Denver Charter Changes for the November 2003 Election
The second public hearing about the proposed Charter amendment was held at the Webb building on Saturday. Not much new came out of the meeting and a lot of time was spent discussing issues, like the 2-day furlough, that are outside the Charter amendment issue. The Mayor and Council are trying to remove language from the Charter that mandates that pay raises be determined by a salary survey performed by Career Service. This leaves the Mayor and Council little wiggle room to influence the level of pay raises. The language also limits what they can do in down economic times since salary and benefits are the major expenses to the City.
The Mayor reiterated that we all need to stand and face the budget problem together. He added that Mayor Webb had done what he could by cutting spending, starting in 2001 and using reserves instead of deeper cuts. At the time of those cuts many felt the economy would rebound. Mr. Hickenlooper made the point that in 2002 when revenues declined 2% wages and benefits rose 6%. He promised to visit every City agency by the end of August. He also still refuses to agree to a fee for trash collection saying that down times are the worse time to increase taxes and fees. He asked City employees to find ways to deliver services with less resources.
Council President, Elbra Wedgeworth, again said that it is, "not my intent," to solve the budget crisis on the, "backs of City workers." Combined with Doug Linkhart stating that, "This is not a done decision, I haven't made up my mind yet," Coyote Gulch is wondering if the Mayor has his seven Council votes lined up. Charlie Brown has yet to make a meeting and many other Council members have not commented. I wonder if the new Council people are worried that they are being pressured to make a long-term decision too hastily. We'll see what happens when the Council gets to vote to put it in front of the voters in November. That'll be on August 12th.
Kathleen MacKenzie pointed out that the Charter amendment is not being considered just to solve a budget problem. Her focus is to bring the Charter language in line with other governments so that it can endure another century (next year is the 100th anniversary). She claims that the Charter needs to be flexible in good times and bad. She reached out to employees hoping that we all can become allies in the process of Charter reform stating that the process just won't work without employee buy-in. She reminded all of us how angry many were when the Charter mandated that elected officials get their raise on 1/1/03 but we all had to wait until July for ours and that the language that led to that occuring is also being removed from the Charter.
Most of the people requesting speaking time were employees that disagree with the proposal. An Assistant City Attorney suggested that employees are not comfortable going to their bosses suggesting changes in operations for fear of retaliation. He suggested to the Mayor and Council that they create an office of Inspector General for the City.
Another speaker suggested that salary surveys generally lead to an increase in pay and do not reflect the state of the economy accurately.
The Career Service Board presented the results of their meeting Friday. They discussed the amendment and voted to stay with their recommendation made earlier this year (ed. 6/29/2003?, I'm going to try to find a reference). They want to keep the salary survey language in the Charter.
Dan Roberts, from Public Works, presented a few facts. He stated that the current CSA system lags behind the Consumer Price Index by 16%. For many employees the salary survey is the only increase that they get each year. He stated that he believes that the cuts should come in areas of the City that have experienced excessive growth over the last 5-6 years. He acknowledged that cutting these areas will lead to layoffs.
Another speaker asked the Mayor and Council why they would want to be on the hotseat continually by taking responsibility from the Charter. He stated, "The Charter is the law and as long as you do what the law says you're protected."
One speaker belted out a series of comments about not being a restaurant worker. The Mayor, properly, reminded her that the way to win him over to her opinion does not begin by belittling restaurant workers.
At the end of the meeting the Mayor made a few comments to wrap up. He thanked all the speakers for clearly stating their views. He keeps on message stating that we are all in this together and are all a critical part of the solution. He feels that by developing objective measures of performance we will prevent a return to the cronyism that was rampant in the City prior to Mayor Quigg Newton's move to include protection for workers in the Charter in 1954. The Mayor said, "We will set up safeguards. The system will not descend into favoritism and will be as fair as possible." He mentioned that this type of meeting is reflective of his commitment to, "open honest government," as promised during the election.
The next meeting is Wednesday. The time and place are yet to be announced.
6:57:46 AM 
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