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Home My WebLink AboutEmailed Comments from Robert GoldbergGloria Harper From: Robert Goldberg <rgoldberg@live.com> Sent: Sunday, September 26, 2021 6:38 PM To: Thomas Moore; Schelly Sustarsic; Mike Varipapa; Sandra Massa-Lavitt; Joe Kalmick Cc: Jill Ingram; Gloria Harper, Charles M. Kelly; Jeannette Andruss Subject: Questions & Comments for Council Meeting 9/27/21, Item F, City Manager Pay Raise Attachments: 9.27.21.Questions.Open Session.doc; Census.2020.00 cities.pdf Dear Council and Staff, Please see the attached questions and comments on Item F. I have also attached a referenced pdf. Thank you for your consideration and service, Robert Goldberg Questions & Comments for 9/12/21 Meeting from Robert Goldberg Item F: Amendment to City Manager's Employment Agreement I have the following comments and questions regarding the reasons presented for the proposed increases in the City Manager's base salary and deferred compensation. The first of these is that Ms. Ingram has the third longest tenure (10+ years) of any City Manager among the 34 cities in Orange County. While this is notable, tenure with one city is not equivalent to total years of experience as a City Manager. Given that the average tenure at any one city for California City Managers is only four years (see https://www. grassrootslab.com/sites/all/files/StatusCACityManagers2015.pdf), I would argue that total experience is the more relevant factor to consider in compensation. How does Ms. Ingram's total years of experience as a City Manager compare to her Orange County peers? The staff report then notes that despite ranking as the 3rd longest tenured City Manager in Orange County, Ms. Ingram's base salary is only ranked 17th. However, with 34 cities in Orange County, this means that Ms. Ingram's current salary is very close to the median for Orange County. This ranking is actually quite remarkable given Seal Beach's ranking by population. The 2020 census (see attachment) puts Seal Beach as the 61h smallest city in Orange County with a population of 25,242 vs. a median of 63,695 and an average of 89,827. Comment: For the small size of Seal Beach, we are paying a disproportionately high base salaryfor our City Manager. Thus, one could argue that Ms. Ingram is already being adequately compensated for her above average tenure with Seal Beach. The second rationale presented is that "At 10 years of service, other City employees would be eligible for [5%] longevity pay." This is true, but has been true since 2018, and was presented on December 9, 2019 as one of the reasons at that time for justifying an increase in Ms. Ingram's base salary by 4% July 2019 and 5% in July 2020. Comment: 1 believe it is disingenuous to repeat this rationale to supportfurther pay increases in July 2021 and 2022 when that Ms. Ingram's current compensation already reflects consideration of her having achieved 10 years of service with the City. The final rationale is that "the proposed increases would maintain a bit of separation between the City Manager's salary and that of the highest paid department head [Police Chief]. It is considered to be a human resources best management practice to avoid compaction between the chief executive and the highest paid direct report." However, a comparison of base salaries (see below) shows that the City Manager's is currently 13.1% higher than that of the Police Chief. Perhaps staff's compaction concern was generated by a comparison of the City Manager's base salary to the combination of the Chiefs base salary plus his 10% bonus for having 20+ years of experience as a police officer (including work before his Seal Beach employment). However, this "apples -to -oranges" comparison indicates that there is already "a bit of separation" with City Manager's base salary being 2.9% higher than the Chiefs combined base plus bonus. In actuality, a more appropriate "apples -to -apples" comparison of total cash compensation would also include the amounts that both employees receive in deferred compensation. This comparison shows the City Managers total cash compensation to be currently 6.4% higher than the Chief's. This certainly qualifies as at least "a bit of separation." City Manager Current Proposed 7.2% Contracts Raise July 2021 Base Salary $251,820 $270,000 Experience Bonus (Not Eligible) $0 $0 Deferred Compensation $17,000 $19,500 Total Cash Compensation $268,820 Police Chief $289,500 Proposed 3.6% Raise July 2021 Base Salary $222,572 $230,585 20 -Year Experience Bonus @10% Base $22,257 $23,058 Deferred Compensation @ 3.5% Base $7,790 $8,070 Total Cash Compensation $252,620 City Manager Premium over Police Chief $261,714 Proposed for July 2021 Base Salary 13.1% 17.1% Base + Exp. Bonus 2.9% 6.4% Base + Exp. Bonus + Deferred Comp 6.4% 10.6% Comment: The staff report has not made a persuasive case for justifying a pay raise on the basis of compaction. Conclusion and Recommendation: The staff reportfails to make a cogent case for granting Ms. Ingram a retroactive 7.2% base salary raise that is twice as large as that recommended for her direct reports (3.6% per Item G). I would strongly recommend that the Council reconsider granting her only a matching raise of 3.6% effective July 2021, as well a matching 2-4% CPI increase effective July 2022. This recommendation would still provide Ms. Ingram with a very generous 14.7% increase in her deferred compensation to be followed by an additional CPI increase effective January 1, 2022. Source: U.S. Census Bureau (https://www.citypopulation.de/en/usa/california/06059_orange/). Census Census Census Census 4/1/1990 4/1/2000 4/1/2010 4/1/2020 Villa Park 6,196 5,968 5,822 5,843 Los Alamitos 11,799 11,547 11,352 11,780 La Palma 15,349 15,478 15,537 15,581 Laguna Woods 15,628 16,190 15,991 17,644 Laguna Beach 23,243 23,702 22,743 23,032 Seal Beach 25,071 24,497 24,165 25,242 Laguna Hills 31,333 33,297 30,679 31,374 Dana Point 31,781 35,119 33,291 33,107 San Juan Capistrano 26,187 33,717 34,411 35,196 Stanton 30,353 38,165 37,829 37,962 Brea 33,193 35,556 39,195 47,325 Rancho Santa Margarita 13,997 45,038 47,855 47,949 Cypress 42,634 46,453 47,858 50,151 Placentia 41,050 46,546 50,902 51,824 Aliso Vielo 6,605 39,194 47,668 52,176 Fountain Valley 54,204 54,921 55,360 57,047 La Habra 53,096 60,605 61,447 63,097 San Clemente 41,166 50,031 63,500 64,293 Laguna Niguel 45,049 62,763 62,993 64,355 Yorba Linda 56,333 58,751 64,176 68,336 Tustin 51,567 67,493 75,299 80,276 Buena Park 68,594 78,456 80,456 84,034 Newport Beach 66,501 78,761 85,211 85,239 Lake Forest 59,044 76,549 77,445 85,858 Westminster 78,603 87,992 89,511 90,911 Mission Vieio 79,494 92,057 93,101 93,653 Costa Mesa 96,354 109,371 110,082 111,918 Orange 111,399 129,744 136,778 139,911 Fullerton 114,235 126,187 135,183 143,617 Garden Grove 144,216 165,242 170,960 171,949 Huntington Beach 181,379 189,591 190,987 198,711 Irvine 118,996 144,023 212,125 307,670 Santa Ana 294,214 337,707 324,778 310,227 Anaheim 266,229 327,920 336,332 346,824 Orange County Total 2,335,092 2,748,631 2,891,022 3,054,112 Average City Population 89,827 Median City Population 63,695 Source: U.S. Census Bureau (https://www.citypopulation.de/en/usa/california/06059_orange/).