Deep in the caverns of the city's Perkins' building
there is a conference room in the finance department where the audit committee meets
every three months. There, real discussions about city accountability take
place out of earshot of the general public. City officials probably think that
the public may not be ready for that level of openness and they'd love to keep
it that way. You could say it's by design.
Unlike notifications of other meetings displayed in
the Events section of the city's website, the only reference to this meeting is
found in a cryptic message deep inside: “Meetings are quarterly, typically on a
Monday....” The only public notice of the meeting is the one posted amid a
dozen other papers near the rear entrance to city hall 72 hours before the
meeting takes place. During the meeting, as required by law, they state
formally that the notice of the meeting was duly posted. Yet, to the surprise
of the members present, last Monday, I was the first member of the public who's
attended it in at least four years. It's certainly true that the city complies
with the letter of the law – To the most minimal requirement for openness.
Unlike other cities that have a publicly elected
Controller,
That is not the role of the city treasurer. He may be
elected by the public, but his role is extremely limited.
Glendale's charter does not provide for an official,
independent, publicly elected city controller. We have an audit committee that
requires the involvement of city stakeholders – residents, or business owners.
The city's internal auditor is accountable to this committee, but the
committee's discussions and evaluations are conveniently hidden from public
view. You know - by design.
The number of financial issues the city faces are
numerous and significant enough for the audit committee to discuss in public
every month. There is the lack of transparency with regard to the true increase
in the number of city employees in the last eight years - The number of
full-time equivalent employees. There is the problem of the huge pension
investment obligations that now take up over 20 million of the city's outflows
and will soon increase significantly as CALPERS investments tank. There is the
possible invalidation of the city's transfers from the GWP. Last June, similar transfers were
invalidated by superior court Judge Kenneth R. Freeman in a case
against the DWP in the city of
But what the public really needs is a bare-knuckle
discussion on the performance of city management, a discussion of its past
failures - like huge project cost over-runs, and the real performance of each
operational unit.
Governmental and fund accounting are concepts vague
enough without the city hiding its most deliberative accountability function
away from the public. It's time to televise these meetings, make them truly
accessible to the public, and hold them on a monthly basis. We are, after all,
facing severe fiscal challenges in
Herbert Molano
(818)-974-6374
References:
1.
http://www.ci.glendale.ca.us/audit_committee.asp
2.
http://www.ci.glendale.ca.us/admin-svcs/CAFR/YearEnd6-07/statistical_section.pdf
3.
Pension obligation: CALPERS Annual Pension
cost