Something Slimy....

Something slimy is going on in Chico right now. Actually, it looks like its been going on since the Fall of 2012. Here’s some components of the sliminess:

-                Repeated appearances by the City Manager before the City Council with new proposals for “rightsizing” the City, concepts with little or no detail presented, eventually some associated dollar figures, but always with relevant or complete information left out.

-                Lots of talk from the three new guys running the City (CM, ACM, ASD) about how broke the City is, and how it has been run into the ground by past leaders.

-                A City Council that continues to receive the City Manager appearances in this manner, and echoes in agreement that the City is broke.

Now that’s just the foundation of the sliminess. Here’s where the head scratching starts:

-                The fact that the City is broke has apparently been well known for some time, yet the current City Council brings in a new City Manager at $27,000 higher than the last one was making. He came in at $217,000, and with his $400 per month car allowance will make $223,008 + benefits annually after July1.

-                The Assistant City Manager who “retired” shortly after the new City Manager took over was replaced with a guy who started at the top step of the pay scale, which is $27,000 more than the previous guy. This guy came in at $185,000 and with his $400 car allowance (because the ACM needs a City car????) he will be at $190,318 + benefits after July 1.

-                Then, the Finance Director makes a quick exodus, and within 24 hours of her resignation announcement the new City Manager hires a guy without doing any recruitment….and get this: He starts the guy at $130,000, which is slightly higher than the previous Finance Director…..but the City Council then approves a contract guaranteeing that June 1, 2013 his salary will bump up to $160,000 annually whether or not he is promoted to the new Admin Services Director position!!!! This guy started in March at $130,000, June 1 he was bumped up to $160,000 and July 1 he will be at $161,048 + benefits.

These three things alone just stink……but there’s more. Guess how many of the “new” rightsized city department heads got the new top step of the salary range? Only one: The guy that got the $30k annual raise guaranteed after only three months on the job. If the other 4 department heads are going to get one, it hasn’t happened yet. A review of documents related to the City’s proposed budget for next fiscal year suggests that all 5 of the Department heads will be at the new max July 1…..which of course prompts the question: Are we really that broke if we can not only increase the salaries of the top 3, but we increase all the rest of the remaining department heads as well?

There’s more…..

Have you really dug into this whole layoff notices given to 53 employees thing? Well, as with the smell associated with the new department head salaries, there is additional stench….there is a very clear indication that crafty manipulation of the personnel rules is taking place in order to get rid of those employees in City Hall who are not liked, and to retain those who are. There is a plan afoot to layoff several employees, reclassify their positions, and then speculation is that in some cases the positions will be refilled. It’s not clear whether there will be recruitments or simple appointments to fill the new jobs. Examples: in HR, 3 people received layoff notices (there are only 3 HR employees), yet that would virtually eliminate the department…..and at the same time there is a move to create two new job classifications in the City; Human Resource Analyst and senior Human Resource Analyst. In the City Clerk’s Office, the plan is to layoff 2 people, one FTE and one who is shared with another department…then to create a new “Deputy City Clerk” position at a rate HIGHER than the person being laid off. And then there’s the City Manager’s Office…the two Admin Analysts, who presumably are not in favor with the CM, are being laid off and a new position of Executive Assistant is being created. Word is that this is happening in other departments as well…Finance for one. It is obvious this is based on favoritism and a desire to derail any due process rights of employees when it comes to bumping. These re-creations of positions that are being forcefully vacated will eliminate the ability of future incumbents to bump if the City is forced into layoffs again.

I’m sorry, but that whole series of moves stinks to high Heaven. Apparently so much that the Chico Employees Association (one of the employee unions – the one that represents a lot of the people in City Hall who are being laid off) has already figured it out and communicated their concerns to the City Manager.

This is how business is done in corporate America. But, really? In Chico? Chicago, yes…Chico, no.

Somebody with some gonads on the Council needs to bring this trainwreck to a grinding halt, and bring it ALL out in the open in one place at one time. To realize all that I have just described has taken place in our City government in less than one year causes me to question how seriously the Council takes our financial dire straits and whether or not the new hired gun has succeeded in seizing the opportunity to empire build. Either way, I am absolutely blown away that this kind of stuff would be stood for in this town.