Dear Red Phone: I’d like to know how the city council can
justify full-time benefits of $89,405 when they’re part-time
employees.
“Dear Red Phone: I’d like to know how the city council can justify full-time benefits of $89,405 when they’re part-time employees. You can check this out by going to the budget page on the city’s Web site. Go to finance, financial plan, financial plan expenditures page one. The figures are right there. If they were part-time employees, it would instead cost the city $4,000. And I’ll be happy to take my answer in print. Someone ought to take a look at that. Thank you.”
Dear Part-Time Sleuth, With our city in the red, hearing numbers like those certainly can be alarming to the city but we must remember how much they contribute.
“The seven members of the City Council are not city employees or classified as such,” said Joe Kline, Gilroy’s public information officer.
The members of the council are elected. For the fiscal year 2008/2009, the salary budget for the entire council is $67,781. The $89,405 number you are looking at is in fact the fringe benefits. But they are for the council as a whole, not individual members.
However, it’s up to you to decide whether it’s deserved.
City should power wheelchairs
“I was in an accident on Nov. 10, 2007 which left me paraplegic. I’ve only been wheelchair bound for a little over a year. And there are so many things that bother me that I’ve never thought of before. For example, yesterday, I was trying to make it home in my power chair but did not have enough power. I was traveling down Monterey Street. Every one of the light poles had a power outlet on them but they were either caped or not working. I don’t understand why there would not be some kind or electricity available for people with disabilities especially at all bus stops, parks. Not even the train station outlets work.”
Dear Out of Power, Red Phone is sorry to hear of your accident but glad to hear you are trying to adjust. It must be frustrating to be literally stuck somewhere because you could not find a power source.
Red Phone contacted Don Dey, city transportation engineer. Dey said this sort of issue has never come up before and needs to be investigated.
The city “will need to do some surveying to find out what other cities are doing,” Dey said. “This is a new issue for us so we don’t have an understanding of what’s involved.”
He said the outlets on Monterey Street are used and controlled by the Downtown Business Association for special events downtown. They turn those on and off when needed.
“The larger issue is that it’s something engineering will need to investigate – what all the implications are – vandal implications, costs, etc.,” Dey said.
So, in the meantime, good caller, always be sure you have a friend or someone dependable you can call in case you run out of power. The city has this on their minds now so Red Phone will get back to you with a possible resolution as soon as the city follows up.
Heads-up on reporting cars for sale
“You need to be aware that Gary Muraoka with the police department is out on disability for about two months. So he is not going to be able to do any follow up on car problems or cars that have for sale signs posted. I just wanted to let you know. I am a Volunteer in Policing and I do vehicle abating, so you need to be aware that Gary is out for at least two months.”
