Carson City Clerk Donesia Gause-Aldana to Leave Carson for Riverside

Carson’s city clerk Donesia Gause-Aldana is resigning her position following nine years of service in order to serve the city of Riverside in the same capacity.

Her resignation will become official April 11 at 11:59 p.m. Gause-Aldana was a deputy city clerk in Compton for three years and an analyst in the Long Beach City Clerk’s office for eight years before replacing Helen Kawagoe as Carson’s City Clerk in 2012.

Gause-Aldana’s term as city clerk marked a new beginning when she was appointed by Carson’s city council following the retirement of long time city clerk Helen Kawagoe who had served in the position for more than 30 years.

Gause-Aldana’s duties as city clerk include organizing and printing out the agenda for the city council’s bi-weekly meetings, managing, and maintaining and monitoring the city’s records of all official council actions, contracts and bonds.

Two years after her appointment, then Mayor Jim Dear expressed a lack of confidence in Gause-Aldana’s abilities as city clerk and said he could do a better job. In 2015, he ran for the city clerk’s position and won. Gause-Aldana in turn ran for a city council seat and won.

Dear’s election as city clerk was fraught with controversy at the time. No long after, Dear was successfully recalled and Gause-Aldana went back to serving as the city’s clerk.

During last night’s city council meeting, praised Gause-Aldana, citing her growth and poised handling of the office during the change up of elected on the city council over the past six years, including the elevation of Albert Robles, Jawane Hilton and Cedrick Hicks. Robles has since been ousted as mayor, replaced by longtime councilwoman Lula Davis-Holmes.

“Donesia, I want to say congratulations… I’m really impressed with your growth and your ability to handle controversy,” Jim Dear said. “I think in Riverside, they’re really going to benefit from your skills, your maturity, and your experience. They’re lucky to have you. You’ll be missed here.”

The city of Riverside has had an interim city clerk until a new clerk is appointed. Gause-Aldana will continue to maintain and organize public records and ordinances while continuing to overlook the city’s elections. Now that Carson is a charter city, the clerk’s role will be chosen by a citywide vote.