What they were saying after last night’s stormy City Council meeting, especially about the way a revision in Civil Service Commission guidelines was/not handled:
Former Mayor Alan Corlin:
“I was pleased to see the concern most of the Councilmen had for the Civil Service Commission, and the way the commissions will be handled under the new City Charter.
“The commissions always have been one of the best ways for people to have direct input into government.
“I am happy they put off a decision on a revision of the Civil Service roles and responsibilities because they did not have enough information.”
Mr. Corlin, who was not bashful about speaking out during his two four-year terms on the City Council, disagrees with Charter supporters who contend that it demands changes in the way commissions operate.
“Nothing in the new Charter says the Civil Service Commission has to change at all,” he said. “They can do by ordinance everything Civil Service does now. There is no obligation to change anything.
“This is the bottom line. There are certain duties and responsibilities tat a city has, one of which is to have some sort of civil service department. Whether you call it a Civil Service Commission or something else, you have to have it to run a city.
“I certainly can understand some people would not like to have a commission.”
Turning to the large showing last night by the Culver City Employees Assn., inveighing against any alteration in commission guidelines, Mr. Corlin said:
“They feel, as I do, that to have checks and balances, you truly must have a balanced setup.
“Having staff looking at staff is not necessarily checks and balances.
“I don’t know what the goal of the City Council is, but Civil Service is the final arbiter in certain areas. Council has the final word in other areas. If you truly are going to have checks and balances, they begin long before you have a grievance. They start when the Human Resources director will present to the Civil Service Commission a list of duties that jobs call for, a list of salary ranges. You can be sure if the city of Bell had a commission the way we do, they would not be paying someone $800,000.”
Vicki Daly Redholtz is in her seventh year as a member of the Parks and Recreation Commission:
“I thought a lot was accomplished at the meeting.
“And it was clarified that the City Council is pretty much on the same page with the commissions. But it appeared that staff's interpretation differed from the rest.
“I am hopeful that, working with the new direction being given to them, staff will come up with the corresponding language to support the essence of what the Civil Service Commission's mission and roles are.
“I thought it was good conversation with meaningful input.”
Ms. Daly Redholtz may be contacted at vickidr@All-Travel.com
