A City Council committee voted 5-0 Wednesday, Feb. 8, to forward Mayor Jerry Sanders’ two proposed ballot initiatives to the full City Council to place on the November ballot, but several councilmembers said they had questions and might not vote to put them before voters.
A number of city workers unsuccessfully urged the Committee on Rules, Open Government, and Intergovernmental Relations not to forward the proposal that would allow the mayor to outsource city services and could lay off hundreds of longtime city workers whose work could be performed by others at a cheaper rate. Voters would have to approve this change to the city charter.
The committee also voted to forward a proposal to the City Council that it place on the ballot a measure that would allow voters to approve future pension benefits for city employees. The Council must act on both measures by an August deadline.
If the Council doesn’t place the measures on the ballot, the mayor would have to obtain at least 20,000 signatures of voters to appear on the Nov. 7 ballot. Sanders indicated he wanted the Council to act on both measures soon so a signature-gathering process could begin if the council refuses to put them on the ballot.
Both Councilmembers Donna Frye and Tony Young said they might vote against the outsourcing measure, and Jim Madaffer said he had some questions about it and wanted more time to think about it. Frye and Young said they voted merely to forward the matter to the City Council for purposes of discussion.
“You can’t put a price on loyalty to the city. They know how to get the job done,” said Judy Italiano, the president of the Municipal Employees’ Association.
Many city workers including janitors, mechanics, groundskeepers, garbage collectors, and park and recreation employees told the committee about their longtime employment with the city and how paying others cheaper than paying city workers’ salaries wouldn’t work. Many cited detailed descriptions of their work and how others might not be able to do it.
One janitor told the committee he has found used condoms, broken glass, syringes, fecal matter and urine stained floors in bathrooms in parks and other city facilities.
Mayor Sanders didn’t stay to hear all of the testimony by city workers as he is not a member of the Rules Committee. He said both measures “protect the taxpayer” and “voters should be the one” to decide.
The city’s chief operating officer, Ronne Froman, wrote a report that said outsourcing would “allow for the creation of a true managed competition program.” She said language in the city charter prohibits the city from outsourcing certain services. Exceptions are the use of outside legal counsel, accountants, and others who are working to solve the city’s underfunded $1 billion pension crisis.
If voters approve the outsourcing measure, all proposals would be evaluated by an independent review committee that will make recommendations to the mayor. This committee would be composed of people in the service area, with expertise in finance and administration. Any member of a review committee would be banned from having any future financial relationship with a winning contractor.
“The intent of the measure is to save the city money on services,” Froman wrote. “Those savings will result either from city departments successfully implementing a competitive restructure plan or from the city obtaining the service from an outside entity in a more cost efficient manner.”