And, apparently, no one say it coming.
From Lauren Cnare to the council members:
re: Council Policy Analyst
. . .failed to gain Personnel Board’s approval. No one saw this coming . . .
However, the recommendation from the Board is just that – a recommendation. The item will be on the agenda at BOE on Monday, then off to us as a whole. If you have questions or want to comment on this, please come to BOE, where the issues will likely be discussed again. Or, call me this evening – as I await my turn at UDC for a third night of grocery store discussion!
Hmmm. I wonder why. Could be the goofy placement in the City Attorney’s office. Here’s the memo with a description of what the person would get paid. Here’s the report from the Council Work Group.
I think there is no doubt that the council needs additional staffing. There are 2 people for 20 council members and meanwhile the Mayor’s office has a staff of 10. They mayor’s budget is $1.1M, the council budget is $393K. So, they need more staff to be effective. However, I can see why the system they came up with is a little odd.
Some of the issues that make this position odd is that the supervision of staff is difficult because the president usually serves for only one year. As most city staff can tell you, the alders are temporary, the staff are permanent and it creates an odd dynamic where the staff often know more than the Council President and its a tough thing to supervise.
Also, the staff have to be truly neutral and serve all council members equally without regard to politics. And some alders will probably use the resources more than others and they need a way to manage that to make sure it is fair. To do that could take some time, so they put it in another office to help make it ore nuetral. If you ask me, it won’t matter, politics will still be involved – no matter where it is placed. Another option was the clerks office.
I think there is no doubt this will fly through the Board of Estimates and the Council. But, I’m real curious why the Personnel Board said no, and by what margin.
