(Editor’s Note: See pdf at the end of the story for a labor contract explanation.)
After the City Council voted shortly before midnight to approve a dramatically reconfigured pension compensation plan for one bellweather union affecting numerous employees, today’s most significant political question is:
Will Councilman Scott Malsin, the only member on the dais impacted by the changes, make history by resigning office early to protect his benefits?
In responding this morning, he did not tell the newspaper yes or no.
Reports have been circulating through City Hall for weeks that term-limited Mr. Malsin, who loves his position more than many Councilmen, would leave office sometime between now and December to safeguard the present relatively generous benefits coverage for his wife and daughter.
He is only midway through his second four-year term. If he departs in December, as some expect, 100 days before next April’s regularly scheduled election for three seats, that would create a gap but not an unbridgeable one. Mr. Malsin’s seat merely would be the fourth election entry, and his successor would serve out his remaining two years.
Historians say that no sitting Councilmember in Culver City ever has left office before the end of his term. But the nationwide financial crisis is as unprecedented in modern times as Council members going away.
The updated City Charter provides options in case of a pre-election vacancy.
The City Council could appoint a 100-day stand-in, but present speculation holds that such a seat would remain vacant for the interim.
Probably for the first time, four of the five City Council offices would be determined by voters in a single day.
A Malsin decision, sources say,likely is a half-year off. Like last Saturday’s apocalyptic fantasies, it may never happen.
Almost Everyone Went Home
Without a speck of fanfare in 9 unremarkable late-night minutes before an audience of several, the City Council —minus Mr. Malsin, who had recused himself — quietly approved a revolutionary two-year, two-tier contract with the first of 6 city unions, the Culver City Management Group.
Thunder and lightning personnel moves, possibly on an earthquake scale, may follow in the 7 remaining months of this calendar year — the door-closing period for the current benefits — as retirement-eligible employees ponder leaving early to guard cherished benefits.
A new employment era will begin on July 1 when the freshly ratified two-tier worker system arrives, with new hires accepting sharply reduced benefits.
In seeking to draw a distinction between the old agreement and the new one, Management Group President Glenn Heald said that the new contract “can greatly curtail coverage for spouse and dependents.”
Soul-searching, intense future planning and a modicum of head-scratching were rampant among the city work force this morning, especially for mature employees as the tone-setting contract became official.
Public Works Director Charles Herbertson, Community Development Director Sol Blumenfeld, City Atty. Carol Schwab and Transportation Director Art Ida are believed to rank among the prominent managers who may have to render wrenching personal decisions between here and December.
Mr. Heald said four of his union’s 58 members have indicated they will be leaving before the present agreement expires on Dec. 31.
City Manager John Nachbar, loathe to wade into numbers projections, does not anticipate much worker movement. “It could potentially affect several people,” he said, “but this is such a personal decision. The reasoning will differ from person to person.”
While the 5 remaining unions are, in most cases, months distant from an agreement, their final contours are expected to generally follow the Management Group’s lead.
It has been reported that as many as 18 members of the Police Dept. and 18 firefighters will face excruciating, perhaps life-changing, decisions once their new union agreements are ratified by the City Council.
A Councilman Ponders
The normally effervescent Mr. Malsin was unusually reserved, and not because last night’s five-hour meeting was one of the lengthiest of the season.
“Jan.1 is a long way off,” he said of the starting date for the drastic new plan.
“Obviously, I need to look at what the best thing to do is for my family.”
Question: Has Mr. Malsin imposed a deadline on himself?
“No.”
Question: What goes into Mr. Malsin’s process of deciding what is best for his family?
“What’s best for my family is something for my wife and I to decide. It is our business. It is something we need to talk about amongst ourselves.”
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