The other seized momentum through the simple use of the number two.
Now comes the hard work of seeing whether the Culver City Employees Association and the Culver City City Council can agree upon terms that leave one another satisfied.
A large throng of city employees turned out Monday, June 7 for the first of two city council meetings this week designed in part to allow city departments to present their 2010-2011 fiscal year budgets. Clad in yellow T-shirts with “CCEA” spelled out in blocky, black letters, their hope was a show of unity and strength in numbers would convince the five-man council and city staff that precautions should be taken before any decisions are made to harm Culver City’s workforce.
However, the strongest number of the evening may have been the aforementioned deuce, as it turns out in the end game that may be the total number of city employees who will find themselves without jobs when the budget dust settles.
Interim City Manager P. Lamont Ewell’s proposed fiscal budget actually calls for the elimination of 60 positions. However, 30 of those are currently vacant, and 14 city employees are expected to accept the offer of a “golden handshake” that will hasten their early retirements.
According to both Ewell and Director of Human Resources Serena Wright, another 14 layoff candidates will have the option of accepting different positions within the city. That leaves a net loss of two positions for the city.
“Eliminating jobs is nothing that any of us take lightly,” Wright said. “I just want to reiterate that staff is continuing to work diligently on finding options that will least impact city employees.”
Ewell stressed those numbers are subject to change, based on how many city employees do actually follow through and accept the early retirement incentive by the Monday, June 14 deadline. However, that low figure certainly caught the attention of CCEA leadership and the body’s representation in the audience.
“The goal and objective is for none of the people behind me to lose their jobs,” said CCEA President Desmond Burns during public comment centered on the budget process. “Your biggest asset is your people. … We make you look good. We make your department heads look good.”
Wendell Phillips, an attorney who represents CCEA, echoed those sentiments.
“What makes a difference in a great city is the folks in the yellow shirts behind me and the work that they do for all of you,” Phillips said. “What I heard tonight is maybe we can get down to two. Well, in a city of this size and with this many brains working on it, I think if we get down to two, we can save everybody.”
Following public remarks, all five members of the council took the opportunity to thank CCEA employees for their turnout and their solidarity. At the same time, they stressed the need for cooperation as not only the current budget process, but future negotiations, play out.
“The city could not function without you,” said Councilman Andrew Weissman. “By the same token, we need you to work with us, and we hope that as we move forward through this process, and more important through next year’s budget, that the spirit of cooperation continues to exist, and that we’re able at the end to come out with something that works for everybody.”
In other news, the council:
• Swore in Chris Sellers as fire chief of the Culver City Fire Department (see story, Page 1).
• Voted 5-0 to approve both the council’s consent calendar, which included a necessary four-fifths approval of a budget amendment to allocate funds to the city’s legal services account to cover non-budgeted costs, and the redevelopment agency’s consent calendar.
• Voted 5-0 to approve parts of the city’s 2008-2014 Housing Element.
