Update: The Weekly accidentally misquoted candidate Steve Kelly for question number three. That question is now updated with the correct answer.
On Aug. 30, The Weekly submitted the following questions to city clerk candidates — Bob O’Keefe, Paul Tacci, Steve Kelly and Poornima Gopi. Candidates had until Sept. 13 to reply. Below are the answers The Weekly received from the candidates. Answers are presented verbatim.
What do you believe the most important role of the city clerk is and how do you expect to fulfill it?
O’Keefe: The City Clerk is the department head and sets policy for the City Clerk’s office. The City Clerk is mandated by law to perform all the duties listed in section 903 of the Santa Clara City Charter. A primary duty of the City Clerk is that of the City’s Elections Official, having charge of all municipal elections, including enforcement of election ordinances. To fulfill my duties, I will work collaboratively with the entire City Council, City Manager, City Attorney, Assistant City Clerk and staff to ensure the finest professional services are available to the public.
Kelly: The City Clerk and Assistant City Clerk oversee city elections. I expect to take the City Clerk required training provided by the State of California upon my successful election.
Tacci: The most important role of the city clerk is upholding ethics and ensuring free and fair elections. I will fulfill this by maintaining transparency in all electoral processes and providing residents with easy access to public records. My focus will also be on modernizing the office, making records more accessible online, and creating more opportunities for residents to engage with city hall. Ensuring accountability and upholding integrity are at the heart of my commitment to serving the community.
Gopi: To me, the most important role of the city clerk is being fair and transparent. Making information readily available to the public is a part of this. I want to make meeting schedules and agendas available for the public ahead of time. I also want to provide better means for the public to engage in the meetings and provide comments. We should leverage technology to increase the participation in these meetings and to ensure that the city is following the Brown act.
What would you do differently from the current city clerk?
O’Keefe: I will be fully engaged as City Clerk, I will attend all City Council meetings when appropriate. I will have set business hours in the City Clerks office allowing the public and staff to engage directly with me. I would develop a new and innovative city wide program on voter awareness and education focused towards new voters, soon to be voters and voters of all ages, highlighting general election information and our city municipal elections. This program would be available to all, especially the local school districts, non profit organizations, and Santa Clara Youth and Senior Centers.
Kelly: I will take the position seriously by taking advantage of City Clerk training to grow with the position. I would further attend meetings with other City Clerks around the Bay Area.
Tacci: I believe the City Clerk’s office can benefit from increased accessibility, and I am committed to being available to the public in meaningful ways. I will prioritize public engagement by offering user-friendly digital tools that provide instant access to records and meeting agendas. Additionally, I am open to scheduling town halls on an as-needed basis to gather input from residents and create opportunities for open dialogue. By proactively sharing more information about the city’s operations, I aim to foster a transparent and responsive government that serves the needs of our community.
Gopi: From what I know, the current city clerk is only responsible for administering elections. I intend on being more involved in the other roles of the city clerk, especially being the liaison between the public and the city council and bringing more awareness to the public and increasing their interaction with the council. I plan to create more public forums to create awareness and increase participation in city council meetings. I would like to design programs to give young adults more ways to interact with the city and see first-hand how the local government operates.
What are your qualifications for this position? Do you have city clerk certification and/or training? If not, would you pursue specialized certifications?
O’Keefe: I am a lifelong Santa Clara resident. I am retired from the California Highway Patrol with over 30 years of public service with many years experience in an executive management and leadership roll. I am a prior City Clerk candidate, If elected I would seek the City Clerk certification (Certified Municipal Clerk) and have already inquired into initiating the process.
Kelly: I have received a Bachelor of Science degree with a Concentration in Finance from SJSU. I have completed two 4-year terms on the Santa Clara Planning Commission. During this time, I attended 3 National Training Conferences and 2 State Conferences for the benefit of all Santa Clara Residents. I also possess a willingness to learn and grow into the position. I am committed to taking necessary training and completing specialized City Clerk Certifications provided by the State of California.
Tacci: My experience as a successful business leader has equipped me with strong organizational and leadership skills, particularly in delegation, follow-up, listening, and driving action. These strengths will allow me to manage the City Clerk’s office effectively and ensure the needs of the community are met. I’ve always believed that success in any role comes from understanding what needs to be done and taking decisive action while staying accountable to those you serve.
