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Cut Staff : 9/4/2009

Why put it off? You need to start reducing staff. The City of Petaluma got rid of its whole Planning Department. Santa Barbara might want to consider something similar.

Mike

retirement age too young : 9/4/2009

Maybe police and fire should up their retirement age like the regular working force so they wouldn't continue to be such a drain on our public money. Talk about unsustainable, how can they do that to their own children's financial future with society? Back to reality please..

surfrmom

Civics 101 : 9/4/2009

Mike - I couldn't find any info on the City of Petaluma cutting their whole Planning Dept. Did you mean the Planning Commission? http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20090812/ARTICLES/908129883/1350?Title=Petaluma-council-backtracks-on-planning-commission-dissolution Do you think cutting all development and design review, building safety inspections, historic preservation, and long-range planning is really a good idea? Or do you always rely on knee-jerk reactions and partial-understanding to get you through the hard times?

Bloated : 9/4/2009

I wouldn't have said it when I worked for the city, but the fact is that many departments are OVERstaffed. I worked in a unit consisting of 5 FT and 1 half time position. That unit could be run by three people, maybe even two, and a supervisor was unnecessary as the jobs were so self explanatory that GED's could easily hack it. The Planners are way overstaffed, and the inspectors, even after fires took out about 200 homes in a year, don't have enough work to fill a 9 hour day. Leading up to me being let go they warned everyone that eyes were on us, yet we still showed up late and went home early just about every day, not everyone, but our unit performed that way. There just wasn't enough work for the indians to do, and the chiefs sit around doing nothing all freaking day. I'm out of government service so I can say it now: the people that call municipal service jobs "cushy" are largely correct, and if any unit has been assigned X number of positions, their goal becomes to create an atmosphere, and sometimes even an illusion, that there's enough work to go around so that everyone can stay employed. Sadly, that is not the case.

MCC

How to cut : 9/4/2009

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/08/22/MNN319C08S.DTL Teresa Barrett, vice mayor of Petaluma, which won't be getting any portion of the $375,000 that the city had expected this month, called it terrible news. "This just exacerbates our (financial) problem," she said. Like the state and most other local governments, Petaluma has had to balance its budget by closing nonessential city offices every Friday and laying off employees, including the city's entire planning staff of about a dozen workers. "We now contract that service out," she said. "It's been a big change to our city, and we're hoping that we can turn things around, but we're not in a vacuum." Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/08/22/MNN319C08S.DTL#ixzz0Q9nH8wIw

Mike

More furloughs : 9/4/2009

Double the furloughs and close the City every Friday

Susan

Huh? : 9/4/2009

Retirement age too young? After 30 years of working as a firefighter, it is time to retire. It is a young man/womans job. Thirty years of being on the ready, picking up / lifting your grandparents at 3am, rendering aid to everyone from the homeless living on the street to the millionaires on the hill, structure fire overhauls with toxic gases, out of town (and recently,in town) responses to conflagrations, car accidents involving major injuries,the required physical drills and training, missing family evnts and holidays, the list goes on; The stress of living with the above mentioned and all that goes with it, wears you down mentally and physically after 30 years. The fire service is a great job with pro's and con's like many others, but you are doing a disservice to the community hanging on and responding to incidents when you are 65 years of age. It is a physical job. Not sure, but I think the public can still do ride alongs if you are interested in more info.

Just one firefighters prospective

Layoffs : 9/4/2009

In reality the city is overstaffed just looking at the numbers when you compare to other cities and the growth in city employment vs population. It shouldnt be wholesale chops but yes in departments like planning they could get rid of at least a 1/3 but the concept of all is silly. There are other departments as well and the pension & benefits plan needs to be redone as well and some positions recalculated to reflect what prevailing wage is for the equal in private industry. The lie that government workers make less has been proven untrue its time to move on. A final thought who wants firefighters and police working past 30 years, it is a physical job if someone wants to keep doing some segments of the job that should be their choice but please the 30 is fine/

Voting this Year

Outsource City Planning Staff to India : 9/4/2009

Great idea Mike. I'm sure things would be much better off if we outsource our city's planning efforts to a low-bid, profit-driven, commercial enterprise...

