Commission Impossible

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November 30, 2007

SPAMMED!!!! 2 For 1 Friday

I was spammed by the city this afternoon. I hope they recognize that the valuable bandwidth they cost my business to download this e-newsletter took lots of energy to produce. The change of pixels on my computer screen required to display the image needed a surge of electrons to produce. Those electrons have now been lost to the ground return of my electronic appliance. That energy, which was produced through the burning of fossil fuels, is now lost to me. These unsustainable practices cannot continue! I'm kidding, but it may not be long before the sustainable gremlins start growing concerned about the impact internet traffic has on energy use. The image above is a notice of General Plan public meetings. More can be learned from the Chico General Plan web site (see web site here). I ran across this web site a few weeks ago, but it wasn't completed. I meant to mention it, but beavers and slogans seemed more newsworthy. Anyway, if you never attend any of these meetings you can't complain about the direction your city takes. There are professional meeting goers that will make a point to be at these, and the squeaky wheel gets the oil. I plan on showing up and squeaking as often as time allows. CI readers should try to do the same. Are they lame? Yes. Are they dog and pony shows? Yes. Can you make a difference if you attend? Yes. I'm bringing my new slogan ideas with me. And my frisbee golf discs.

Posted by Lon at 01:02 PM | Comments (0)

Slogans Run

Photo: Scotland's new $250,000 slogan "Welcome to Scotland" A friend of mine pointed out a news story about Scotland's new slogan. It's one of those things that will travel the beavernet rapidly (see last post for beavernet reference). In fact, many of you have probably already heard about Scotland's marketing prowess. Here's one portion of a story in case you're not aware of it. GLASGOW, Scotland, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- Scotland has replaced its airport signs proclaiming the country to be "the best small country in the world" with a new slogan: "Welcome to Scotland." The new slogan, which was revealed Tuesday after six months of development and $250,000 spent on the project, is also printed on the posters in Gaelic as "Failte gu Alba," The Times of London reported Wednesday. The posters also include a series of images depicting life in Scotland, including a boy looking at an exhibit at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, a man in a raincoat walking in Edinburgh and a picture taken from a high altitude of Inverness. Some have criticized the campaign for lacking emotion. I tell myself that something like this couldn't happen in Chico. But then I think of $170,000 parking charrettes with no result and $68,000 chess tables that are mostly used for lunch breaks and rolling cigarettes. So I guess it could happen here, and in some sense already has. But I think we could strive, as a community, to prevent this exact same thing from happening in Chico. We could do that by providing a list of excellent slogans for future use. That way we won't have to bring in expensive consultants when a new town slogan is required. Here are some ideas... Chico, A Land of Endless Benefits Chico, We Love Our Beaver Come Visit Chico, Just Not On Halloween or Saint Paddy's Day You'll Love Chico's Compact Urban Form Shop Chico, We Need Sales Tax Income Chico, Close Enough To Paradise, But Not Far Enough From Oroville Come To Chico, Home Of The World's Most Expensive Park Plan You Can't Spell Chico Without Hic Chico, So Sustainable We Never Printed This Slogan Come See Our Vomit Stains Chico, Where Economic Development Begins and Ends With Interns I think there are a couple of gems in that list. But I'd like to hear your ideas. Alternatively we could rely on Slogan4U's free online slogan generator (see slogan generating web site here). It gave me... Chico Knows All, Sees All Chico Keeps Them Coming Back Got Chico? For A Fresh Change Try Chico

Astrophotography Exhibit: please see invitation below for a great opportunity to support science and art locally. The event is this Saturday, December 1st. 4PM-8PM.

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Gregg Payne, see comments below for the answer.

Posted by Lon at 04:39 AM | Comments (16)

November 29, 2007

The Flag Stands For All!

Video: The beaver has been there during America's formative moments. We need to be there for the beaver. I continue to be concerned over the future of our local beaver population. I began researching the history of the American beaver and was surprised by the pivotal role this animal has played. I think it's time we gather together and support the beaver in the same way the beaver has supported America. The alternative is likely rampant communism. Oh, and we have to do it for the children, too.

Astrophotography Exhibit: please see invitation below for a great opportunity to support science and art locally. The event is this Saturday, December 1st. 4PM-8PM.

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Anthony Watts, see comments below for the answer.

Posted by Lon at 08:15 AM | Comments (16)

November 28, 2007

You Are Cordially Invited

Image: Invite to Astrophotography Exhibit. Jennifer Oman of Interstellar Studios wanted me to invite all of you wonderful Commission Impossible readers to their photography exhibit. Your official invite is shown above. The exhibit is from 4PM-8PM on Saturday, December 1st (11 Ilahee Lane, Chico). The photos exhibited are from the documentary efforts of Kris Koenig and others when filming 400 Years of The Telescope. How often do you get to learn about history, science, art, see the world , and get a sneak preview of an award winning documentary? Well sure that happens to you all the time, but not here in Chico. This Saturday is your chance to do all of it. So go see the exhibit. Get some culture you louts! I pulled a few photos off of the Interstellar Studios web site. I don't know if these might be part of the exhibit, but I figured I'd post them to tickle your fancy. Space is cool.

I like science, but I really, really like science fiction. So if I was God here's some of the things I'd put in space. Maybe they're already there? Isn't answering that question the reason we build telescopes?

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Anon, see comments below for the answer.

Posted by Lon at 05:48 AM | Comments (17)

November 27, 2007

To Micromanage, Or Not To Micromanage?

Image: How close should we watch city management practices? Learning about how the city manages its money can be frustrating. You hear a lot about how a city is different than other financial institutions, and normal practices or logic don't apply. On the other hand, a city is different than a business, and some of their activities are mandated by state or federal agencies. These mandates, along with local policies are not designed for efficiency. But in considering the Management Merit Pay program I came up with a number of personal opinions that don't necessarily mesh well together. This leaves me with a wishy-washy feeling about how valuable merit pay is to me, the taxpayer. On one hand I've heard that we have to pay well to get the best employees. That includes pay and benefits. So I'm left wondering, if we have the best employees why do we need to provide more incentives to overachieve? I thought good pay did that. I've heard that merit pay is for completing things that aren't part of the day-to-day job. But I feel strongly that if we opened up the management achievement plans and looked at the projects that warrant merit pay we'd see plenty of projects whose lack-of completion could put someone out of a job. That means the projects are required by the job and not just extra-credit. I think the increases in money spent on merit pay and the fact that in 2006 virtually all management employees received merit pay should create a discussion about when merit pay becomes "pay". It's like a business that gives out Christmas bonuses. Everybody starts counting on Christmas bonuses, even when the business can't afford it. So with all of that said it's important not to be hyper-critical of the city management. The merit pay issue is a drop in the bucket regarding our budget problems (recognizing that it's a big drop to most of us). There's no way to know whether merit pay improves the city over the alternative of no merit pay. Providing incentives for employees is a common practice, and one used by many fiscally sound organizations. So I'm left asking one big question regarding merit pay. Is it being abused? I can't see any indication that it is. I think the increases in dollar amounts over the last 5 years need to be explained. As do the increased percentages of merit pay being awarded on average. But the highly paid managers at our city need the flexibility to manage their employees. As long as the merit pay program is explained and applied reasonably it probably is an effective tool in improving city operations. It might be worthwhile to explore moving all funds of the merit pay system out of the General Fund. That would really remove its impact from areas where the taxpayer is most concerned. The impact on the General Fund on merit pay was less than $90K last year, maybe it could be less? Update: At this morning's Finance Committee meeting the Finance Director, Jennifer Hennessy, answered the question of why merit pay has grown from 2001 to 2006. This also relates to Mark Sorensen's suggestion yesterday that I relate managment pay brackets to merit pay growth. The city increased salary brackets in order to make management recruitment and retention easier (increased the minimum and maximum pay for a job position). This had the effect of moving many of the management salaries lower in the pay bracket (same pay, but below the maximum available). That made it possible for them to earn merit pay. So there can be an assumption that the merit pay program implementation was not the direct cause of increases in merit pay payments. The overall increase in salaries would be the trigger for increased merit pay.

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Jason Bougie, see comments below for the answer.

