In the next four months, the Davis City Council is going to ask most, if not all, of its employees to take salary, retirement and benefit concessions in their round of bargaining that is ongoing.
At the same time, we have believed for some time that the councilmembers, given the work they perform and the hours they put in, are under-compensated for their service to this community.
This has been, in a lot of ways, an extraordinary week with so much big news that we have not had a chance to do our normal pattern of analysis and commentary. So this week’s off-topic column will look at four three (Davis Diamonds became substantial enough that I created its own column for it) of the bigger stories this week.
This was an issue that the Vanguard pursued last week, in part out of concerns that we might not be able to attend and cover the meetings on a regular basis and in part out of the belief that on such an important issue, with the WAC playing a vital role in the process, we just need full transparency.
Vanguard Believes Leaks From Disgruntled City Employees Driving Some ItThe attacks on City Manager Steve Pinkerton began hot and heavy on December 5, 2011 from Jon Li, even before the city manager had finished a three-month period that saw both the implementation and the revocation of water rate hikes in advance of a massive surface water project.
In a missive directed at the heart of City Hall, attacking both the mayor and city manager viciously, Jon Li, a former city council candidate and longtime resident, accused the new city manager of being “Krovoza’s Lapdog” and suggested that he “flunks his probationary period.”
Steve Pinkerton Argues CalPERS Optimistic Projections “Wrong” and “In Complete Denial”
At the Chamber of Commerce’s annual event, Davis City Manager Steve Pinkerton delivered his first State of the City Address. While Mr. Pinkerton would focus heavily on the burning issues, particularly the issue of the budget, he also highlighted some achievements.
Unlike past editions, this one was marked with straight talk, highlighting the positive aspects of the community, but being very honest about the crises that loom, namely in terms of pensions and retiree medical benefits.
On Tuesday, Davis City Manager Steve Pinkerton will deliver his first state of the city address to the Davis Chamber of Commerce.
The Vanguard spoke with the city manager about his thoughts so far and for the upcoming year. It has been a fast start for the former city manager from Manteca. His first council meeting lasted until 3:30 in the morning, and things have not slowed down since.
On Wednesday, the Vanguard had a brief phone interview with Mayor Joe Krovoza, talking about the coming year and what is on the horizon for Davis.
The current city council is a marked improvement over the previous city council in a number of ways – both from a policy and a non-policy perspective. However, one of the most glaring errors that they continue to make is regarding scheduling.
After a nearly two-year hiatus, Vanguard Radio will re-launch this evening at 5 pm on KDRT 95.7 FM.
Mayor Joe Krovoza will be the first guest on the newly-revised show. We will obviously be talking about the water issue, but also the budget and other issues.
Steve Pinkerton’s last day in Manteca is Thursday, and his first day in Davis is Friday. Tuesday is show time. That is not a lot of turnaround time for Davis’ new city manager.
I have been thinking about how to characterize the latest council, as they are now a year into at least Joe Krovoza and Rochelle Swanson’s portion of the regime. If you look at things on an issue-by-issue basis, you realize that things are not going quite as well as you might have hoped.
Someone asked on yesterday’s column, whether this mistake came from the previous council, and whether I’d be giving them a pass. The simple answer is no, the previous council had a track record for obfuscation that dissolved any effort at giving them a benefit of the doubt.
Mayor Joe Krovoza has confirmed with the Vanguard that the numbers that were reported for the city manager’s contract were erroneous. According to him, “The term ‘gross wages’ is what should have been used.”
by Ken Wagstaff – I was Mayor when the City of Davis hired Jim Antonen to be City Manager.
Generally speaking, the August 1 meeting, typically held in the morning, is ceremonial. However, there will be an important item of business this year, in the approval of the City Manager Contract that will appoint Steve Pinkerton as Davis’ City Manager, effective September 2, 2011.
Mayor Joe Krovoza learned his lessons from history, back when the Council hired Jim Antonen. He said that the council made their three finalists known publicly, the top two candidates backed out and the council was forced, in a sense, to hire Jim Antonen, a move that they apparently did not want to make and did not work out.
Just when we thought that Davis would not be hiring a new city manager until after the break, late yesterday night came the breaking news from Mayor Joe Krovoza, announcing that Davis has hired Steve Pinkerton, the current City Manager of Manteca, California, as Davis’ new city manager, pending the formal contract approval process.
It seems like every year at this time, I point out the problematic nature of the council taking a month-long vacation. And yet here we are, and after what will likely be a ceremonial meeting in August, the council will be off until September 6.
I consider the unofficial ending time of the council year to be the August 1 meeting, prior to vacation. So it is time to assess where this new council is. Frankly, with the addition of Dan Wolk and subtraction of Don Saylor, the new council really did not take form until February, almost March.
Three things conspired to cause the root of this problem. First, the council had a joint meeting that went until 6:30. Following the joint meeting they had an extended closed session that ended around 7 pm. So they were already starting late when they discussed how to alleviate a content-heavy agenda.
City Manager Hire Crucial to Moving the City Forward – The city manager hire is crucial for the future of the city. This individual needs to set the tone for the changes that are going to have to take place.
