OCEANSIDE : Voters May Decide Fate of Clerk’s Pay

Voters probably will decide how much City Clerk Barbara Bishop-Smith gets paid.

Deputy Mayor Melba Bishop, along with council members Don Rodee and Nancy York, voted May 27 to slash the clerk’s salary in half, from $60,000 a year to $30,000 a year, saying they believed Bishop-Smith was making too much money for an elected official.

But the action drew criticism from others, including Mayor Larry Bagley and Councilman Sam Williamson Sr., who charged that the Bishop-led faction was trying to force Bishop-Smith not to run for reelection in November so it could get its own candidate in office. The pay cut would not have become effective until December.

The salary issue will probably be placed on the city ballot for an advisory vote in November, Bishop said. Until then, the council is expected to table final action.

“It comes as quite a surprise to everybody that they’ve changed their direction from one week to the next,” Bishop-Smith, no relation to the deputy mayor, said Friday. “At this point I would much rather have the voters decide on it than the majority of the council. But the drawback is it costs the people.”