City Council Powers and Pay Changes Proposed

Fremont’s discussion about City Council powers and pay is part of a broader push to decide whether the city should become a charter city and write its own governing document. The City Council voted on Feb. 17 to start that process, and on March 3 approved a work plan aimed at putting a proposed charter before voters on Nov. 3, 2026. A seven-member Charter Advisory Committee then met from March 23 through April 27 to review what powers, structure and compensation rules could change under a charter. The immediate takeaway is that no change has taken effect. Fremont remains a general law city, and any charter would still need City Council review and then voter approval. The city says the advisory committee’s role is to assist in reviewing and recommending provisions for a proposed charter, not to make final decisions on its own. ### Why is Fremont even discussing City Council powers right now? (fremont.gov) Vice Mayor Yajing Zhang’s referral, approved Feb. 17 in a 5-2 vote, launched the charter city effort. The city said the goal was to give Fremont “greater flexibility, stronger local control” and the ability to modernize governance, procurement and administrative systems. The council later chose an accelerated schedule aimed at the November 2026 ballot. (fremont.gov) Fremont’s current structure is a council-manager system under general state law. The city’s website says the City Council adopts the budget and major policy decisions and appoints the city manager, who hires staff and runs day-to-day operations. That baseline matters because the charter discussion has included whether elected officials should keep that arrangement or gain more direct authority over appointments and administration. (fremont.gov) ### What specific pay changes have been floated? The April 13 Charter Advisory Committee meeting focused on compensation for the mayor and councilmembers. HR Director Tina Gallegos told the committee the Fremont mayor’s monthly salary is $4,624 and councilmembers receive $2,603 a month, according to a meeting summary based on that session. (fremont.gov) That same April 13 discussion produced one of the clearest recommendations so far. The committee voted unanimously to align the mayor’s and councilmembers’ health benefit allowance with what other Fremont employees receive, and staff said doing so would add roughly $29,000 a year per elected official to total compensation. The committee also recommended 1.5 dedicated staff positions to support elected officials — one full-time position and an additional half-time allocation for the mayor. (citizenportal.ai) ### What power changes are under discussion? The April 20 committee meeting turned to appointment authority and whether a charter should give the council more power over city staff, including department heads, according to coverage of that meeting. That debate tracks a larger question running through the charter process: whether Fremont should stay close to its current council-manager model or shift more authority toward elected officials. (citizenportal.ai) An April 13 meeting summary said the committee voted 4-3 to recommend a council-manager charter. That suggests the committee was not recommending a wholesale break from the current form of government, even as it considered targeted changes on pay, staffing and authority. ### Who is making these recommendations? Mayor Raj Salwan appointed the seven members of the Charter Advisory Committee on March 20. (opgov.news) The city identified them as Dharminder Dewan, Brad Hatton, Rick Jones, Sue Kwong, Kim Marshall, Sathya Sankaran and Ben Yee. Their meetings were held in City Council Chambers and streamed by the city. The city says the committee was created to provide structured input while the council retains control of the charter-development process. (citizenportal.ai) That means any recommendation on compensation, staffing or appointment powers still goes back through the elected council before it could reach voters. ### What happens next, and where can residents follow it? Fremont’s 2026 City Council priorities page says the charter work is intended to produce a proposal for the November 2026 ballot and that a mid-year progress report is anticipated in July. (fremont.gov) The city’s Agenda Center posts agendas and public comments for council meetings, and the charter initiative page collects meeting information and background materials. (fremont.gov) May 22 Patch coverage pointed readers to the ongoing city calendar and council process, but the formal next steps are on Fremont’s own sites: the Agenda Center for upcoming meetings and the charter initiative page for documents and schedules. Any final decision on changing council powers or elected pay would come later, through council action and, if a charter is placed on the ballot, a citywide vote on Nov. 3, 2026. (patch.com) (fremont.gov)