City Circus Update

The agenda is very light for the city council meeting on Mon., Nov. 7. Of interest on the closed-session agenda is Assistant City Manager Keith Rattay’s contract. Residents should ask why the discussion has gone on for so long, and why it is a closed-session matter. There is no reason for any city employee to have a contract other than the city manager, who reports to the city council. A huge problem with Rattay’s contract is his attempt to cover his backside. Rattay wants a clause whereby he will receive nine months’ pay whether he is fired or doesn’t renew his contract. Additional clauses are ridiculous, including excessive compensation and preventing his termination.

Councilman Frank Ury has given notice he will miss the Nov. 7 meeting, and the change in dynamics is remarkable when he’s not there. Without Ury’s hostility and snarky remarks, the tone becomes pleasant. He recently missed another council meeting, plus he had to reschedule his fundraiser in Foothill Ranch when he was “called out of town on business” last month. With Ury’s record of changing jobs frequently, hope is high he’s interviewing for a job that will involve relocation.

On the Nov. 7 agenda, the check register total for three weeks – Oct. 7 ($2,144,814.53), October 14 ($734,681.44) and Oct. 21 ($996,642.11) – is $3,876,138.08, a whopping amount. The documentation shows pages and pages of expenditures – contractors’ costs, plus expenses from parties and festivities. The cost of renting golf carts for Dave Leckness’ tour of Oso Trail was $1,658,93, without accounting for the compensation of city employees who went on the joyride (requiring seven golf carts). Adding to taxpayers’ burdens are monthly insurance costs for retired employees, which are substantial despite the city being relatively new. Residents should continue challenging why a built-out, contract-based city has approximately 150 employees.

Also noteworthy is Agenda Item No. 10, Purchase of Replacement Computer Systems. The staff is recommending that the council authorize buying 250 computers, with the amount “not to exceed $295,000.” While some computers will go to the library for patron use, 41 computers are requested for library staff members. With the library’s limited collection of books (less than one book per cardholder), the need for 41 staff computers warrants explanation. Months ago, City Hall revealed that two full-time library staff members spent a year planning the city’s first Readers Festival. If employees are hired as librarians but they instead plan events, they should be re-categorized as event planners. No one should be surprised at the inefficiency – taking a year to plan a one-day event – when employees are trying to perform jobs they weren’t hired to do.

Another allocation of computers – 18 for the animal shelter – needs explanation. For further comment about the expense, read an article on Mission Viejo Dispatch, http://missionviejodispatch.com/budget/how-many-city-computers-are-enough/#comments