Who’s got the power?

EDITORS NOTEBOOK

A skirmish down at City Hall has been brewing and turned a bit

ugly this week.

Facing off are top dog City Administrator Ray Silver and the woman

with the real power at City Hall, City Clerk Connie Brockway.

The battle, it seemed to those in attendance at Monday night’s

City Council meeting, was less about the issue -- the protocol of

hiring an information services director to replace Fire Chief Mike

Dolder, who wishes to return to his original duties -- and more about

who’s in charge.

Brockway claims that by simply posting the position, without first

creating a job description and taking it to the Personnel Commission

for approval, Silver’s office is not adhering to city codes and is

preventing her from doing her job properly. Brockway denies that it

is a power struggle between her and Silver, saying she simply wants

the search put on hold while a job description is created for the

permanent records of the city. She says the whole thing has been

blown out of proportion.

Silver said his office is not required to bring the position to

the commission, although his office has done so with other positions

in the past. The position of department head is exempt from the

normal personnel procedures according to municipal code since a City

Council decision in 1994, Silver says.

The internal disagreement went public Monday when, after Brockway

put a late communication item on the agenda unbeknownst to Silver, he

wrote a rather angry letter to her and the council accusing her of

using her elected office to influence the personnel process. He has

further asked the City Council that all agenda items be approved by

the city administrator before being placed on the agenda -- something

Brockway said she will not stand for.

What may seem like nitpicking, Brockway said, is an attempt to

keep the system working properly and to keep a precedent from being

set. For Silver, the debate demonstrates that there is a need to draw

lines in the sand so that he may do his job.

Sounds like a power struggle to me, regardless of the issue.

The two are tentatively scheduled to hash out the dispute at a

Tuesday meeting.

There is plenty more background on this little war of wills

including varying interpretations of the city’s rules. Maybe Dolder

should be called back to put out the fire on this one.

* * *

So as I perused the finance reports filed this week a couple

things jumped out that just didn’t seem quite right -- all on Deputy

City Atty. Jennifer McGrath’s statement.

First, she received a contribution for $300 from the Police

Officer’s Assn. Well, now that just doesn’t sit well considering that

she, on behalf of the city, is in the middle of a lawsuit with them

over the clean-up of the gun range.

Then it seems she had to return 10 checks to city employees,

including city attorneys Paul D’Alessandro, Sarah Lazarus, Lee Burke

and Leonie Mulvihill, because Huntington Beach municipal code states

that as an employee of the city she may not take contributions from

other city employees. She returned the checks when she realized it

was illegal to take them. You would think, as deputy city attorney,

she would be familiar with these codes. You would also think the four

other city attorneys would know the city’s laws. No wonder the city

gets sued all the time.

* DANETTE GOULET is the city editor. She can be reached at (714)

965-7170 or by e-mail at [email protected].