Process has voided prudence and practicality. The City Council
has abandoned its role as the check and balance in local
government
A recent early-season campaign mailer targeting Mayor Al Pinheiro and four councilmen for “rubber stamping” policies crafted by City Hall administrators stirred up a lot of indignant political dust.
“It’s sad that our community is having this kind of thing happen … We should all be above this,” said Pinheiro.
News flash: Gilroy isn’t above politics. And though it would certainly be preferable for the person responsible to come forward (yes, it’s cowardly), the truth is that this Council, through its actions and inactions, has created the issue.
And it’s not going to go away until the election is held in November.
The recent “revelation” that City Administrator Jay Baksa plans to bring pay increase proposals for city managers to Council so soon after ramming a “best of the best” pay plan through City Hall is a prime example of why the rubber stamp is firmly on the forehead of those holding local office.
Process has voided prudence and practicality.
The City Hall management salary creep, now built in as policy and set against the backdrop of dwindling reserves, is ample evidence for many residents that the lambs on the Council have obviously lost their way.
The mailer is an outgrowth of the pure frustration that has manifested over time, and that – though the criticized Council members may bristle and wince – is the result.
The Council has created another bargaining unit in City Hall, a de facto union for city managers, a union that has the most lucrative contract of all.
The swirl of circular reasoning on this issue is surreal: manager pay increases are mandated to be at least 15 percent above any subordinate, so every contract negotiated with a rank-and-file union ends up benefitting a manager.
Who’s looking out for the resident taxpayers? Certainly not the City Council, certainly not the city managers … and therein lies the deep frustration that is palpable among many voters.
The insidious nature of the “best of the best” pay proposal laughs sarcastically at the notion that management-level employees should be individually evaluated and rewarded based on performance.
How did our city get to such an absurd point? The Council laid down a red carpet strewn with the delightful scent of policy-matic pay increases and marked it with the clear outline of a rubber stamp.
