August 2, 2007

City Council agenda set for Aug. 7 meeting

Members to tackle Sunshine, retirement proposals

By Carol Rosen
Editor

When a refreshed mayor and city council members meet on Aug. 7 for the first time in over a month, they will find the job hasn’t gotten any easier.

Among the first items to be discussed will likely be the situation in the City Auditor’s office during the morning’s closed-session meeting. While some staff members reportedly have returned to work, the majority, including Auditor Gerald Silva, have not and Mayor Chuck Reed told the Times last month that he deemed it important to settle the matter.

However, the closed session agenda will not be set until Friday, Aug. 3.

Two very important items will be on the council’s Tuesday afternoon meeting agenda. One of those is the Sunshine Reform task force, which held one outreach meeting Tuesday afternoon and will hold another Monday evening in Council Chambers, the general public is welcome to attend at 6 p.m. on Aug. 6.

The task force will make recommendations for the council to approve on closed session meetings and the public information category.

The second item up for discussion concerns the options for the city’s retiree health care liability. No decisions are expected, although the discussion might be long and controversial. This is a crucial issue, made more so by its potential to significantly impact the city’s budget bottom line.

“The unfunded liability for future retiree health care needs is potentially as high as $1.65 billion, depending on pre-funding and the length of the retiree’s life,” said Michelle McGurk, spokeswoman for the mayor.

The issue concerns both federated or city employees and police and fire employees, she added. “It’s a really tough issue that impacts how the city accounts for these liabilities. How we deal with them could impact our bond ratings,” she added.

“It is critical that the city, in partnership with employees, retirees, the retirement boards and union representatives, take prudent measures to address the liability; otherwise this liability will be even more costly in the future,” according to a memorandum written by staff members Employee Relations Director Alex Gurza, Human Resources Director Mark Danaj and Finance Director Scott Johnson.

Two other items also may encounter longer than usual discussions. One of those is adopting a policy to approving city council expenditures and reimbursement policies. The other establishes a code of conduct for the general public when attending public meetings in council chambers and committee rooms.

The meeting will also be the first for the new City Manager Debra Figone, who started her job during July.
Other happenings at city hall include training sessions for the mayor and city council members’ staff. These workshops and sessions, part of Reed Reform number 25, will begin on Friday, Aug. 3 with the end result that staff members will receive certification.

Typically, the first Tuesday of the month includes an evening meeting, but this will be pushed to the following week so that the mayor and council members can take part in National Night Out.

The mayor will join Police Chief Rob Davis and Councilmember Madison Nguyen at O.B. Whaley Elementary School to hand out anti-gang T-shirts and meet folks in the neighborhood. Councilmember Nancy Pyle is scheduled to be at a couple of events that night at Hoffman Via Monte Center and the Sunrise Valley Baptist Church.