Maybe if the retirements of the two top police officers in the
city weren’t kept a secret, this whole ongoing mess could have been
avoided
The sudden retirement of Assistant Police Chief Lanny Brown – he quit abruptly on April 10 after learning the once-secret double-dipping scheme approved by City Administrator Jay Baksa violated state pension regulations – raises a lot of questions.
First, when the news of hidden retirements of Brown and Police Chief Gregg Giusiana broke, one of the reasons that Baksa justified the double dipping scheme was that Brown, who had overseen the building of the city’s $29 million new police station, was indispensable in the transition period.
“… Lanny and Gregg were and continue to be vital in the monitoring of a very difficult construction project,” is how Baksa defended the secret retirements in a Feb. 23, 2007 letter to the editor, describing them later as “… key police personnel to help in transitions.”
Now that Brown’s really retired and no longer double-dipping?
“We’re basically over the hump,” co-project manager Bill Headley told reporter Emily Alpert. “Capt. [Scot] Smithee and I can more than handle the remaining issues.”
It looks an awful lot like Brown wasn’t so indispensable after all.
It’s just another erosion of trust resulting from this hidden retirements scandal.
But there are more questions.
What kind of legal exposure does the city have? City officials approved a retirement/double-dipping deal that violated CalPERS regulations. Is it responsible for any opportunities Brown might have passed on in favor of staying in Gilroy for a double-dipping scheme that turned out to be prohibited? Or, since the city signed off on the deal, is it independently liable for Brown’s lost earnings?
And, most of all, why didn’t city officials know better? Baksa has said that the CalPERS system is “complex,” but that’s hardly an acceptable excuse – at least not for most City Councils. City taxpayers pay handsome salaries to a host of city employees – city administrator, assistant city administrator, human resources managers, and more. Whose job it is to understand these regulations and why didn’t they?
In the end, we have to wonder if the secrecy in which Baksa shrouded these retirements led to this mess. If the retirement plans had been subject to more scrutiny, perhaps the problems with Brown’s retirement would have been uncovered.
It all demonstrates – once again – why conducting the people’s business openly and transparently is so important. It’s not a matter of distrust, but a matter of city officials – elected and employed – trusting the people of Gilroy.
