More than two years after an outgoing San Jose City Council councilmember refused to relinquish social media accounts to its successor, city officials have crafted a new policy to ensure a smoother transition of power, with newly elected leaders better equipped to serve their constituents on day one.
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“We all know public service is built on trust, not just how we lead but how we leave office,” Doan said. “Transitions between election officials are necessary and how we manage them matter very deeply.”
Esparza did not respond to a request for comment.
The new policy will create a standardized process with the administration providing core accounts and software that allow the IT department to better control access to resources paid for by the city. Access to other websites and services paid for by the city must also be eventually tied back to city accounts.
“In recent years, we’ve seen how the lack of a clear process during this transition can lead to unnecessary complications, service disruptions to our constituents, lost access to digital platforms, confusion over constituent data, and questions about who controls what,” Doan said. “These gaps don’t just impact us. They impact our residents.”
The city also will provide social media accounts when elected officials ask for them, allowing them a little more leeway should they want to brand themselves differently. However, all official business communications must originate from a city account.
AB 1637, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law in 2023, already required all cities and counties to transition their websites and employee email addresses to .gov domains by 2029.
While elected officials can receive training ahead of taking office, District 1 Councilmember Rosemary Kamei has pushed for the city clerk and city attorney’s office to include guidance on acceptable uses of official, personal and campaign accounts, saying that the lines could become blurred and it was important to understand the roles and responsibilities in a political office.
For example, if an elected official used personal accounts to conduct city business, responding to public records requests would be more difficult.
“At the end of the day, it is a responsible, proactive measure that we want to ensure taxpayer dollars are used appropriately and that there is a differentiation between official city business, personal and campaign (accounts),” Kamei said. “I think that we are accountable to the public and when we see an opportunity to improve how we can govern and protect public resources, we should do it.”
The standard onboarding process usually includes guidance on staffing and hiring, budget review, equipment procurement and expenditure and reimbursement policies.
While he said the process to prepare new councilmembers has improved, compared to the “horror stories” of other officials, District 6 Councilmember Michael Mulcahy said he would like the city to consider other changes before the next set of city councilmembers is seated after the November 2026 election based on his own experience coming into office earlier this year, including when the actual transition of power occurs.
“When we’re transitioning, everybody is off on a recess, and by the time Jan. 5 or 6 rolled around, we (were) expected to be up and running, and we were not,” Mulcahy said.
Mulcahy also added that the budget figures he was provided in November were less than what he inherited, impacting his planning when his office began hiring staff.
“I think an opportunity to have a deep dive with those colleagues that just sort of came in and (have) gone through this process would be helpful,” Mulcahy said. “I think we gave feedback on the training we got, but some of the more practical on-the-ground issues we faced around physical transition and budget transition, I think, would go one step further to helping the next set of councilmembers.”
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