Lay off staff : 9/4/2009

Do what the rest of have had to do. Reduce your staff!

Pete

controntational indeed : 9/4/2009

Well, MCC got canned from his job on the city staff, so one down already and many more to go!

Insider

Wrong priorities : 9/4/2009

Instead of focusing on saving city jobs the city council needs to focus on doing their job --- providing the taxpayers the best possible services for a reasonable cost. Time for change!

taxpayer

Outsource : 9/4/2009

Farm out the work... Get it done better and at a lower price. Ignore the Unions and find other ways to fund your campaigns.

John

Insider: : 9/4/2009

That's right. One down and many more to go. But what does "controntational" mean?

MCC

Overstaff : 9/4/2009

The city has 12 traffic engineers on their payroll, do we really need 12 engineers, meanwhile on their website www.santabarbaraca.gov they listed a job that pays $18-20 /hr.In Seach of LEGO ENGINEER INSTRUCTOR:. it says teaches concepts of physics, engineering, and architecture using LEGO !!! Gimme a break !!! Our neighbor works for the city he has about 6 weeks vacation every year and every other Friday off, all of this on our taxdollar and increased fees.

Clean House this election, including Grant House

Cut Cut Cut : 9/4/2009

Cut your staff! Stop wasting our tax money and selling us out to unions!

Tom

Downsize : 9/4/2009

I've got friends that work for the City and they brag about all the time they get off and consider their current furlough a perk. Less work and more fun is how they put it. Seems to me the City has too many people working for it. The company I work for made cuts and I feel fortunate to have a job. As a taxpayer I don't appreciate having government waste flaunted and bragged about. This isn't a short term recession and shouldn't be treated as such. Have some respect for those who pay your wages. Since this is an election year we have a chance to change the irresponsible status quo.

had enouh

Just my two cents .... : 9/4/2009

Regarding upping the retirement age for police and fire – I must concur with the previous firefighter who posted – this idea is problematic and wouldn’t address either the long, or short, term budgetary problems the City has. I am a police detective – putting in 30 years of this job, which is what is required to achieve full pension, is as much as most people can effectively handle of this job. A couple weeks ago I had to work a case where I continually investigated (on my “weekend”) for 26 hours straight (no sleep) then I caught 4 hours of sleep on the floor of my office and worked another 7 hours completing all of the arrest reports related to the case. Last year I had nearly 1100 hours of overtime for the year, mostly due to the short staffing and a heavy case load of gang crimes - I had a number of 24 hour work days on my "weekend". This level of work, time being away from home, many hours of lost sleep, many lost weekends etc. all put a drain on the body. I am not asking for sympathy, I am simply explaining that the demands of the job are one, of many, reasons why safety retirement has developed as it has … as the firefighter put it, this cop job is not for 65 year old men/women – the human body wasn’t made to endure such stressors for so many decades. So, you ask what is the budgetary answer? Those of you who are saying to cut City staff have the answer. Since 2002 the City has cut SBPD staffing 13% while the rest of the City Departments (except Fire, they have been the second most cut department) are, basically, at the same level of staffing from 2002. Now, if the rest of the Departments cut the same 13% the City has cut SBPD then the City could cut, about, 94 positions throughout the rest of the City departments and have, proportionally, the same level of staffing as SBPD. If the City can cut so many positions from the SBPD why can’t they, and didn’t they, cut the same percentage from the rest of the City? 94 positions would be millions in savings and would easily shoot the City right though this recession and into a position to save some serious $ for reserves outside of this recession. You say don’t cut positions, but furlough and cut salaries? Typically, a furlough or salary cut will be about a 5% reduction in pay for each employee thus you have to furlough and/or cut salaries for at least 25 employees to equal what eliminating ONE position will cover. You might say cut pay 10% or 50%! , or whatever % ... this is just not realistic – SB employees need a competitive wage (compared to other municipal employees) to make commuting to SB worth it and an obscene cut in pay will exacerbate retention problems. Additionally, in the case of SBPD officers, our salaries are already lower than most comparable agencies like Ventura, Oxnard, San Luis Obispo, etc. We regularly have retention problems so cutting our salary will just make retention worse and cause our salaries to plummet in comparison to other police departments where the cost of living is cheaper than SB. Most importantly, furloughs and salary cuts are temporary. This is a long-term problem that needs to be addressed in a long term manner thus cutting positions in all of the other City departments both reduces expenses and sets the City up to save money in the future. If they cut all of these SBPD positions, and SBFD positions, I am positive they can eliminate a bunch of other positions throughout the City. Just my two cents ….