Posted by Lon at 07:13 AM | Comments (12)

November 26, 2007

Merit Play

Image: City of Chico management employee eligibility and pay increases for "merit pay" over the last 5 years. Includes benefit increases assoicated with merit pay. I've been asking a lot of questions about merit pay received by city management lately. I have a number of opinions on "merit pay". But today I want to just cover what I've learned and maybe tomorrow discuss what I think about it. The topic of merit pay for city management has come up at recent Finance Committee meetings. I think it is important to discuss how it came up, because that should color the overall discussion of merit pay and its merit. The City Management group offered to freeze its own merit pay for one year to help with the budget. This was described as a $200K savings, but the actual savings to the General Fund would be much less than that (about 1/3 of it). Still the upper management at the city deserve credit for volunteering for a temporary pay reduction. When merit pay was mentioned I had never heard of it. Who gets it? What do they get it for? How much is it? These are some the questions I had. So I asked for a brief summary of merit pay from the Finance Department and they sent it over rather quickly (see pdf file here). Who gets merit pay? City management and public safety management are eligible for merit pay. That includes department heads like the General Services Director and Police Chief. In 2001 about 55% of city management were eligible for merit pay (27 of 49 employees). In 2006 95% of city management received merit pay (58 of 61 employees). Virtually all city management that are eligible for merit pay receive merit pay. Most eligible employees that didn't receive the extra reward did qualify for it, but were already maxed out in pay. What do they get it for? This is a difficult question to answer. The city management employee plans are not, to my knowledge, open to the public. I received a summary of the merit pay program and how it is awarded from Jennifer Hennessy, the Finance Director. It is shown below. "Only the Management & Public Safety Management groups are part of the merit pay program. Each July, all eligible management employees receive a raise between 0% - 5%, based on the individual Achievement Plan for each employee. Each mgmt employee develops an Achievement Plan with their manager at the beginning of each fiscal year. The plan includes a % weighting for each of the 4 parts of the plan: Operations (which is our day-to-day responsibilities); Special Projects; Leadership; and Interdepartmental Leadership. Each of the 4 areas contain specific goals & objectives for the coming fiscal year. At the end of the year, the supervisors/Department Heads assign a point value (0%-5%) for each section. The point values are assigned based off of a list of criteria that defines "5%" behavior ranging down to 0% behavior. This point value is multiplied by the % assigned to the section, creating a weighted overall average score. The point of all of this is that we are not "awarded" for just doing our day-to-day jobs. The Special Projects section is a large component for most managers. Special Projects are defined as scope-limited, process improvement/efficiency measure types of projects, to achieve the "better, faster, smarter" concept." I haven't seen the Achievement Plans of other management, but Finance Director Hennessy did send me a list of 4 projects associated with her Achievement Plan. - Develop 10-year Financial Plans for both the General Fund and the Redevelopment Agency. - Implement the acceptance of credit card payments at the City's customer service counters. - Develop and publish a 10-Year Capital Improvement Program - Implement efficiencies in the Business License process by converting from an annual renewal cycle to a renewal based on the License's anniversary date. But beyond Hennessy's openness, I don't think the public can get a summary of what we receive in return for merit pay. How much do they get? As mentioned above management employees can receive 0-5% of base pay as a merit raise. Nobody receives 0%, unless they've already reached a pay maximum. The total amount spent on merit pay by the City of Chico has increased significantly in the last 5 years. So has the percentage awarded to each employee that receives it. In 2001 employees received an average of 2% for a total of $91,538. In 2006 management employees received an average of 3.6% for a total of $307,125. That's an 80% increase in the percentage received (2% to 3.6%) and a 340% increase in the total cost ($91K to $307K) over 5 years. The number of people receiving merit pay has increased by about 120% from 2001 to 2006 (26 to 57). Summary: The city management staff has increased by about 20% since 2001, from 49 to 61. The number of employees that receive merit pay bonuses has more than doubled in the last five years. The total amount of pay has more than tripled in the last 5 years. Determining exactly what employee's activities earn merit pay is not transparent. But only the "benefits" derived from merit pay are attributable to the General Fund. This is roughly 29% for city management and 55% for public safety management. In 2006 the impact of merit pay on the General Fund was $89,066.

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Steve Boutotte, sorry if I mangled the last name, see comments below for the answer.

Posted by Lon at 07:40 AM | Comments (4)

November 25, 2007

How Smart Is This Blog?

Image: Commission Impossible did not reach the "genius" level shown above. Anthony Watts sent me a URL that shows what level of education is required to read your web page or blog (here is the page). I think he was really trying to point out that his blog is smarter than mine. But I think it's important to realize that although my blog never finished college it does have some really valuable trade skills. These can't be simply converted to a formal "education level". For example, my blog has some fine carpenter skills, and an in depth knowledge of woodworking tools. One thing that people don't realize with my publication of this blog is that I treat it just like a business. I've done a lot of market research and my key demographic seems to be 7th graders who are also fans of Jessica Alba. So my blog is specifically targeted at that demographic. I also treat writing this blog like a real job. That means I show up late, do a half-ass job, and complain about it all of the time. But without further ado, here are the education rankings of the Norcal Blogs ranked by smarts required to read them (not all of them, that would be too much work). Debunking the Bunk - Fred Davis: Genius Dog's Breakfast - Alan Chamberlain: College (Undergrad) Watts Up With That - Anthony Watts: High School Post Scripts - Jack Lee and Tina Grazier: High School Bullfight - Dan Nguyen-Tan: High School But this is Chico, too - Steve Brown: Junior High School Commission Impossible - Me: Junior High School Iconoclastic - Meagan Dixon: Junior High School Buzz Blog - Ryan Olson: Elementary School Chico, Sustainable - Jeremy Miller: Elementary School EdSuccess - Dr. Joni Samples: Elementary School You can also use this important web development tool on web pages. Here are some local results. Chico ER - College (Postgraduate) Chico News and Review - High School Chico Beat - Junior High School City of Chico - College (Undergraduate) So what does this mean? Well I think it means I need to write more about cool rock bands, fast cars, and convert my blog over to a my-space page. I'm not about to bow to societal pressures and start writing to please elitist snobs with their high brow high-school educations. However, for those of you that do want to upgrade your blog's readability here are some hints. Fred Davis doesn't use images, post reader comments, or update his blog more than a couple of times per month. Fred's got the highest ranking of the blogs I checked. Based on Fred's modus operandi I suspect that if a blog writer took the additional step of never actually writing a blog it would move you to the pinnacle of the smart ratings. For those of you in the elementary school level that would like to move up a notch I've got one word for you. "Jessica Alba". Try it, it works.

Lon "The Councilornator" Glazner - Party Ordinance Debate: This series of debates stem from Tom Gascoyne's endorsement of me for 2008 City Council (see endorsement here). Together we formed the Hooker Beat Alliance and are inviting experts from around the globe to debate important Chico topics. Spuds Mackenzie showed up drunk for Friday's debate, which was anticipated. That was bad, but then Sergeant Joe Friday never made it all. He was reportedly whacked up on goofballs and found washing himself in the downtown fountain. Which is not illegal, but unsanitary. The debate has been rescheduled. Tonight's debate on the future of local water resources should be a good one. Expect seating to be limited as one of the debaters is the Greater Los Angeles Metropolitan Area who often brings a substantial crowd of supporters.

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Gregg Payne, see comments below for the answer.

