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Voters won’t get a crack at clerk’s ballot measure
by Jason Dietrich
In a get-it-under-the-wire vote, the Redondo Beach City Council reaffirmed its support of the city manager in his ongoing turf war with the city clerk over control of the city’s finances.
At its meeting Tuesday, the city council voted to place an initiative on the March 2001 ballot that would clarify ambiguous language in the city charter outlining who should run Redondo Beach’s financial office.
The charter currently states the city clerk is to "have charge of the administration of the financial affairs of the city under the direction of the city manager." Until recently, City Clerk Sandy Forrest, an elected official, oversaw the financial office, which is in charge of disbursing city funds. On Nov. 21 the council passed a resolution putting City Manager Lou Garcia, who is appointed by the city council, in charge of the financial office.
The city council rejected a pair of ballot initiatives proposed by the city clerk that would have asked voters to amend the charter to make the clerk the chief financial officer of the city, responsible for a first draft of the city’s budget.
Councilman Bob Pinzler proposed a second set of amendments which would take away the city clerk’s responsibility for city accounting and delete an accounting experience requirement from the clerk’s job description.
The council voted 3-2 to approve Pinzler’s measures with councilmen Kevin Sullivan (District 2) and Gerard Bisignano (District 1) dissenting. Tuesday’s meeting was the council’s last chance to place measures on the ballot for the March 2001 municipal election.
Forrest said that at the 1997 general election voters supported the city clerk acting as a check and balance over the city’s finances and removed the city manager from supervising the elected department heads, who are supposed to answer only to the voters.
"This is the people’s decision. Not the mayor’s, not the city council’s, not mine and not the city manager’s," Forrest said.
The tug of war over this issue between the two departments has been going on for years. Pinzler cited opinions by the city’s charter review committee dating back to 1994 that the city manager should be in control of city finances.
"The chief financial officer of a $70 million business should not be someone with 15 units of accounting credits. That’s just irresponsible," he said.
The issue was brought to the fore in late October when Finance Director Agnes Walker was placed on administrative leave by Garcia. Walker had previously reported to Forrest, and Forrest said she considered Walker her employee.
Forrest said she had contacted the state attorney general’s office recently seeking an opinion on the matter, but has not yet received a response.
"My concerns are that I was tasked with financial responsibility for the city by the voters. I can’t do that with no staff," Forrest said.
Garcia said he regretted that the issue had become personal and that changing the structure of the finance department was necessary.
"If you have an executive, that executive must be responsible for the city’s finances," Garcia said.
Councilman Sullivan said he was reluctant to put just one side of the issue before the voters.
"I’d rather we not vote on it at all. This is something that should be worked out between the two of them. But if it is going to go before the voters, both sides should be represented," Sullivan said. ER