Following the scandal of Bell, there’s been a lot of discussions about how city administrators plan to take action. The following notes came from last week’s meeting of city administrators from across the state, courtesy of a group of city managers within the meeting room.
- The Initial part of the meeting revolved around the city of Bell compensation issue. A City Manager compensation committee will put together “guiding principles” related to the issue.
- Both the ICMA and the League of California Cities are distributing a salary survey requesting W-2 taxable compensation information.
- There was concern from City Managers that a one-size-fits-all compensation formula would not work, given that each city varies in complexity, cost of living, political instability, etc.
- There was a determination that former Bell City Manager (Godfather of the scandal) was a member of the ICMA. The issue is before the committee on professional conduct and action should be taken shortly.
- Discussion regarding Prop. 22 and pension reform with further dialogue to come.
Ideas to further transparency include:
- Listing City Manager contracts on a Web site
- Listing all employees earning $100k or more on a Web site
- Listing all city salaries on a Web site
- Clearly list salaries in a budget document