Posted by Lon at 08:11 AM | Comments (6)

November 23, 2007

Solid Engineering

Image: The Kitchen Appliance - Industrial Complex has finally gone too far. As an electronic engineer I appreciate the benefits of embedded control systems. I also make a living designing them, so I appreciate them all the way to the bank. What is an "embedded control system"? That's a term for the electronics that interpret user (or other) input and make limited decisions based on those signals. Sometimes I see embedded control systems that are unique and beautiful. One example is the new iPOD touch screen control which will forever change the consumer's expectations of how they should interact with electronics. Another example is the four button interface on a lowly $10 digital watch. Cramming that many modes and functions into 4 control buttons takes some planning. Yesterday, on Thanksgiving, I ran into an incredibly sophisticated and well designed embedded control system built into my 5 year-old oven. One undocumented feature was the built-in Holiday timer that ensured a number of other undocumented features became available on Thanksgiving. The timer was so accurate that the new features kicked in just minutes before the turkey was to begin cooking. The Holiday timer wasn't described in the owner's manual, and neither was the self-locking oven door. In fact the self-locking oven door was our first indicator that the additional feature set built into our oven was now available. The oven screen now read "locked", and yes the door was in fact locked shut. The self-locking oven door had two additional sub-features. One feature was that you could get the display to read "unlocked" by pressing certain buttons, but the lock didn't actually disengage. This is the perma-lock feature. The second feature was the "super-nova" style food purifying mode. Apparently, when cooking yams, during a holiday, the oven temperature needs to be full-throttle, and the oven-door locked, forever. This prevents the yams from passing any impurities to diners. This new operating mode was designated on the oven screen by an "E2", which I took to mean "Extra Features Type 2". Locking the door to the oven while ramping the temperature to maximum isn't a feature I would have designed into this oven. Still, as an engineer, I had to appreciate the bold innovation it represents. I wasn't really needing this new feature set at exactly this time. Being computer, and electronics savvy, I took the step that fixes 99% of technical problems. I shut down the power at my breaker box, waited a few minutes, and switched it back on. On returning to the kitchen I was surprised and pleased that the oven now read "E3". This feature set is the same as E2, with the exception that it can also be used to test your household smoke alarms (they worked). The oven was still locked and blazing away, the yams were producing a fragrant gray smoke. It was at this point that I realized the oven was using a very expensive control system known in our industry as "demonic possession". Using a reverse engineering method called upper-body strength I was able to defeat the perma-lock feature and rescue the yams before they were entirely purified. Unfortunately, like most good embedded control systems, the oven was aware that I had operated it outside of allowed boundaries and implemented its Holiday self-destruct sequence. I can still operate the oven at room temperature, but anything higher won't work. The oven light is also permanently on, so I can see what's not being cooked 24 hours-a-day. That's pretty nice. It also provides excellent mood lighting for my kneecaps during the wee hours of the night. I hate to get rid of the oven since it's relatively new (purchased by the previous homeowners though). I might find some sustainable use for it. Maybe it could be my compost bin. I wouldn't have to take it out of the kitchen, I could just throw food remnants and what-not into it. Or perhaps I could turn it into a fishbowl, since the window and oven light still function. I could also try to repair it, Christmas is just around the corner, and there may be a number of interesting control features that haven't yet presented themselves. Something like an automated broken glass injector would certainly spice up the Christmas ham.

Lon "The Councilornator" Glazner - Women on GPAC Debate: This series of debates stem from Tom Gascoyne's endorsement of me for 2008 City Council (see endorsement here). Together we formed the Hooker Beat Alliance and are inviting experts from around the globe to debate important Chico topics. Tuesday's debate was related to how many women should be on the General Plan Advisory Committee (GPAC). Velma Dinkley said something that sounded pretty smart. But Barbie's hair was really shiny. She had on a flowing "virginesque" dress and spoke with a lilting angelic voice. Her physical form was perfect and backlit in a way that made her glow. In reality I think her presence caused the stage lights to appear dim and mundane. I don't remember what Barbie said but it was very important. And of course she won the debate. Tonight's debate is related to the party ordinance, and will be held at Hey Juans. The Jagermeister Girls will be there, and we can expect plenty of free tobacco and booze from corporate sponsors.

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Anthony Watts, see comments below for the answer.

Posted by Lon at 09:07 AM | Comments (10)

November 22, 2007

My Thanksgiving Campaign Fundraiser

I had to post something today.

Posted by Lon at 07:14 AM | Comments (0)

November 21, 2007

Scary?

Photo: Mark Sorensen posted a comment that some people might find me with an M16 to be a scary thing. Here's an image taken 21 years ago in Germany. I was 19 and earning my college education. Not too scary, but much skinnier. Actually, my M16 had an M203 40mm grenade launcher attached, so maybe it is a little scary. You may not be able to see me because of the camo, I'm in the middle of the photo.

Posted by Lon at 02:30 PM | Comments (4)

Wondering Women

Photo: Just one of the world's many "Wonder Women" available for the GPAC. I've heard that the City Council is going to place two additional women on the General Plan Advisory Committee(GPAC). The names I heard were Elizabeth Devereaux and Nancy Wolfe, but that is pure speculation. In fact, Devereaux doesn't live in Chico and Wolfe never applied for the GPAC, so I would hope other female applicants might get the call. Here is who applied. Diana L. Baker Kristin McHenry Connie Wright Elizabeth Devereaux Holli Anderson Jane Turney Winder Baker Tara Michele Hansen Sara Adams Darlene Baxman My problem with the GPAC appointments was only partially related to gender composition. That was the most obvious shortfall. The group was intended to be a composite and varied view of our community. The Council made a big deal out of this aspect of the General Plan update, and then didn't follow through. But I do think that if the Council decides to change the makeup of the GPAC they should consider adding a few more components of the community. I think a student from Butte College and one from Chico State would be good additions. I think a couple of small business owners would be good. I think a large business manager, maybe from one of the top 25 sales tax producing companies would also be worthwhile. In addition, I think they could get into trouble if they specifically appointed only women in a secondary appointment process. That would be gender discrimination. If they want to appoint two additional women, I think they should draw from the pool of applicants they have, and follow the residency rules applied to everyone else that already was appointed.

An Obvious Connection: It seems like this revelation, if proven true, should solidify in everyone's mind how powerful Commission Impossible is. When I speak out, government immediately takes notice, slams on the brakes, and changes direction. My concern over women on GPAC also caused Tom Gascoyne, and the Chico Beat to endorse me for City Council. That is power. Since I seem to be running the show around here I'm going to demand a few other things, and we'll see if they come to pass. 1. I want everyone to eat turkey, ham, or some vegetarian equivalent tomorrow. 2. I demand that the Chico ER print some kind of disc golf news story in the coming days. 3. I challenge Chico firefighters to work some overtime hours this weekend. I'll leave it at that, because with great power comes great responsibility. But if any readers would like for me to demand something on your behalf, just let me know. We're all in this together. I just get the angry emails.

Lon "The Councilornator" Glazner Growth Debate: This series of debates stem from Tom Gascoyne's endorsement of me for 2008 City Council (see endorsement here). Together we formed the Hooker Beat Alliance and are inviting experts from around the globe to debate important Chico topics. Last night's debate wasn't very positive for local builders. Bob The Builder, with only a Junior High School education, was intellectually thumped by Captain Planet and his massive knowledge of EIR's. While Bob's performance during the debate was poor, he did somewhat better after the debate, behind the snack bar. Bob put Captain Planet in a headlock and repeatedly planted his construction boot on Planet's rump, showing great flexibility. On his departure Bob stated "I know violence doesn't solve anything, but that self righteous mullet-head sure needed a good ass-kicking." Please attend tonight's debate, we've had to move to the Arco Arena due to Barbie's popularity.

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Trevor Hastings, see comments below for the answer.

Posted by Lon at 09:01 AM | Comments (19)

November 20, 2007

Dangerous Jobs

Image: The most dangerous jobs in the US in 2006. The other day I had a conversation with a friend about public safety pay. I said one reason given for them receiving high pay/benefits was because of the risk associated with the job. He countered by saying that being a roofer was more dangerous, and they don't get great pay. I thought he made a good point, and one worth sharing. The most dangerous jobs in America don't necessarily come with high compensation or benefits. And also, public safety workers aren't on that list. Like all statistics, the list can be a little misleading. Much of the risk associated with a job can be reduced through training. On my second ride-along the officer I was with said that some new recruits "wash out" because they never get a handle on police safety. For example, if there's a bank robbery and the police pull up in front of the bank, that's unsafe. They should pull up around the corner where they can't be an obvious target. Officers that don't get this get the boot. Firefighters are probably more than willing to rush into a burning house and save a baby. But beyond that rare circumstance, they are probably trained not to rush into burning homes. When I was in the Army we did a lot of dangerous things. We improvised bombs from barrels of diesel fuel and plastic explosives. We repelled off 100' foot towers, face first, while firing M-16s (blanks, live rounds would have been dangerous). But we spent plenty of time training for those activities. At the time they didn't seem dangerous at all. "Pilot" is on the dangerous jobs list, and that is a highly trained and typically well paid position. But that occupational statistic could be skewed by pilots flying personal aircraft who have less training. Another interesting job is "driver". In the 2005 statistics that included truck drivers and outside sales personnel that drive for a living. The occupation of driver being unsafe is mostly an indictment of all drivers being unsafe. Who would have thought those low-pay high-commission sales people were risking death when they hit the road?. "Driver" could also include paper delivery and flower delivery, two dangerous jobs I have held. But I thought it would be informative to point out that dangerous jobs don't always come with high pay or benefits. Here in America the most dangerous jobs seem to be those that would historically be considered "blue-collar" jobs. So if you're a roofer, agricultural worker, or traveling sales person, please be careful. And get some good life insurance.

