers.

A series of San Jose Mercury News editorials have raised questions about the effectiveness of the city’s existing policies. Currently, professional lobbyists do not have to reveal specific financial arrangements with clients. And business, labor and other special-interest groups are not required to register as in other major cities. The task force has held five meetings and is preparing recommendations on how to craft better and broader lobbyist rules. The council is expected to consider those this summer.

“It’s an interesting time to be here,” she said. “It’s a controversial time, but I see that the newest events are all going to bring these matters further into the public eye.”

An advocate of the public’s right to know, Price said she believes San Jose residents are entitled to full disclosure of council members’ activities. “I think this council is supportive of that. The city has much more stringent rules than even the state. There are greater restrictions on receipt of gifts and disclosure. We should hold our elected officials at the very highest level of responsibility and obligation to make sure that the public knows who’s asking for what.”

Only on the job for about five weeks, she said she also enjoyed the council’s budget review process. “I felt it was a privilege to sit through those study sessions because it was, in essence, a crash course for me in San Jose government.” The council held one public hearing last month with more expected in June when the council takes is month-long summer recess.

One of her goals during her tenure is to increase the use of technology in her office. “Here we are, in the heart of Silicon Valley, but this organization and this department haven’t used technology to the greatest extent to help the citizens have access to local government. I want to use a variety of media to make sure the public has immediate access to the city’s documents and activity.”

She also wants to streamline some practices in the office, which can be labor intensive, paper-based and deadline oriented. “I want to speed up the delivery of our services,” she stressed.

Other top priorities for Price are to improve customer service, make the clerk’s office more inviting to the public, and work more closely with the city’s boards and commissions to give the public an opportunity to participate in local government.

Price is a board member of the City Clerk’s Association of California, the Continuing Education for Public Officials organization, the International Association of Municipal Clerks, the Association of Records Managers & Administrators, the Central Coast Paralegal Association, the National Notary Association and the National Management Association.

She’s been a session trainer and conference planner for the City Clerk’s Department of the League and City Clerks Association of California. She’s also a speaker at various workshops on the Brown Act, parliamentary procedures, meeting management and the “care and feeding” of advisory body members. “I work with new city clerks to help them learn their jobs and I hope to match new city clerks with seasoned city clerks when they need help on any particular matter,” she explained.

On the day the city of San Luis Obispo gave her a farewell reception she received an award of distinction from the City Clerk’s Association of California for implementing and improving council procedures. The award also recognized her for establishing new programs in the city to completely revamp the board and commission process, implementing a government access channel and revamping a number of council policies.

Price has an associate’s degree in child development from Santa Barbara City College, but she has been working in public service most of her life. “I chose to pursue my education in the certified municipal clerk’s educational programs,” she noted.

She is a certified municipal clerk (CMC) in the Master Academy, the higher-level educational program that will allow her the designation of Master Municipal Clerk in the future. There are less then 40 master municipal clerks in the state.