2012-03-05 Salary Commission Minutes

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Engineer should make more than $100,000. He also thinks the County Clerk should get $99,000. Chair Handgis agreed that they should have additional discussion, do some work, then come back to it. Philosophically, he feels very, very strongly that regardless what the numbers are, he believes in fairness, the moral compass, and the legality. He would like to check out the legal justification that Mr. Matsuda testified to. However, he's not inclined to necessarily increase salaries to equate fairness, especially in these economic times. In his 45 years of business, this is the most difficult time they've ever had, so while he believes strongly in many of the things Mr. De Lima said, he feels that these are very drastic times, calling for very bold measures by anybody that controls the taxpayers' purse strings. Ms. Lugo reminded the Commission of the motion on the floor regarding Council's salary that still needs to be voted on. Then the Commission can continue with specific amendments and take those item by item until a proposal has been formulated that can be sent out for comment for the next meeting. The Commission voted on the motion. The motion failed with Vice Chair Lundkvist, Ms. Stroh, and Mr. De Lima voting for the motion; and Ms. Wong and Chair Handgis voting against the motion. Chair Handgis explained that he believes additional information is required, then at the next meeting they'll be better versed. He, for one, agrees with the December 3, 2012 date. Ms. Wong stated that she theoretically agrees with every single thing that Chair Handgis said. She would like to see it all in one package, see how it lays out, and if budget will allow these changes. Ms. Lugo noted that the Commission could vote to make changes that would create a new proposal. The Commission needs to arrive at some specifics, and it doesn't have to be set in stone, but if they decide today, for example, that they would like the proposal to reflect one salary for the Council members, so now the Commission can get input, look at budgetary concerns, etc., and decide on some specifics. Ms. Wong noted that the list Mr. Takahashi gave itemizes his recommendations, but she questioned why Planning isn't in there. Mr. De Lima commented that Planning is pretty high at $99,000. Vice Chair Lundkvist stated that she feels today is not the day to make changes for the positions. They need a meeting just for that particular purpose.