Economic Debate Results: Last night's debate drew a pretty large crowd. Rich Uncle Pennybags suggested that we invest immediately in Railroads and Utilities and seek to create a monopoly in those areas. Wimpy felt that borrowing money from the RDA, and gladly repaying it on Tuesday, would be in our best interest. Tonight we have Captain Planet discussing why "no growth" is a necessary policy for our community. He'll also be giving tips on where to purchase a nice mullet hairdoo. Bob the Builder will be discussing the benefits of having, and challenges facing, the local building industry. Please support my campaign for City Council by attending this informative debate.

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Anthony Watts, see comment below for the answer.

Posted by Lon at 07:50 AM | Comments (17)

November 19, 2007

The Producers

Image: The top 25 sales tax producers in Chico in Q2 2007, in alphabetical order. Notice: Finance Committee is holding a public forum tonight in the Council Chambers (6:30PM, see web site for more details). Here in Chico we often discuss the need to improve downtown as a business environment as well as the need to retain college educated youngsters with an improved job market. These are common points of economic growth concerns. On the other hand we have a vocal portion of the population that is antagonistic towards some corporate giants and at times automobile users. When 43% of our General Fund income comes from sales tax, I think it is important to note who the sales tax producers are. Companies who produce income that will pay a portion of the $30,000 green-house-gas emissions study are automobile and petroleum sellers. In fact the producers of money that pay for our police, fire, planning, and even health insurance for our City Councilors include Wal-Mart, Costco, and all of our major automobile retailers. Building and home improvement companies like Meeks, Lowes, and Home Depot contribute, as do fine fashionista stores like Mervyns, JC Penny, and Gottschalks. To get a feel for the difference in economies go stand in front of the Saturday Farmer's Market in the morning, and then stand outside of Costco in the afternoon. In the morning you'll see consumers lugging around tangerines and squash that contributed nothing to offset local government spending, and in the afternoon you'll see big screen TVs and 10-packs of blue jeans that do. Personally, I'm not a very good consumer. I don't have an offal lot of "stuff"(catch the word play...genius). I've been to the Farmer's Market a dozen times in the last year, and travelled to Costco just once a couple of weeks back. I bought a Polish dog... big spender. With our budget problems Chico is in uncharted economic waters where reefs abound. We should pay attention to the wind that fills our sales (catch the word play... more genius). Some aspect of our economic planning should focus on the health and welfare of the top 100 companies that produce sales tax income. Paying extraordinary attention to products like the Chico Bag may feel good, but will have no widespread economic benefit. However meeting with the top 25 sales tax producers and asking their opinion of where the city could help them produce more might actually create income to city coffers. Q2-2007 Sales Tax Report: (see report here, hard to read, sorry) Sales tax for Q2-07 was up 2.3% compared to Q2-06. Butte County gross receipts grew by 0.1% during this time frame. Growth occurred in the restaurant and hotel sector and rising fuel costs created growth in the fuel and service station sector. Annexation is described as the reason for a significant growth in contractor sales, I think that's debatable. Income from the leading producer, new automobile sales, was down. As were home furnishing and building supply sales. Shrinkage in these sectors offset the growth experienced in other areas. Reduced sales tax income growth, state government taking money from local government, and union negotiated benefits are considered the primary cause of Chico's budget deficit. The city is not admitting to high wages being a cause.

Lon "the Councilornator" Glazner Debate Forum: I would like to thank everyone that came to the Global Warming debate last night. The porcupine incident was unfortunate and Mr. Cold Miser was released from Enloe this morning with minor abrasions. Tonight we're holding a philosophical discussion on Chico's economic direction. Again we've found two exceptional economic leaders who both promote different views on the economy. I hope you can all attend. The flyer is posted below.

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Trevor Hastings, see comments below for the answer.

Posted by Lon at 08:30 AM | Comments (26)

November 18, 2007

Christmas Preview Could Save City! Will You Pitch In?

Image: Two upcoming DCBA Christmas events. The Christmas Preview is tonight, and the Community Tree Lighting ceremony is on December 7th. Both are nice events to attend. The Peace and Freedom Party will also be celebrating the bombing of Pearl Harbor on the 7th, so that's a 2-fer! Fellow Chicoans, tonight is a night where you can do your part to solve Chico's budget problem. The Downtown Chico Business Association is holding the Christmas Preview. There is also a story in the ER today showing that our per-capita-General Fund revenue is down. I'm not sure how to describe the Christmas Preview. In the past some downtown streets were closed, a few vendors were out selling stuff, and a couple of dance troupes put on shows in the windows. The dancers were probably the biggest crowd draw. Historically, the event seemed to be more about community than selling wares. It's a good event, and worth attending. There are two additional reasons to attend the Christmas Preview. One is that I'm sure someone in Chico will want it to be changed to the Holiday Preview soon. This could be the last one about Christmas. We've already lost the Christmas Tree Lighting to the Community Tree Lighting. But the second reason to go is to spend money and push up the General Fund per-capita-revenue. For every $1,000 I spend tonight, the city will get something like $9.50. A quick calculation tells us what we each need to spend tonight to pay for the sales tax component of the non-managerial highest paid employee at the city. pay = $180,000 + 62% benefits on regular pay ($88,000*.62) = $235,000 43% of that comes from sales tax = $101,000 City gets 0.95% of each dollar -> if I spend $10,616,926 tonight then I've done my part! There goes my plan to buy a Caribbean island and a personal jet. Time to get out the AMEX and Discovery Card, because this is going to hurt. One last note: I'd like to invite you all to my City Council campaign's first informational gathering. The flyer is reprinted below. We've worked really hard to get some quality speakers up to Chico for this event. Don't miss it. Vote for me, because I'm the best. Bet on it!

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Mark Bohn, see comments below for the answer.

Posted by Lon at 06:55 AM | Comments (16)

