06-08-09, “Those Pesky Gadflies” by Albert Hofmann

The public lambasting and embarrassment of Herbert Molano given by Councilman Ara Najarian at the end of Oral Communications at last Tuesday’s City Council Meeting, clearly depicted the apparent general view of the city council that the repeated oral presentations by Mr. Molano, Barry Allen, Mike Mohill and other speakers are not welcome if they object to the policy and decisions of the council and staff, especially if they disagree with city budget matters.  I agree with the article “Writers make for an interesting page” by Price Mac Nair in the News Press Community Forum on Friday, June 5th that the taxpayers in the City of Glendale should appreciate the repeated communications they make to the city council are for the benefit of all of us.  It is truly a shame that Councilman Najarian, and other colleagues of his on the council, object to the efforts of citizens who take the time to research public records to point out potential problems in our city government.  What was missed by Councilman Najarian’s comments, and the comments by others on the dais supporting his blast on Mr. Molano, was that they missed entirely the point of Mr. Molano’s power point presentation.  He did not contend that he predicted the economic downturn we are now experiencing.  He merely wanted to point out that multi-year contracts with city employees are not wise, and that the city council who are charged with the stewardship of taxpayers’ money should be more prudent when negotiating contracts.  Apparently, the city council and city manager predicted that our economy would sustain itself when they approved the multi-year contracts they negotiated with city employees.

Hal Weber’s article, “Pension contracts can lead to downfall”, also in last Friday’s Forum page, hits the nail on the head.  The high salary and lucrative pension benefits awarded to city employees have clearly brought Glendale to its financial knees.  I am also a retired aerospace engineer who had a total of 43 years of experience in the private sector.  And like Mr. Weber, I would certainly welcome a pension of 90% of the later years of my employment.  However, my employers contributed little to my retirement, and I had to provide for my own future in 401K programs and my own IRA.  Unfortunately for me, the economic downturn has really reduced my monthly retirement income.  I am upset that the city employees who retired are living high on the hog.  The time has come to get the salaries of all city employees in line with the private sector.    

Albert Hofmann