Here’s the backdrop:
-Painful layoffs and across-the-board budget cuts at City
Hall.
-A very rough economic outlook for many businesses and
individuals in Gilroy.
-Clear messages from the City Council to the unions,
particularly the fire and police bargaining units, that concessions
will have to be made in upcoming negotiations.
Then the stunning revelation:
-City Administrator Tom Haglund grants
”
merit
”
increases totaling almost $100,000 for 23 City Hall employees
without consulting the City Council.
1. Backdrop of budget cuts and job losses begs for Council advice
Here’s the backdrop:
-Painful layoffs and across-the-board budget cuts at City Hall.
-A very rough economic outlook for many businesses and individuals in Gilroy.
-Clear messages from the City Council to the unions, particularly the fire and police bargaining units, that concessions will have to be made in upcoming negotiations.
Then the stunning revelation:
-City Administrator Tom Haglund grants “merit” increases totaling almost $100,000 for 23 City Hall employees without consulting the City Council.
It’s one of those “you-couldn’t-make-this-stuff-up” situations that just leaves you shaking your head.
Though there’s some ambiguity about whether these “merit” increases are automatic and therefore legally bullet-proof because the city has institutionalized them, there’s no justification for not consulting the Council.
That will likely be the main topic Monday night as the Council has called for an early performance review of the city administrator behind closed doors.
2. Early performance review is unfortunate, but the right call
That’s the right call because of the economic circumstances involved, because of the serious nature of sending this message prior to contract negotiations with the major unions and because of the emphasis on communication with the Council during Mr. Haglund’s hiring process.
It’s all so unfortunate and avoidable.
Certainly there would have been strong grounds to call for, at the very least, a suspension of the raises until such time that the city’s financial outlook improved.
Adding fuel to the fire for Monday’s session is the fact that Mr. Haglund knows and has known that the city’s financial picture has worsened and that more painful cuts are very likely coming in the near future.
The colossal blunder does provide an opportunity, however. It’s high time to clear up the city rules related to “merit” increases for managers. Those raises should not be automatic and should be based on merit via evaluation.
3. It’s high time the managers at City Hall are treated like managers
For 22 highly skilled employees all to have received a 5 percent increase says that all performed equally well. It’s ludicrous, and speaks to a culture that does not truly reward outstanding work, but is concerned with “fairness” to a degree that disincentivizes the workforce. It’s certainly worth noting, too, that numerous employees who received the 5 percent raise also banked a cost-of-living increase as the cherry on top.
It’s hard not to make some comparison in these times – however far fetched – to the AIG bailout fiasco. But the essence in each situation is the same: It’s just not right.
For starters, the city manager should make a public mea culpa.
Secondly, the Council will have to press to see if these raises can be delayed until circumstances make them affordable.
Lastly, the city manager and the Council will have to work closely together to restore confidence in judgments related to spending the public’s money.
It’s a mistake that will take time and effort to repair, and the timing couldn’t have been worse.
