Contra Costa Supervisors thumb nose at Grand Jury Report
June 24, 2008
The Contra Costa County Supervisors (BOS) revved up its dissembling machine last week and thumbed its collective nose at the recent Grand Jury Report (GJR) that recommended seven action items. In its “Supervisors Chip Away at County’s Mountain of Debt,” the GJR outlined 31 matters of fact, seven modest recommendations, and concluded that: Read more
New County Chief Administrator gets $250,000 base salary
June 20, 2008
David Twa, the County’s new Chief Administrator will receive a base salary of $250,000 per year, according to the contract signed yesterday by Supervisor Federal Glover on behalf of the County and Board of Supervisors. Twa will begin working for Contra Costa County September 8, and will replace John Cullen, who is expected to retire. Twa will also be credited 20 days of vacation and 20 days of sick leave. He can earn 20 hours per month going forward. Read more
Supervisors sneak support for eminent domain abuse into consent calendar
May 13, 2008
The Board of Supervisors uses the Consent Calendar to pass a lot of business that normally does not require any debate or comment. But today it borders on violation of the Brown Act as they conceal an action to support continued government eminent domain abuse (Prop 99) under the carpet of the consent calendar. Read more
Health Department proposes outsourcing County services; world to end May 21
April 14, 2008
In yet another sure sign of imminent Apocaplyspe, County Health Services Director, Dr. William Walker, in an unusual come-to-Jesus moment unheard of in Martinez, recommended the unthinkable last week.
In a report to the BOS last Tuesday—much to the dismay of Rollie Katz, Mr Big of Local One and head puppetmaster of the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors (BOS)—Dr Walker concluded that:
a) Reducing the County Health Care services by $10 million is improbable given the mandatory staffing requirements and County employee sweet heart deals including pay and benefits.
b) Reducing the number of indigent may not be feasible or result in keeping significant resources from getting poured down the drain (see item “a” above).
c) To maintain existing services and meet budgetary “constraints,” an alternative approach ought to be considered. Read more
BOS set to name Supervisor Piepho as LAFCO alternate despite conflict of interest
March 31, 2008
Hidden away in the consent calendar for April 1 (Resolution #2008/20), the Contra Costa Board of Supervisors are set to appoint former board chair, Supervisor Mary Piepho (District-3) as the BOS’ alternate representative to LAFCO. LAFCO is a little known yet remarkably powerful agency that determines land use, agency formation, and spheres of municipal influence within Contra Costa County.
The Supervisor’s spouse, David Piepho, who also serves on LAFCO as well as the Discovery Bay CSD, is under fire for possible conflicts of interest from Disco Bay residents. According to the Discovery Bay Press, citizens argue that with two Piephos potentially voting on some LAFCO business, the BOS would have undue influence that would violate the checks and balances the State tried to build into the agency structure.
BOS sandbags taxpayers with bogus employee compensation benchmarks
March 25, 2008
Despite editorial warnings in the Contra Costa Times, the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors (BOS), in its continuing pattern of covering its ass while thumbing its nose at taxpayers, passed its latest dissembling subterfuge last Tuesday (4 - 0, Piepho not in attendance).
The BOS has been using salary only to compare public employee compensation with other governmental entities. Not only should the BOS have been using the full compensation package including salary and benefits, but they should also currently be comparing compensation with similar activities in the private sector as well. The call for comparing full compensation is not new, in fact, CoCoTax called for using the full compensation package in February of 2005.
What kind of time warp do the Supervisors live in, anyways?
This recommendation comes after several important labor negotiations. Hello? And why on earth would County government limit its salary comparisons only to other inflated public agency salaries and benefits instead of also looking at private sector compensation to produce better efficiency?
Sadly, we notice Supervisors, including Mary Piepho, are currently enamored with the overused buzz word “best practices.” Yet any MBA text-book management analysis would describe Contra Costa’s fiscal incompetence as mismanagement or fraud. The recommendation moans that it’s just so hard to track comparable salaries across public agencies because records are not readily available. Maybe because they too are incompetent and need better oversight and management instead of bending over for SEIU?
The BOS crows that this recent recommendation shows how Contra Costa is “leading the way among public agencies for calculating compensation costs.” This isn’t leading, this is half-measure and CYA.
No drool bib big enough for those who believe Supervisor-Speak
September 14, 2007
Tom Shirley’s letter in the 9/14 Contra Costa Times proves there is no drool bib big enough for those in thrall to union and county leaders who would rather bankrupt Contra Costa County instead of honestly address the costs of overly generous healthcare benefits the Board of Supervisors (BOS) squandered on county workers in exchange for votes and campaign cash.
First, straight from the BOS playbook, Shirley dismisses expert financial analysis by the Contra Costa Council and Contra Costa Taxpayers. Then he parrots Mary Piepho’s dissembling that—someday, when pigs fly— the BOS, here and there, when it can, will try real hard to make at least a small contribution to some mythic $588 million payment. This is what “commitment” means in BOS-speak.
