The Carson City Council members should seriously reconsider the proposal to remove passport services from the City Clerk’s office.
After publishing an article, and posting it on various Carson related Facebook groups, and faced an onslaught of criticism for attempting to link the voting block to Councilman Jim Dear.
Councilwoman Lula Davis-Holmes made the motion and Dear supported the reduction of the city clerk’s department by two positions, despite it generating enough revenue to support the positions in question.
2UrbanGirls attempted to compare passport services provided by the city of Inglewood, and based on the Carson City Clerk’s explanation, they don’t come close.
In the newly created Facebook group, Eye Witness News in Carson, City Clerk Donesia Gause-Aldana discussed how her office handles enough passport applications, including taking photos, that generate enough revenue to fund the two positions.
The city clerk’s office collects revenue of $35 per application and $9 per photo, which has attracted the likes of residents and countless celebrities stopping by to get their passports.
We started extended hours in August of last year. We have doubled our profits for the last three years. Two full time positions was hired to accommodate the customer base. One was hired last March another in August. 50% of their workload is passports other 50% is city business. Not a bad deal for the city when essentially Carson got two full-time positions for $11,000 which was our shortfall.
The service netted $260K since the beginning, the city just hired two full time at 106K
Carson City Clerk Donesia Gause-Aldana
What’s really behind the motive of reducing the staff in her office? Hopefully, residents will voice their displeasure, as they have on social media, at the next regular city council meeting on June 18th where council is expected to approve the FY 2019-20 budget.