November 17, 2007

Talk Of The Town

Image: A comparison of fire department statistics showing Chico vs. Redding and Chico vs. Yuba City. The percentage column shows the difference from Chico. Ex. Reddings population is 29% greater than Chico's, Yuba City's is 28% lower than Chico's. *Fires of all types, Chico had 54 building fires, but 439 fire responses in 2006. There has been a lot of discussion on this blog about firefighters and their pay which is a natural response to the release of City employee salary data. With the really excessive overtime pay going to Fire Captains in particular I don't see how the public couldn't ask questions about the department. But I wanted to look into details beyond pay to try to get a better picture of what our fire department does. In particular a question was asked "how busy is our department". I also wanted to avoid comparisons with cities like San Rafael whose structures, terrain, and economic base differ greatly from Chico's. So I compared Yuba City and Redding. Redding is larger than Chico, and also maintains an airport. Yuba City is smaller than Chico, but pays about the same as we do. I think they are good comparison cities. Here is where my data came from... Yuba City [budget data, fire department web site] Redding [fire department web site] Chico [2006 Fire Department Annual Report, Fire Department Strategic Plan] Salary Data [City to ER, posted on my last blog post] As a general overview the Chico fire department put in more than 22,000 hours of training last year. They answered 8854 calls, 54 were structure fires (buildings) and 439 were fires or explosions, which includes the structure fires. They responded to 356 false alarms and 406 hazardous conditions (gas leak?). There were 6100 emergency medical calls and 720 "good intent" calls. The fire department made an average of 31.8 "runs" per day, or 5.3 per station, or one run every 4.5 hours per station on average. If you add in the administrative runs (Fire Chief, Fire Inspector) the daily average increases to 34.7. The number of calls is broken down by both month and station, a question asked yesterday by a reader. Stations 1 and 2 get the majority of calls and both are located in the urban core. Fire and emergency calls are highest May through September which would indicate workload is seasonal, and not dictated by the student population. Since 2000 there have been 12 injuries and 6 deaths due to fires in Chico. In 2006 there were 2 injuries and 1 death caused by fire. The Chico firefighter staffing requirements are spelled out in the strategic plan as 1 fire station per 10,000 people. We have 6 stations, with a 7th in the works. A city population of 84,000 is listed in the report. It also states 4 active duty people per 10,000 is required staffing. That includes Chief Officers for command. The strategic plan , a 10 year planning document, recommends an increase in staffing of 25% (from 4 to 5 per 10,000 people). One reader also posted this, which I believe to be accurate... "Fire stations 1 through 6 all have corresponding fire engines that are staffed with a captain, engineer, and firefighter. Stations 1 and 5 also have ladder trucks that are staffed by an engineer and a firefighter (or another engineer . . I'm not certain as this was a recent staffing addition). What apparatus rolls on any given call is dictated by preset policy. For example, for medical calls, the closest engine rolls (along with an ambulance). For fires and rescues, a lot more apparatus rolls. As it stands right now, the city relies on the fire department to roll on all medical calls due to station placement in order to guarantee a minimum response time. There are only two ambulance companies (Enloe and First Responder). They deploy from three locations throughout the city. There are also fire dept staff that work M-F,9-5 type shifts (eg the Chiefs, Fire Marshall, Inspectors, etc)." The reports and documentation related to the fire department are incredibly detailed. Maybe this is what the Fire Captains do during overtime? For example, the fire department responded to... 341 vehicle accident with injury 3 overheated car motors 60 passenger vehicle fires 13 police matters 4 ring / jewelry removal 13 vapor, dust, or fog thought to be smoke 1 threat to burn 4 remove victims from a stalled elevator 1 refrigeration leak 40 water or steam leak 35 water problem, other After reading the report, I've got to figure that the firefighters think us civilians are all a bunch of morons. I can imagine running around with my hands flailing in the air screaming "call 911, call 911, get the fire department here quick, my basement is flooding". I can also imagine the fire department using the jaws-of-life to remove a wedding ring from some chubby finger. This reminds me of a relative who asked if they should call a plumber to fix an electrical outlet for their washer. Now you know why corporate America moved their technical support to India and forces everyone to go through an unending sequence of button pushes before a human being is reached. As far as my research into Yuba City and Redding go, it looks like our fire department answers significantly fewer per capita calls(see update below). A reader had questioned me, "do they work harder than other fire departments, do we have more fires, and therefore deserve greater pay?". I can't speak to work or training ethic, but our department seems to have a lower workload than the two cities I looked at. But you can summarize that data yourself. Update: I was checking my work on this and the number of Chico firefighters I used looked too high. The previous number of 111 came from the 2006 fire department report, but included volunteers and civilian staff. The numbers I used for Yuba City and Redding are uniformed personnel only. After changing the Chico numbers to uniformed only (from 111 to 72) it looks like the workload at Chico is basically the same as those other communities from a "calls per employee", and also similar with respect to firefighter per capita. That is a significant change from my earlier results.

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Greggifer, see comments below for the answer.

Posted by Lon at 08:34 AM | Comments (3)

November 16, 2007

2 For 1 Friday

Salary Survey Information Update: The ER has the salary survey information from Jenn Klein's interview with Finance Director Jennifer Hennessy on its web site (here is the file). The survey did include Fire Captain salaries, and mentions the IAFF increase in pay in coming years, which were two areas that I was concerned with. If I had to characterize the salary ranges in the community comparison I wouldn't say that it is on target, or within 5% of comparison communities. It is "on average" within ~5% of those communities. It could also be described as +/-30% of the comparison communities. The first way of describing it (within ~5% on average) leads to the assumption that our salary range is common. This tends to justify our pay tables. The second method (+/-30%) shows that there is a wide range of pay scales in the comparison communities and neither justifies or refutes our current pay tables. I caught a little flak this morning for implying that the Finance Director might not have been up front with the data and suggesting that I needed to question everything regarding city finances. I actually said I wasn't implying that, but saying you're not doing something and actually not doing it are two different things. My post definitely implied that I was concerned over transparency and intent. But here's a public apology to Finance Director Jennifer Hennessy, who I think doesn't deserve public ire for her efforts. I'm sorry Jennifer. I know you and the rest of the city staff are working very hard on this problem. I appreciate the effort and transparency you are providing regarding budget items. While I'm sure I will question future numbers, or concepts, I will try to give you the benefit-of-the-doubt when I do so.

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Sean Baber, see comments below for the answer.

Posted by Lon at 08:45 AM | Comments (17)

Open Letter To Tommy Gascoyne

Image: What my campaign sign might look like. Yesterday someone pointed out to me some comments made by the Chico Beat's Tom Gascoyne in his Fourth and Main Column. I think they're pretty funny, and amazingly accurate. Here's what Tom wrote: That male-heavy selection by the council did not sit well with everybody, except maybe those selected. (See letters page 4.) Even the normally thick-skinned Lon Glazner revealed his sensitive side in his E-R blog, lamenting the way the women were treated on this night. Of course, if his Hooker Oak buddies, Chamberlain (who was also snubbed in his bid for a place at the GPAC table) and Sorenson, had met with more success on this night, the slight to the women may have been a bit more acceptable for Glazner. Who knows? I do know this: That particular blogger and disc-golf enthusiast looks like he's lining up for a run of his own come next year's city council election. Bet on it. I am very sensitive. I cry a lot. Mostly I cry about the eczema that has caused my skin to thicken in an unnatural way. Here's my hard hitting response: Tom, Tommy, Tomster, thank you for joining my campaign team. As you know I had my heart set on the Parking Place Commission, which held the real reins of power in our community, but that body was disbanded to block my overt power grab. If we were to combine my 6 blog readers with your 10 newspaper readers we would have the makings of a large political movement. We could call it the Hooker Beat Alliance. Another added benefit of our campaigning coalition is that neither of us needs to worry about upsetting advertisers. Our first big move should be to solidify support for a local Indian casino. Otherwise I'm not sure how we'll go about implementing your last suggestion. How much money are we talking about? Are you giving odds? I look forward to working with you on the campaign trail. Do you think we could get Jessica Alba to come up and stump for me? Do you know her? Do you know anyone who does? She's really hot, and looks nice, because she's always smiling in her photos. I think she would be fun to hang out with. A Call To Action: Having Tom G. as my campaign chairman is a great first step. But I need to fill some other vacancies. Position - Job Description Campaign Organizer - Organize me so I can be a shill for the building industry. Campaign Weatherman - I won't leave the house unless it's between 69-72 degrees (F), and partially sunny. Otherwise my skin itches. Campaign Sustainability Expert - I would like to recycle all of my campaign mailers, so I need someone to go to each house I mail them to and recover them. Campaign Chess Table Liaison - Works with the chess player downtown to organize him into a voting block. If you have other positions in mind or would like to apply for a position please do.

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Mark Sorensen, see comments below for the answer.

Posted by Lon at 06:20 AM | Comments (21)

November 15, 2007

To Their Credit, And Unfortunately More

Image: Finance Department's Community Survey link was removed from the city web site yesterday. I added a few questions that the discerning survey taker might have asked. I mentioned this survey in a previous blog after reading about it in an E-R editorial. To their credit, the City has removed the survey link from their web site (although as of this morning the file is still on the server, [oops they removed it, here it is on my url] see survey here). I've asked the city why the link was removed from the web site and information on who produced the survey. If I get a response I'll post it here. Although without that response there are some facts that can be derived. The document was probably removed because it is an obvious piece of propaganda that seems designed to promote job security. It was probably put together by a committee. The document itself was authored by "jhenness" on 10/22/07 at 12:40PM. This simply means that the survey was created on an Adobe piece of software licensed to the Finance Director, Jennifer Hennessy. And whoever last produced it was working during their lunch hour. Now that's dedication! So I would like more information about how this survey was produced. If it came from the top down (councilors) that tells me one thing. If it came from upper levels of city staff that tells me something different. Today, I think the city staff deserve credit for removing the survey. I hope they are willing to share the reason they decided to do that.