CAZADOR

Cazador is right : 9/4/2009

I agree with the Police Officer. We don't need cuts in Police or Fire, and furloughs certainly aren't the long term solution. Reductions of general employees seems to be the only option.

Melisa

Overstaff? : 9/5/2009

Hahah.. Lego Engineer.. finally some comedy in this post. Wow people get fired up don't they. By the way the City only employs one traffic engineer, on a part-time contract basis. Its funny, a couple years ago in the dot com boom, government jobs were low paying crappy jobs for lazy people; and now the are overpaid millionaires that everyone is jealous of and detests. I say the City should cut all the recycling freaks from their payroll. I know how to recycle, no more education please!

TIm Legstrong

Cut Management Salaries : 9/5/2009

Cut the Salaries of Management by 25% - and that's just for a start. Aren't they the ones who've managed the City into the financial mess it's in?

Joe

Both Council AND Management did this ... : 9/5/2009

Yes, they were part of it but it is the City Councl that approves all that City Management presents. It was a combination of both management and the Council that worked together to cut public safety, increase SEIU positions, and give away $ to various special interest organizations that led to this financial mess.

Reduce spending : 9/7/2009

Until the City gets its books in order all projects should be put on hold.

westside leo

Cut some staff : 9/7/2009

Get the City out of the Recreation business. Cut the hugely bloated staff in the Parks and Recreation department. Turn the swimming lessons and pottery classes and tennis instruction BACK over the private sector. Its time to dismantle the Richard Johns empire. The savings there alone would more than make up for budget deficits and keep essential staff employed full time. And yes, it is time to examine the numbers, types of jobs, and pay for all City workers. In many instances its too much.

Plain View

Fire the City Administrator : 9/9/2009

Fire the City Administrator and get someone with some financial experience!

Ben G.

Cut Services : 9/9/2009

Seems to me there are a lot of services we don't need. Cutting that out would be a start and cancel some events. Solstice? Fiesta?

Larry

Overhaul staff alright, but keep police and fire : 9/10/2009

Because of neighborhood concerns in my area, we've spent a lot of this year interfacing with various city entities to attempt to gain resolution to our issues. I have to say, after meeting hordes of people that hold various jobs / commission / committee posts in the city, I am no clearer now on what all these people do than I was before I started. If anything, I am befuddled by the array of people one has to go through to get anything done in the city. There are people running around the city manager's office that tell you they are your rep for issues, but don't return emails or phone calls. Some of the city staff have titles that are roughly equivalent to 'Special Assistant to the 2-b Committee In Charge of Things Beginning With a T". It's very hard to figure out what they actually do. There are also commissions and committees that push one through an endless maze of bureaucracy so citizens struggle mightily to accomplish something as mundane as getting a public trash can. I figure to get that public trash can must have cost $100,000 in city employee time, as we navigated various departments and assistants and committees, never mind citizen time (very frustrating) in trying to secure the darned thing. There are indeed city recycling and clean-up advocates, planning commissioners that seem to just rubber-stamp controversial projects, and Parks and Rec has a staff that extends far beyond...parks and rec. It's beginning to feel (from this end) that something like 1 in 3 people in this city work for the city, and few of these departments / committees / commissions / boards, with the EXCEPTION of Police and Fire, are the least bit responsive to what the citizens actually want and need. Companies and city issues move at the speed of blur. City government moves at the speed of slow. I suspect the reason is because they're bloated with staff. Comments here confirm that, with the again notable exception of fire and police. In the corporate world, it's the opposite: you may be the receptionist / IT guy / and part-sales person all at once because until you've got revenues, you can't expand. Government, especially at the city level here, works the opposite way: a self-perpetuating. bloated and inefficient entity perpetually running-in-the-red. Get rid of some of these commissions in charge of things beginning with a T, and staff that is doing 1/3 of a job. We can't afford them, financially, or as citizens in need of services - the bureaucracy they've created is too complex for a citizen to navigate.

