From:
To: City Council
Subject: Speechless over Tonight's Agenda Item
Date: Tuesday, November 5, 2024 11:26:00 AM
Attachments:
I saw this listed in tonight's agenda in the Sebastopol Times email and was left speechless.
8. Approval of Amendment Number 4 for Contract for City Clerk/Assistant City Manager. Thisitem is to approve the Contract Amendment as Negotiated. The fiscal impact of amending the agreement will be a total of $46,700. The fiscal impact is for an increase in the base salary as well as City provided benefits. (Responsible Department: Human Resources/Mayor)
9. Approval of Resolution for Management/Mid Management Employees. This item is to approve Resolution providing a $1,000 off salary schedule payment to three safety positions; and approval to provide two paid days off in December 2024 to two miscellaneous employees. (Responsible Department: Human Resources/Assistant City Manager/City Clerk)
This article dated, August 19, 2021, (https://www.thecommunityvoice.com/news/sebastopol/sebastopol-looks-to- recoup-1-2-million-lost-in-fraud-transfer/article_3cb8e2c2-013a-11ec-8cb5-Ofb7a132f8cf.htmlThere ) states, from the $1.2 million fraud transfer:
"The four items in the budget the council chose to hold off on are $30,000 for the SB-1383 program to increase food recovery that requires acquiring compost, nearly $30,000 for a pickup truck for public works and $20,000 for zero waste building upgrades. Lastly, the city diverted funds from Sebastopol's vehicle reserve fund to provide $80,000 dedicated for fire engine replacement."
First, how could something like this happen???? And secondly, why are we not putting money towards one of the above listed items instead?
In this article (https://www.sebastopoltimes.com/p/city-facing-26-million-budget-shortfall) Diana was quoted:
"This isn't a situation where we have a budget where there's a lot of fat, a lot of extra. We instead have a budget that's been working on a very, very slender margin for a number of years. And we thought it was going to improve after the pandemic. But we're realizing there's some longterm limitations that we have to deal with," Rich said.
If you look at the city employees' salaries on Transparent California (https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/2023/sebastopol/),/ feel they are being paid well. Maybe not as well as they would like, but well enough for the situation our city is in. Maybe some of the "fat" is in the salaries and benefits.
Regular Overtime Pension Total pay &
Name Job title Other pay. Total pay Benefits
pay. pay. debt benefits
Acm/City.
Mary. Clerk
$177,058.00 $0.00 $82,245.00 $259,303.00 $37,228.00 $44,078.20 $340,609.20 Gourley. Sebastopol,
2023
I highly suggest you look at Nextdoor and the outrage being felt by the citizens of this town. I highly suggest you reconsider approving these increases.
Lynne Joyce