And More... Over the last year I've come to question virtually everything coming from the city regarding finances. I could go through a long list of things that caused me to feel this way. I think the survey questions above and the magnitude of Fire Captain overtime pay are the two most recent examples. The survey being obviously biased, and overtime pay being obviously hushed up during Finance Committee meetings. Today in the E-R Jenn Klein interviews Finance Director Jennifer Hennessy regarding a comparison of public safety employee pay in our region (see story here). Hennessy states that our public safety employee pay is "on target". Hennessy is paraphrased as saying two things that concern me. First... Hennessy said while the amount public safety workers earn seems high to someone who works in the private sector, it's not an "apples to apples" comparison between the public and private sectors. I would agree that it is not an apples to apples comparison. It is a dollars to dollars comparison. The entire purpose of a currency system is to provide an equal and reproducible method of comparing unlike things. The world of public employee finances may be complicated and politicized, but the cost in dollars is easily determined and easily compared to our revenue. Second... Hennessy said the survey conducted in the last month showed the base salaries for police officers are on average with other north state cities and the base salaries for firefighters are within 5 percent. All but one of the cities surveyed had the same retirement plan, she said. The city looked at the base salaries and relative benefits. It did not compare overtime earnings. Hennessy said a comparison of overtime earnings is difficult to make because of the number of different policies in place in different cities on overtime. So here is a clear example of NOT comparing apples to apples. Hennessy mentions a comparison of "base pay" for police officers and firefighters. "Police officer" and "firefighter" are job positions, and here in Chico they don't appear to make money out of line with what I would expect. The average regular pay for a police officer is $56K, and a firefighter is $49K. With overtime, both positions are in the low $60K's. Which leads me to ask "what about Fire Captains"?. This job position earns on average $84K in regular pay and $37K in OT. Hennessy states in the article that the pay for firefighter positions are within 5% of communities like Oroville and Redding. The base pay for a Fire Captain in Redding in 2006 was $71K (see data here). Chico Fire Captains earn 15-20% more than Redding Fire Captains, not including overtime. What about Oroville? Fire Captains in Oroville earn a base pay of $49K-$62K (see salary table here). Chico Fire Captains earn roughly 35% more "base pay" than the highest level Oroville describes in their document. Again, overtime is not included. For Yuba City the salary range for a Fire Captain is $73K-$89K (see data here), which is in line with ours. At which point we need to take a look at overtime, which constitutes on average about 30% of a Fire Captain's total pay in Chico. I assume none of this includes the 5% raise the Fire Department negotiated for next year. Or the 25% raise negotiated over the next 6 years. A true comparison might also include whether or not other communities have restrained growth in employee costs in the coming years. So I'm concerned about the way the city salary comparison survey was presented in the Klein story. If the comparison did not look at each position in the fire department, but only firefighter, then it misses the most expensive job titles. If it did look at all of the positions, but came back with the "within 5%" stated by Hennessy then I'd like to know how the numbers were generated. If it came back with "off target" salaries for Fire Captain like I found, but only data for the position of firefighter was presented to the press, then we've got a problem. And of course all of this means I need to ask for the survey data to see if my concerns are valid. They may not be. I don't want to imply nefarious intent here, but the statements in the E-R story don't seem to stand up well to cursory fact checking. I would also like to point out one final thing. Saying we are, or need to be, competitive with other communities is not a reason for spending more money than we have.

Blog Review: My wife thought the Urban Beaver post was very bad, and very stupid. She felt that my poetry was awful. So I just wanted to take the time to tell her how wonderful, beautiful, and supportive she is. I might even write a poem about her.

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Anthony Watts, see comments below for the answer.

Posted by Lon at 07:29 AM | Comments (22)

November 14, 2007

Ode To The Urban Beaver

Photo: Historic image of an Urban Beaver protesting. There is something written in the E-R today that is of immense importance to the future of our city. Much public discussion of this topic has occurred and there are a number of us in the public that have expressed concern over the direction our community is headed. Yes, I'm speaking of the plight of the Urban Beaver. From the E-R: Our Five-Mile beavers seem to have the same idea we all had in the summers before overgrowth caused its closing. They just want to create a swimming pool like we used to have. It seems like such a natural thing to do. Perhaps, like in the book "The Lorax," maybe the pool will come back by hook or by beavers. — Jerry Olio, Chico I believe Mr. Olio is incorrect as to the reason that there is no pool at 5-mile these days. Historically the pool was formed by the city piling up a gravel bar. Some time ago it was deemed too expensive an exercise. Now that that activity has long been stopped an EIR would be required to form a swimming area again. Lots of state agencies, enviro groups, etc. would say "no" to a project like that. So the overgrowth is a result of the pool not being constructed, not the cause of it. But back to beavers. I believe the E-R deserves credit for shaking loose the information regarding the Urban Beaver in Chico. Although it goes unmentioned in today's E-R, Commission Impossible also played a part in bringing facts related to the Urban Beaver to light, mostly through the exceptional use of today's technology. However, this blog isn't just about facts and numbers, like the amount of overtime an Urban Beaver puts in to build his lodge. Commission Impossible is also the high water mark in Chico's arts and culture scene. That's why today is a poetry day. Here's a little culture for my fellow Chicoans. Ode To the Urban Beaver - By Lon Glazner Yo, beaver with your teeth, you’re furry and abrupt In 5-mile you hop, skip and jump, and waters interrupt In lodge o’ wood, in leafy ‘hood, you don’t sweat the rent A crib so fine, much like mine, or rapper fiddy-cent Then one fine day, fish flip and flop, down in Bidwell creek Then at the Hall, the textin’ starts, and flies from freak to geek Urban beaver, proud and strong, gets pummeled by “The Man” Down comes your dam, without GPAC, or even “Master Plan” Rise up bro, fist in air, for you we don’t forsake, Dust off your urban beaver pelt, and build at Horseshoe Lake. I would invite blog readers to post your own "Ode to the Urban Beaver". Somewhat naughty "odes" may be accepted. I know a lot of people may not appreciate the joys of poetry, especially bad poetry, but give it a shot. You will enjoy it. Regardless, a comment rule is in effect. Any comment must include a rhyme related to the Urban Beaver (although not necessarily a poem).

Poetry Tips: As both an expert blogger and a world renowned poet I would like to offer some tips on writing poetry. 1. Use words: Images or punctuation marks are difficult for the beginner to form into solid and meaningful verse. 2. Rhyme: While this is not necessary poems that don't rhyme sound funny and seem too high-brow for us simple folk. 3. Words that rhyme with Beaver: Cleaver, deceiver, transceiver, believer, retriever, weaver, ever (if you pronounce it eever), lever (again, leever), Evil Knieviler. That should get you started.

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Nobody, see poems below for the answer.

Posted by Lon at 07:11 AM | Comments (16)

November 13, 2007

Raise My Taxes, Please!