Gopi: I am a technology professional, and this is my first time pursuing a public office. I do not have any official training for the role, but I have training and experience in leadership and being customer-centric in identifying and solving problems. I will obtain the certifications required for municipal clerks if I am elected. I am a person with a strong community sense, and I have created multiple communities that I still work with actively. I am excited to put my skills in community building and leadership to make things better for the residents of Santa Clara.
What, if anything, will you do to increase transparency to city hall?
O’Keefe: At all times I will conduct myself in a lawful, transparent, and professional manner with high moral values and ethical standards, I will expect no less of any other elected official or city employee. As City Clerk, I will ensure that all of the duties required of the City Clerks Office are thoroughly completed with the highest level of public service and as soon as legally possible, all records will be made available for public review in a timely and efficient manner.
Kelly: First, I will follow City Protocols releasing information after speaking to the city lead attorney. I will not politicize information. I will also ask the Santa City Council to authorize an ethics advisor for future elections to provide a forum to resolve issues between candidates.
Tacci: I will introduce more proactive disclosure of city documents, meeting minutes, and financial reports. My goal is to make information easily accessible online, reducing the need for cumbersome requests and minimizing paper waste. By embracing digital tools and solutions, we can streamline processes while contributing to environmental sustainability. Regular community engagement will also help maintain transparency and ensure accountability.
Gopi: I would like to make city council meetings more accessible to the public. A lot of people don’t even realize that there are meetings happening, or how to participate. So, creating that awareness is at the top of my list. I also think that having the option to attend meetings virtually will help with increasing the public participation. We should use more technology like online comment platforms and mobile apps to improve transparency and accessibility for all, including multilingual support which is very important for our community.
From these verbatim responses, Paul Tacci is clearly the most effective communicator and conveys the exact type of experience and foresight expected of a Silicon Valley businessperson. He’s the only one that consistently spoke to a proactive strategy of making all documents, forms, and calendars available to the public as well as internal public documents approved for public disclosure. Community engagement was another consistent theme of his. Tacci’s online portfolio portrays a person with good communication skills, technical savvy, and business acumen. Residents should strongly consider Tacci for elected Clerk.
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Poornima Gopi’s responses had similar tone and depth as Tacci. She appears to understand the full responsibility of an elected Clerk’s office and her statement of experience illustrates a highly capable person for the role. Gopi’s product management experience with a student-centric SaaS platform will afford the city great perspective on tools to leverage for expanded community engagement.
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Bob O’Keeffe’s responses read like someone a bit over-zealous about a task at hand. Most of the part-time Clerk responsibility was transferred to the full-time Assistant City Clerk years ago. The elected City Clerk does not set policy. Part of the Clerk’s role is compliance of elections which is monitoring, educating, investigating, reporting, and recommending changes – this role does not create or ‘enforce’ policy as O’Keeffe appears to believe. Compliance and enforcement are separate roles. And O’Keeffe is closely associated with a small group and anti-Santa Clara residents who have been fighting against the City Council body, City Manager, and City Attorney for some time now. Residents strongly ignored O’Keeffe’s candidacy years ago and they should do the same this November.
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Steve Kelly was afforded the same opportunity to communicate with the public, yet his responses totaled just 136 words for all four questions combined. The other candidates’ responses were more than 2-times Kelly’s word count. Sometimes less is more but I think Kelly missed a golden opportunity to present himself in a bright light. However, I do like the fact that Kelly knows this role is limited and that the elected Clerk must work with city management and staff, not act as an external proxy for a politically railed laity.
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Although I’m commented on Kelly last, I recommend he be considered above O’Keeffe if you’re still considering anyone other than Tacci or Gopi.
“O’keefe is closely associated with anti Santa Clara residents” why wound you say they are anti Santa Clara? That would imply they are against their city and I am confident that is completely false. It was pretty tough for O’keefe to win a council election when the 49ers backed his opponent with a million dollars and put out baseless negative ads against him. There needs to be ethics and integrity put back in our city and elections. Bob O’keefe is the one to do that.
Bob O’Keefe is a Lady Gillmor minion. Do not vote for him.
“I’ll attend City Clerk training.”
I don’t know how anyone can consider voting for him. The guy could have at least put the questions into ChatGPT for a better response.
Isn’t Steve Kelly the same guy who was a planning commissioner, who, while on the planning commission, didn’t recuse himself from voting on approving HIS OWN PROJECT that he was developing or was the real-estate agent for? Or am I mistaking him for another Steve Kelly? Can someone check with him and check the planning commission voting records?