Instead of attaining the desired objective of a cleaner, unimpeded line of supervision and oversight, the opposite would occur, Ms. Gross predicted. As perhaps City Hall’s only fulltime elected official, she fortified her reasoned arguments with banks of data, history and examples.
Reorganizing Was Misjudged
Recalibrating the previously limited powers of the Chief Administrative Officer, Jerry Fulwood, into a veritable gusher of authority by adopting the widely-used city manager-form of government, was wrong for three reasons.
Too expensive.
Management ranks would swell into a fat-man’s paunch — at the expense of lower-ranking workers.
Rather than clarity or order, chaos would dominate.
Ms. Gross is certain this afternoon that her unheeded warnings have come true even sooner than feared.
Going into this year’s final two budget study sessions — tonight and Friday at 6 in Council Chambers — Ms. Gross and her encyclopaedic knowledge stand, not unusually, as a lone voice against new-fashioned trends inside of City Hall.
A Lonely Critic
Through the earlier budget hearings, and in fact, since the city elections 14 months ago, Ms. Gross has positioned herself as a lighthouse against what she sees as the onrushing deluge.
“What we have today,” said the no-frills two-term Council member, “is top-heavy bureaucracy, increased salary costs and increased layers between ordinary workers and executives. This is the opposite of what Measure V was supposed to bring.”
Muscular Newcomer
Near the top of Ms. Gross’s Disappointment List was the creation of the Chief Financial Officer position — with expansive powers. That is her objection. The CFO, due to be named in early autumn, is expected to be virtually co-equal with the City Manager.
Line of Authority
“I supported the chief financial officer concept,” she said, “because it makes sense. But I had assumed that individual would report to Jerry on the level of an assistant city manager.”
Ms. Gross said she is puzzled by the considerable authority to be vested in the Chief Financial Officer, especially since financial acuity is regarded as a primary talent of Mr. Fulwood.
This is where the navigating grows indecipherably dense, she says.
Trailing the CFO
The CFO does not report to Mr. Fulwood, but to…?
“That brings us to the next issue,” Ms. Gross says, teasingly. “Instead of one assistant city manager, Jerry has created two. He has divided their duties, one for internal business, one for external.
“The CFO would report to the Internal Assistant City Manager,” a concept devoid of rationality in Ms. Gross’s opinion.
“At a recent meeting,” she said, “Jerry described himself as a liaison to the community, which makes no sense to me. He said these assistant city managers would free up his time and allow him to become more involved in our community.
Where Was City Manager?
“I don’t get it. Did he make it to (this month’s) Artwalk. To (last month’s)Car Show?”
Seeking to correct Mr. Fulwood’s thinking, Ms. Gross said that “the City Council is the liaison to the community. At key, important city events, one would hope the City Manager is interested enough, and makes the city enough of a priority in his life, to attend.
Pay Raises
In her role as the City Council’s main watchdog, Ms. Gross strongly criticized the self-proposed “very significant” salary increases for the City Manager and the two Assistant City Managers. “The fundings are ruled out,” she said, “because Jerry basically is getting rid of the support staff, except for one person.
“I kept asking him, ‘Who answers the ‘phone?’ ‘Who makes copies?’ It is important the ‘phones be answered by a live voice, not by voicemail. I see a real loss of effectiveness there.
No Balance
“The net sum is, instead of some kind of a balance, you get a top-heavy, very pricey bureaucracy. You get rid of the support staff, which has a lot to do with making customer service happen.
“How does this compare with what we (opponents of Measure V) predicted — along with the increased costs?”
Her myriad warnings notwithstanding, Ms. Gross said that “a lot of the developments in the last year have surprised me — along with going into the Reserve Fund.”
She Stood Solo
Last month, Ms. Gross alone stubbornly resisted an apparently Fulwood-inspired notion that City Hall dip into the almost sacredly guarded Reserve Fund to loan $9 million to the Redevelopment Agency.
She argued strenuously that the Reserve Fund was to go untouched unless a dire emergency visited Culver City. Transferring millions to the Agency, she said, even though it was within the family, was fiscally irresponsible.
Finding Illogic
“For right now,” Ms. Gross said, “forget the $9 million loan. When you look at the beginning of Jerry’s budget statement, he talks about skyrocketing construction costs. He said we may have to tap the reserves to address that issue.
“In my mind, from a planning standpoint, if I know that at least potentially there are skyrocketing construction costs out there, am I going to go around giving $45,000 salary increases?
Upon Reflection
“This does not make sense to me. Am I going to be creating new positions that are pricey while I am tapping reserves to build projects we have been trying to build for years?
“Where,” asked Ms. Gross, “is the planning in that strategy?”