Photo: Yesterday a motorcyclist crashed near my office. Within 2 minutes Enloe's ambulance service was on site (he's being loaded into the back of the ambulance in the photo). 2 minutes later a motor cycle police officer was present (3 officers showed up within 5 minutes, 2 directed traffic, 1 questioned witnesses). And 2 minutes after that the Fire Department drove by. They didn't stop. They simply made two passes and headed home. I doubt that's indicative of normal operations, but who knows? The event reinforced in my mind a need to evaluate responsibilities, effectiveness, and cost, regarding emergency medical response services. I'm also under the impression that that discussion may never happen. Today's E-R editorial points to a biased survey the city staff have placed online to measure public opinion on the budget crunch. The editorial states that one survey option is "Getting developers to pay their fair share". That's a pretty leading option. Maybe it should have been "getting evil developers to pay their fair share"? Personally, I'm open to the idea of increases in development impact fees, if they are warranted by a Nexus Study. However I would remind my readers that a liberal council majority is responsible for lowering development impact fees for parks (see post here). Scapegoating is easy, finding solutions is hard. A reader recently sent me a document that had Chico's 2nd quarter sales tax income on it. There's a small increase (2.3%) over last year at this time. The document has income by economic sector and lists major sales tax contributors, like Wal-Mart. Sales tax income from restaurants was up significantly, and contractor sales were as well (restaurant no liquor +14.1%, restaurants liquor + 15.7%, contractors +142%). The increases in tax income from those sectors were offset by reductions in automobile sales and home improvement sales which were both down. These down sectors also happen to be the ones likely to be impacted by a sales tax increase by the City of Chico. Would you spend a few hundred dollars more for the pleasure of buying a car in Chico, or would you save that money by buying in some outlying community? The same goes for major home renovations (new auto dealers -7.7%, home furnishing -20.4%, lumber/building supplies, -5.6%) . A sales tax increase would drive some business away from Chico, but would likely create a longer term increase in city revenue. Here's what the Chico Chamber of Commerce recently said about a sales tax increase (see ER story here). Regarding a possible tax increase, Goodwin said the chamber isn't yet convinced. As far as "any kind of tax increase, it's completely off the table as far as our ability to support. Existing resources need to be managed to their fullest," Goodwin said. " Our group would have to be totally convinced (the city) has done everything before considering a tax." The Chamber, and Goodwin, deserve kudos for that public pronouncement. I had heard rumors they were leaning the other way.

So what do a photo of an inefficient emergency response, a biased survey, a slight uptick in sales tax, and the Chamber's position on a sales tax increase have in common? Well... taxpayer money of course. The City has taken a position in Finance Committee meetings that we won't talk seriously about cuts in employee numbers or benefit reductions. The Fire Chief said in a recent E-R interview that cutting fire fighter overtime will endanger lives. My discussion of improving efficiency in the Police Department was not seen as constructive criticism by some. The discussion seems to be following the lines of everything is perfect, we just need more money. My opinion is beginning to change on the subject of a city budget discussion. I'm seeing closed doors on topics related to spending cuts. I'm beginning to feel like a reasoned evaluation of spending tax payer dollars is not happening. Educating the public is looking like indoctrination. If that's the case then we're nearing the time to light a backfire and move politically in support of the taxpayer. An early move to stop a sales tax increase could force an efficiency discussion. I'm not sure anything else will.

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Trevor Hastings, see comments below for the answer.

Posted by Lon at 07:20 AM | Comments (15)

November 12, 2007

Taxpayer Day

Photo: Macys is offering 10%-50% off, plus a discount on purchasing Values in celebration of Veterans Day. Yesterday was Veterans Day. Today is the observance of Veterans Day. Our Congress, on October 26th, 2007, proclaimed November 11th through the 17th National Veterans Awareness Week. And Macys, in keeping with that proclamation, is selling mattresses and jewelry at a deep discount. You can also save 10%-50% off merchandise and purchase your Values today (see advert above). It's been 18 years since I left the military service. My connection to the service these days is limited to a camouflage cap my son sometimes wears to school. I still have a few uniforms, but sadly the years must have shrunk them, because they no longer fit. During my service I was trained in anti-tank warfare in the U.S. Army Infantry. I served at a time of little armed conflict. My service was from 1985-1989 and was gently nestled between actions in Grenada and Panama. I did fight in the longest war our nation took part in, and that was the Cold War. In fact I credit my many hours of guard duty, cleaning, and painting for winning that war. I'm the reason we don't speak communist.. well I'm the reason we don't ALL speak communist. In looking at the history of Veterans Day I found it interesting that it was acknowledged not just to honor veterans, but also to ensure that federal employees had some long weekends off. It's now observed by federal and state employees, schools, and banks. City employees get 11 holiday days off so I assume that today is one of them. Police and fire don't have today off, but might earn holiday pay. In contrast to most government employees many pre-veterans serving across the globe today are on-the-clock and not earning additional pay. As for me, I'm self-employed, and I'll be at work at least part of today. I earned a contract on Friday to design a sensor for a deep-sea submersible. I need to get the design and prototype done by Christmas. But this isn't a "woe-is-me" post. Quite the contrary. I want to take a few moments, as a veteran, to thank the taxpayer. You didn't pay me very much (about $100K for my 4 years of service), but you gave me great experiences and opportunities. I fought fires in Yellowstone, drove armored personnel carriers across Germany, lived with both the greatest and worst people I've ever met, and reinforced my opinion that we are the greatest nation on earth. But most importantly, you paid for my college education. That education has allowed me to determine my own financial destiny, provide for my family (with my wife's help), and even write this blog. If we had a Macys in town I might go down and pick up a mattress, some jewelry, and even some shiny new Values. Maybe instead I can get a deal on socks at Target? I wonder if I should bring my honorable discharge papers?

The Presidential Proclamation establishing Veterans Day BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA A PROCLAMATION 3071 Whereas it has long been our customs to commemorate November 11, the anniversary of the ending of World War I, by paying tribute to the heroes of that tragic struggle and by rededicating ourselves to the cause of peace; and Whereas in the intervening years, the United States has been involved in two other great military conflicts, which have added millions of veterans living and dead to the honor rolls of this Nation; and Whereas the Congress passed a concurrent resolution on June 4, 1926 (44 Stat. 1982), calling for the observance of November 11 with appropriate ceremonies, and later provided in an act approved May 13, 1938 (52 Stat. 351) , that the eleventh of November should be a legal holiday and should be known as Armistice Day; and Whereas, in order to expand the significance of that commemoration and in order that a grateful Nation might pay appropriate homage to the veterans of all its wars who have contributed so much to the preservation of this Nation, the Congress, by an act approved June 1, 1954 (68 Stat. 168), changed the name of the holiday to Veterans Day: Now, Therefore, I, Dwight D. Eisenhower, President of the United States of America , do hereby call upon all of our citizens to observe Thursday, November 11, 1954 , as Veterans Day. On that day let us solemnly remember the sacrifices of all those who fought so valiantly, on the seas, in the air, and on foreign shores, to preserve our heritage of freedom, and let us reconsecrate ourselves to the task of promoting an enduring peace so that their efforts shall not have been in vain. I also direct the appropriate officials of the Government to arrange for the display of the flag of the United States on all public buildings on Veterans Day. In order to insure proper and widespread observance of this anniversary, all veterans, all veterans' organizations, and the entire citizenry will wish to join hands in the common purpose. Toward this end, I am designating the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs as Chairman of a Veterans Day National Committee, which shall include such other persons as the Chairman may select, and which will coordinate at the national level necessary planning for the observance. I am also requesting the heads of all departments and agencies of the Executive branch of the Government to assist the National Committee in every way possible. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and cause the Seal of the United States of America to be affixed. Done at the City of Washington this eighth day of October in the Year of our Lord nineteen hundred and fifty-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and seventy-ninth. DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER[1]

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Anon, see comments below for the answer.

Posted by Lon at 07:14 AM | Comments (19)

November 11, 2007

Planning For Success?

