January 29, 2009

Chirco new vice mayor

By Carol Rosen
Editor

District 9 Councilmem-ber Judy Chirco was unanimously voted in as vice mayor at Tuesday’s City Council meeting prior to a prolonged discussion about the city’s need to review its policy on outsourcing.

After the lengthy discussion, several friendly and not so friendly amendments and several motions, the council voted 7-4 to hold a special meeting of the Community and Economic Development Committee within 30 days to explore methods of changing the 12-year-old policy that set guidelines for outsourcing. Once city staff has time to digest and put together plans, approximately 45 days later, the council will again discuss the situation.

The at-times divisive discussion centers on a Jan. 23 memo from Councilmem-bers Nancy Pyle, Rose Herrera, Nora Campos and Ash Kalra suggesting a number of amendments to develop policy for outsourcing to private sources. The memo stems from City Manager Debra Figone’s options to battle the city’s continuing operating fund deficits, in-cluding a projected $65-million shortfall in the 2009-10 fiscal year that could lead to layoffs.

The mayor led off the discussion asking the four council members to explain the exact and recent problems stemming from the 12-year-old law, stating that he thinks the memo provides a solution but questioned if there actually was a problem. He and Councilmem-bers Oliverio, Constant and Liccardo noted during the discussion that Figone and her staff had enough work and this would create even more of a burden. The mayor also said that recent steps by the Sunshine Reform Taskforce provided the recommendations necessary to meet transparency for outsourcing.

Nearly 15 members of the public spoke up about the possibilities. Labor stood solidly behind the proposals with Bob Brownstein quoting portions of Barack Obama’s inaugural speech noting we need a watchful eye to set accountability, transparency…standards” and that the city should “set aside childish things.”

On the other side, business leaders noted the city already is stuck with too much bureaucratic red tape. “This is policy run amok. Before you start looking to change things, you should figure out what’s wrong,” said San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Pat Dando. “There are major issues…far more important things to do than this … under the guise of improving competition. Get back to doing what needs to get done.”

Other discussions included unanimous approval for a budget adjustment for the Planning, Building and Code Enforcement Department because economic conditions have created a larger than expected plunge in revenues, nearly $16 million. As many as 52 jobs will be eliminated, 28 of which currently are filled, although the city is trying to find similar jobs for those 28 employees; 18 may be out of work as early as March 1.

Council members also agreed unanimously, with Liccardo abstaining because he owns nearby property, to a $5.3-million plan to aid EHC Lifebuilders reduce its debt by selling off properties and relocating tenants. Santa Clara County is also helping out. This actually created a moment of levity in that Liccardo initially seconded the motion. The mayor had ask for the motion maker to restate the proposal, another member—other than Liccardo—to second and the council then re-voted.