Submit Date: May 31, 2024
First Name Middle
Initial
Last Name
Email Address
Street Address Suite or Apt
City State Postal Code
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Employer Job Title
City of Napa Boards & Commissions
Profile
Mailing Address (if different than Resident Address above) Length of Residence in the City of Napa:
15 Years
Length of Residence in the County of Napa:
15 Years
Registered to vote in the City of Napa?
Yes No
Ethnicity *
Caucasian/Non-Hispanic
Interests & Experiences
Which Boards would you like to apply for?
Civil Service Commission: Submitted
Suzanne R Mason
Napa CA 94558
Ho
Self Employed Public
Management and HR
Consultant
Consultant
Suzanne R Mason
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Upload a Resume
Community Service Experience:
I have worked in local government in California for over 33 years. I worked in a variety of progressively responsible positions with the City of Long Beach for 25 years, including Deputy City Manager and Director of Human Resources. I worked with the County of Napa for
5.5 years as the Director of Human Resources. Prior to retiring in 2017, I worked as Assistant City Manager for the City of Palo Alto and the Employee Relations Director for the City and County of San Francisco. I have served as a Civil Service Commissioner since January 2017.
Education:
I have a Bachelors of Arts Degree in History from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a Masters Degree in Public Administration from the University of Southern California. I also attended the Senior Executives in State and Local Government at the Kennedy School at Harvard University in 2002.
Other relevant experience or expertise:
I am an experienced local government administrator with a commitment to merit based practices in local government employment. I am knowledgable regarding classification and compensation and performance management in local government. I am well acquainted with the Myers Miius Brown Act (CA Government Code Section 3507) and other State of California Labor laws. I have worked within a Civil Service System for many years and know the importance of fair and objective employment practices in attracting and retaining a well qualified work force. A significant part of my current work includes conducting employment recruitments for local governments throughout the Bay Area; I have a thorough understanding of hiring and selection practices in city government.
Additional Questions
What is your understanding of the role and responsibility of this board? The Civil Service Commission advises the City Council on personnel and classification and compensation matters with the City workforce. Further, the Civil Service Commission serves as the appellate board on disciplinary decisions and other civil service rules for City Employees.
Have you ever attended a meeting of this board? If so, how many? I have attended Civil Service meetings since January 2017; I believe during this time I missed one or two meetings due to travel. I have attended about 85 meetings.
What duties of this board are most interesting to you?
Using my extensive background and knowledge of public employment and merit based hiring and employment to contribute to my community. I feel I can provide an objective perspective to disciplinary and personnel appeals and understand the importance of due process with regard to public employment.
What activities of this board are least interesting to you? Having to make disciplinary decisions that impact employees.
Suzanne R Mason
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What programs or projects would you like to see improved or implemented? I believe that modernizing Civil Service rules in an effort to attract and retain a well qualified diverse workforce is important to the effective and efficient delivery of public services in our community. Making sure we have fair, unbiased employment practices that use due process while at the same time attract and retain a workforce that can provide service to the community in the most cost-effective and efficient manner is what I would like to work on.
Most Civil Service rules were written over 50 years ago and were not designed to attract the future generation of employees. As increasing number of employees retire it is important that the City of Napa position itself as an employer of choice and utilize employment practices that will attract and retain a well qualified diverse work force that reflects our community. We should provide City residents an opportunity for employment and hire the most qualified individuals to serve the community. Reviewing outdated rules that may have been written for a different generation and updating them for the 21st Century is something that attracts me to this position with the Civil Service Commission.
How would you approach improving these project(s) or program(s)? I believe evaluating Civil Service Rules to make sure they are reflective of the 21 century work place and serve to attract and retain a well-qualified diverse work force is critical. I have worked on Civil Service Reform in the City of Long Beach and with the State of California with regard to County personnel rules. Recommending rule changes to the City Council and the community that ensure employment and work place practices are fair to the employee while at the same time contribute to effective service delivery is one of the areas I would like to work on with staff and the City Council if selected to be a Civil Service Commission member. I believe some of the current rules may serve as an impediment to expanding the diversity of the workforce; I think we need to take a close look at our current rules with the lens of attracting diverse and qualified candidates and expanding employment opportunities for city residents.
Are you involved in any organizations or activities that may result in a conflict of interest if you are appointed to this board? No.
Please list two local references and their phone numbers:
How did you learn of this vacancy?
Other
Suzanne R Mason
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SUZANNE R. MASON
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Public Management and Human Resources Consultant, July 2017 to Present
Consult local government, special districts, and non-profit agencies providing a variety of management services including: human resources, executive recruitment, workforce planning, updating policies and procedures and modernization , streamlining of operations and organizational assessments. Significant experience in change management, human resources, labor relations, budget, financial management and administrative services.