Video: I think it's time to re-release this Planning Commission PSA produced by the CI video team. It's probably the main reason people applied to the commission. I've been remiss in not discussing the Planning Commission appointments that were made on Tuesday night. I thought the appointments were interesting, but the process itself created some topics for discussion. The process began with Mayor Andy Holcombe describing his criteria for new Planning Commissioners, which included a desire for long-term service by the appointees. Each appointee will serve just 1 year completing the terms of the commissioners they are replacing. Holcombe expressed an interest in people willing to carry on after that 1 year. Councilor Steve Bertagna said that he'd like each applicant to describe how they agree or disagree with the existing Planning Commission decisions. It seemed that that question really became a core discussion point for the applicants. Kathy Barrett, an Art Commissioner and Executive Director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Butte County was selected for the commission. Tom Hayes, a retired city planner with 24 years of experience was also selected. I found it interesting that most applicants stated that even if they agreed with existing Planning Commission decisions they did not support the creation of new policy by the Planning Commission. These responses indicated to me that the sitting Planning Commission was widely seen as flawed in this regard by the applicants. The fact that the City Council appointed people who pronounced this opinion indicates that they might agree. After the first round of voting some applicants who were most qualified were weeded out. This included Mark Sorensen who probably has the most knowledge of anyone not in the "planning biz". I think Mark was unfairly questioned by Councilor Flynn as to whether or not he would run for Council again. The question was posed to determine if he would have more than a year to serve. Mark responded jokingly that he would run again if he "failed his mental exam". Nancy Wolfe who had served on the Planning Commission, ARB, and Airport Commission was also excluded early on. A math professor who had served on the Planning Commission for Dana Point, CA appeared qualified and articulate, but did not move up in the voting process. As the final votes neared political favoritism looked to be a possible result with Michael Worley and Nora Todenhagen still in the running, and people with more experience and/or knowledge culled from the herd. The final selection of Barrett and Hayes was a reasonable decision from the 5-2 liberal majority. In discussing the appointments with one of the "cinco de zurdo" Councilors it's clear they are taking flak for the appointments from some of their constituents. Tom Hayes: Hayes seemed to be the best qualified applicant from a knowledge standpoint. However, he did state that he would serve only the 1-year left in the seat he would fill. This was counter to Mayor Holcombe's criteria for selection. Kathy Barrett: I like Barrett on the Art Commission, which at times seems to operate in its own world. But Barrett's position at a local non-profit could create problems for her and the Planning Commission. It is rumored that Big Brothers Big Sisters has a financially beneficial arrangement regarding their office space with one of our local builders. This may not have been identified as an economic interest on her application, as at least one of the left-leaning councilors was not aware of it at the time of the vote. If that relationship exists it should be disclosed and she will need to recuse herself if that builder comes before the Commission. Additionally, the local builders are by and large a generous group of people. Many local charities depend on their giving of time, labor, money, and resources to meet funding goals. These donations could be construed as "financial interests" which may need to be disclosed. And there is the reality that the Planning Commission has often made decisions that are not in the financial interests of builders. Barrett could find herself in the hot seat making decisions that impact donors or influential customers of donors. But Chico is a small town, so these connections naturally exist.

I think the liberal councilors did an admirable job adjusting the Planning Commission to the right, but keeping it firmly in their camp. They had other options. More Reading: ER Story (Jenn Klein) On Planning Commission / GPAC Picks ER Editorial on the Planning Commission / GPAC picks

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Mark Sorensen, see comments below for the answer.

Posted by Lon at 06:42 AM | Comments (8)

November 10, 2007

Volunteers Needed - Great Opportunity For Cash!

It dawned on me yesterday, after my employee salary post, that I now probably have less fire protection than the average Chicoan. If a call goes out that my house is on fire there may be a calculus weighing the importance of finishing a cup-of-noodles and saving Lon's house. I'm not sure my residence is currently valued by some city employees more than watching the end of a Simpsons rerun. So to be on the safe side, I have decided to form my own volunteer fire fighting force. I have hired a couple of fire fighters. They don't have any particular fire fighting skills but are fun to look at. Learning from my Hasselhoff debacle I tried to hire a guy that wasn't covered in Pugs. And of course I hired Laura Kleinlittle (see photo above), who is both a CI staff writer and good friend. But I need more volunteers to make my house safe. You only need a bucket or large water bottle, a cell phone, and some means of transportation (preferably one of those old fashioned bikes with a giant front wheel). I need my faithful readers to stand with me during these trying times. Please join the International Save Lon's House Volunteer Fire Fighting Force today (ISLHVFFF). If you don't I'm bringing out the Hasselhoff! Note: I received a call from the fireman who negotiated the IAFF contract. He was a nice guy , and offered to answer any questions I have about the fire department, or its budget. I'll probably take him up on the offer. I asked him if the department was planning on coming to my house if there was a fire. He said they definitely would. But just to be on the safe side I think we need to form the ISLHVFFF. If things work out we might even score some overtime pay from the city.

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Anthony Watts, see comments below for the answer.

Posted by Lon at 08:48 AM | Comments (7)

November 08, 2007

News Flash - All City Salaries Posted Here

I received an Excel file of all city salaries by employee for 2006. Pay is broken down by regular pay, special pay, other pay, and overtime pay. I'm posting two files, the first is sorted by total pay from highest to lowest. The second is sorted by overtime pay from highest to lowest. Some city employees are receiving massive amounts of overtime pay. Some are receiving overtime pay that is twice the median income for this region. For example, one Fire Captain received $88,000 in regular pay and $78,000 in overtime pay. With all other pay this employee earned a total of $179,000 which was $11,000 more than the Fire Chief, the highest position at the fire department. This Fire Captain was the third highest paid city employee in 2006. In fact fire department employees made up 50% of our top ten highest paid city employees. The 4 Fire Captains in the "top ten" list earned over $265,000 in overtime. That's in one year. For 4 people. I have removed the names of employees because I don't think that information is of specific value to the public. But this information is an eye opener. Here are the files in Excel format. Sorted by total pay - Download file Sorted by overtime pay - Download file For those of you that don't have Excel, or are just too lazy to download a file and view it here are two images. The first is the top 40 paid city employees (total pay) by job position. The second is sorted by top overtime earners. Please note that in the images I also removed columns for "special pay" and "other pay" to make the information easier to read. Those columns exist in the Excel files. Update: I added a third image summarizing police and fire overtime pay.

Top "total pay" city employees

Top "Over-time pay" city employees

Summary of overtime pay and hours worked by public safety employees: I should point out that the police Captains and Lieutenants are probably part of "management" which would explain why they don't show overtime pay. The inclusion of these positions probably reduces the overtime pay average of the police by 6-7% (just the total figure, not the break-down by job type). I also didn't include police clerks or dispatchers.

Posted by Lon at 07:18 PM | Comments (32)

Balls To The Wahl

At Tuesday night's Council meeting Larry Wahl made a budget proposal that was quickly shot down, and not covered (yet) in the newspaper. It was the kind of budget proposal that would have made a big chunk of the budget deficit disappear, if only temporarily. The proposal was to enact a hiring freeze. Wahl said that 27 positions were open, and that not filling them would save $2.2 million per year. Saving that money this year would reduce the expanding deficit over the next ten years. Every dollar we save TODAY has the most value when long term budget deficits are calculated. The freeze would end when the city had addressed its budget deficit. Wahl's proposal excluded the City Manager recruitment which is in process right now. And an employee from the dispatch office spoke saying that her department was understaffed and likely to lose more people, and couldn't withstand a hiring freeze. The rest of the Council spoke against Wahl's proposal. Ann Schwab said that the budget deficit was not a dire situation, and immediate measures didn't need to be taken. I've heard the city staff say almost the opposite at Finance Committee meetings. One of the other councilors, I think Scott Gruendl, mentioned that a soft hiring freeze was already in place. The soft hiring freeze means that technically the city is not hiring, unless they want to. I think the reason they don't call it a hard hiring freeze is because they don't have to make any hard decisions. So I want to give Larry Wahl some credit for making the proposal. I don't think anyone else will. It was a step in the right direction. However, a complete hiring freeze is not something the city should do. I felt that they should take Wahl's proposal, review the jobs that are vacant, and implement a kind of "job hiring triage". Some jobs like dispatcher and City Manager need to be filled. There may have been others that could stay vacant. Maybe most of the others could remain vacant? I would say Larry Wahl made two mistakes in promoting this idea. The first was that he didn't make a proposal that omitted specific jobs from the freeze (with the exception of City Manager). That should have been an easy thing to do. The second is that he made his proposal on a night when the GPAC/Planning Commission/Party Ordinance decisions were being made. That guaranteed that nobody in the press would talk about it, and his idea wouldn't see the light-of-day unless a majority of the Council supported him. I think Wahl would serve the community well by recommending specific job's not be filled, and re-introducing this idea at the Finance Committee level. That would give the public a chance to hear him out, and an opportunity to discuss the concept of a hard hiring freeze. Which by its nature would be hard on some department.

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Trevor Hastings, see comments below for the answer.

Posted by Lon at 08:52 AM | Comments (16)

November 07, 2007

"Generalists" My Ass!