How can I get a job in the city government????

Consolidate city managements : 9/12/2009

I think we need LAFCO to look at combining south coast city managers and staffs. From Carpinteria to Goleta the councils could be separate, but the management and staffs could be shared for better efficiency. Small cities have to deal with the same specialized legal issues of those of the larger cities, but due to limited staffing, they must contract out the work to very expensive firms ($200+/hr staff) with no loyalty to the area (and they take advantage of any loopholes they can find in your contract). Staff just handles the paperwork involved with contract development and management. Santa Barbara Police and Fire could be combined with the County, which avoids the false boundary issues to crime and fires. Sufficient wages/benefits to staff to afford to live in the area is OK, but the minimum qualifications need to raised to a much higher level as well. A high school education is not enough to deal with all the complex rules and regulations for justice and environmental protections that we have set for ourselves. We deserve the "best of the best". Step increases for staff come too easy and fast as well. The merit and step pay increases need to be stretched out over at least 10 years, with good evaluations, to give experience in the system its due. Management and staff job promotions should be reduced to 5% increases in pay to reflect on the security of the jobs compared to the out of control private industry (who knows when your job is going to be outsourced to India?). Combining services also can increase buying power for the various products and services. South coast Special service districts for water and wastewater should all be re-combined as well (but kept isolated from the city councils) to create staff sizes that can allow for efficient knowledge transfer and emergency backup. We are in an isolated area with higher living costs associated with the lower population and beauty here. But with combining staffs, a more efficient, better qualified, workforce could be retained. This would require the local agency formation commission to be involved, but would they consider this?

Out of the box

Contract Out Services : 9/12/2009

Contracting out services would be a great start at reducing costs and becoming more efficient. Most of the services done by the parks department could be outsourced. The public would see a vast improvement at a much lower cost.

Sam

Spent too much : 9/15/2009

Looks like the City has mismanaged its budget and spent itself into a corner. Too bad the public has to pay for this and suffer from the upcoming cuts. Cutting staff looks like the only option.

Lisa

Change Direction : 9/18/2009

It's nearly too late, but it looks like it is going to be up to us voters to change the direction of the City and provide it with some leadership. I'm voting for Dale.

Ken

Push Projects Through : 9/19/2009

In my opinion the city could EARN some extra cash by pushing construction projects through the planning process. Makes some limit on how many times something is reviewed for Christ sake (this doesn't mean approve crazy ideas). We definately do NOT need to cut any police, we DO have a gang problem. We should cut staff in other departments, I work with the government, and they are over staffed in some departments. Also, many people do not know this, but the government pays for things they don't need! Managers and the like are swayed easily by sales people, and they need to shop around. They subscribe to services they hardly use, and out source to companies outside of Santa Barbara county... they don't even bother to stay local. I find the City of Santa Barbara (my city where I was born and raised) to sadly waste our money on things they really don't need. Answer: Cut spending all the way around.

SB Local

FULL POLICE FORCE : 9/21/2009

AMONG ALL THIS RED TAPE, THE CITY HAS FOUND ENOUGH REVENUE TO WAGE ALL OUT WAR ON THE "TOURIST UNFRIENDLY". 140 SWORN OFFICERS ARE OUT IN FORCE TO REMOVE ANYONE THEY DEEM UNWANTED. ALL AT THE REQUEST OF THE UNION LAP DOGS RUNNING FOR OFFICE! AIN'T SB GREAT!

TOURIST UNFRIENDLY

Public Safety : 9/22/2009

Public Safety first, cut everything else.

Howard

Plan : 9/25/2009

I'd like to see a plan to reduce the size of City government and provide better service. Lots of these jobs could be done better by being outsourced to local businesses.

Henry

Fees : 9/30/2009

The City should start charging for 911 Emergency Services to recoup some of the costs.

Thomas