Employee Relations Director, City and County of San Francisco, July 2016 to July 2017
Directed labor and employee relations for the 30,000 employees in the City and County of San Francisco. Responsibilities include negotiating and administering the provisions of the City’s collective bargaining agreements, managing the grievance process through arbitration, determining bargaining unit assignments, and conducting legally required meet and confer processes regarding issues within the scope of representation. Advised departmental personnel representatives in the interpretation of contract provisions, disciplinary matters, and grievance responses. Significant accomplishments include negotiating two-year contract extensions with 26 unions and restructuring business processes for the Employee Relations Division to improve customer service and reduce response-time to requests from Departments and Unions.
Assistant City Manager, City of Palo Alto, May 2015 to July 2016
Managed and coordinated internal city services including the Administrative Services Department (financial services, budget and procurement), Human Resources Department and Labor Relations, and the Technology Services Department. Served as liaison for citywide audits, led labor strategy for seven bargaining units and coordinate citywide service delivery improvement efforts and performance management efforts for the City’s 1,100 employees and hourly personnel. Represented the City of Palo Alto on the Transportation Management Association (TMA) as one of the primary employers in Palo Alto. Significant accomplishments include d: restructuring of Human Resource operations and staffing and negotiation of four successful labor agreements which included increased employee pension contributions and flat rate medical.
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Suzanne R. Mason
2 Director of Human Resources, County of Napa, October 2009 to April 2015
Directed H uman Resource functions for the County of Napa’s 1,400 employees including labor relations, personnel operations, recruitment and hiring, classification and compensation, equal employment, and employee benefits management . Significant accomplishments include: negotiation of eight successful labor agreements with Napa Association of Public Employees/SEIU 1021, IHSS Workers and the Deputy Sheriffs’ Association , implementation of innovative merit-based hiring and selection procedures, implementation of pension and health care reform, introduction of new leave management procedures and interactive return to work efforts, and development of supervisory training programs. Represent ed County interests at CalPERS and Cal HR on collaborative projects.
Challenges included implementation of the Affordable Care Act and serving as a representative to Cal HR for modernization of Statewide Local Agency Personnel Rules.
Director of Human Resources, City of Long Beach, May 2007 to October 2009
Directed Human Resource functions for the City of Long Beach’s 6,000 employees including labor relations, personnel operations, classification and compensation, equal employment, employee benefits management, training and development and risk management functions. Responsibilities included: leading negotiations with nine (9) employee unions and associated labor relations; managing over $200 million in self -insured employee benefits; training and development for over 6,000 employees; and providing loss prevention and insurance management for Workers’ Compensation, liability, and property insurance programs. Significant accomplishments include:
introduction of a new collaborative interest -based negotiations approach that led to improved labor/management relations; implementation of changes to Workers’ Compensation and health insurance management that resulted in 15 % annual savings, while maintaining the quality of benefits; modernization of hiring and employment practices.
Deputy City Manager, City of Long Beach, October 2002 to May 2007
Managed internal city services including the Departments of Financial Management, Human Resources, Technology Services and Library Services and led budget, optimization, and performance management efforts for the City of Long Beach. Responsibilities included development and oversight of a $2.7 billion City Budget, oversight of internal service departments, liaison to the Long Beach Unified School District and City arts organizations. Significant accomplishments included:
development of a citywide financial plan that reduced the General Fund Budget by close to 30% ; implementation of a comprehensive performance management system, including a performance based program budget and tracking and reporting systems; led review process for a revenue generating ballot measure; and coordination of citywide optimization efforts including implementation of new technology, reorganization of city functions, contracting in and out of city services, improved cost recovery strategies, and redesign of service delivery strategies to achieve optimal efficiencies and improved service delivery.
Manager of Business Operations, City of Long Beach Energy Department, February 2001 to October 2002
Manager of Business Operations, City of Long Beach, Department of Parks, Recreation and Marine, April 1994 to February 2001
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Suzanne R. Mason
3 Superintendent of Administrative Services, City of Long Beach, Department of Parks, Recreation and Marine, July 1990 to April 1994
Administrative Analyst (Personnel Operations), City of Long Beach, Department of Parks, Recreation and Marine, September 1987 to July 1990 Budget Analyst, City of Long Beach, Department of Financial Management, January 1985 to September 1987
Management Assistant, City of Long Beach, City Manager’s Office, July 1984 to January 1985
ED UCATION
Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government, Senior Executives in State and Local Government Program
University of Southern California, Master of Public Administration, Intergovernmental Management
University of California, Santa Barbara, Bachelor of Arts, History AF
FILIATIONS AND ACTIVITIES
Civil Service Commissioner, City of Napa
International City/County Management Association
California Public Employers Labor Relations Association Society for Human Resources Management
Local Government Hispanic Network
National Forum for Black Public Administrators
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