Striplin's contract & hiring, ctd — The SCV Talk Archive

Some readers chime in on Ken Striplin's contract ahead of tonight's City Council meeting where it will likely be approved on a 4-1 vote (taking bets anyone?). First up, a reader corrects me:

Just as an FYI, that contract provision regarding election protection is not new. Ken Pulskamp also has this protection in his contract. You can view Ken Pulskamp's contract on the City's website here : http://www.santa-clarita.com/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=4417 . The election provision is Section 15. Ken Striplin's new contract looks very similar to Pulskamp's.

From my understanding with talking to an employee of the City, the only at-will employee to the Council, is the City Manager. Council does not have the authority to hire/fire any other City staff member. Department managers and division managers are at-will employees but under the direction of City Manager.

Noted. Sorry for the error and confusion.

Another reader went beyond the election protection clause and looked at Striplin's car options:

I'm starting to see more and more of the lackadaisical job that our City Council and/or City Attorney are doing in this so-called "negotiation" for the City Manager contract. Taken from the draft provided online:

"The Employee's duties require the exclusive and unrestricted use at all times during the duration of this Agreement of an automobile provided by the Employer. The Employer shall be responsible for paying liability, property damage and comprehensive insurance for the purchase, operation, maintenance repair and replacement of such an automobile."

So, I'm confused. Is the City buying Striplin a car? Or are they just reimbursing him for his insurance? Can I get an attorney to review this?

How I'm reading the contract (which is verbatim from Pulskamp's contract, by the way) I'd see that the City is picking up the tab on insurance. But the money doesn't make sense if that is the case.

I don't have a problem with the City Manager getting a car. He can even have a nice mid-level sedan if he wants (Perhaps a Ford Fusion, or Taurus?). The troubling aspect here is that it is not SPECIFICALLY stated in the contract what is allowed and what is not, what the dollar amounts should be and are not to exceed, and who owns the car. If this is just the one grey area I noticed, how many other unresolved issues are there in this contract?

I am not a lawyer, and I can read the contract. Perhaps therein lies the problem?

For what it's worth, the City Manager of a place as distinguished and car-dependent as Santa Clarita ought to have a really nice car. Or perhaps an SUV, but those aren't in vogue any more. I'm thinking if we're going to pay the bill for Stiplin's car, we ought to encourage him to drive a GM Volt or Nissan Leaf, just to stir the pot a bit and await Petz' comments before the Council.

Broadening out from the contract a bit, and in reaction to an earlier reader who said Striplin was the bad cop to Pulskamp's good cop routine, another shares some insights on Striplin's personality:

Contrary to the speculation that Mr. Striplin played the "bad cop" to Mr. Pulskamp's "good cop," from personal interaction and reliable sources I've learned that they are similar in personality (affable, approachable, self-confident yet humble). Mr. Pulskamp is "fatherly" and Mr. Striplin is "brotherly." (The "bad cops" are apparently several underlings.)

I like this game. How would we classify Bob Kellar, for instance? Obviously he could alternate between the warm grandpa who tells you entertaining stories and the guy who shouts at you to get off his lawn. And what about Frank Ferry?

The reader continues:

The city has been quietly working to raise Mr. Striplin's profile. For example, a few years ago Mr. Striplin began sitting below the council dais near the city attorney, city clerk and city manager.

In addition to Mr. Striplin there was at least one other qualified choice among city staff. As readers of SCVtalk know, the deputy manager, Mr. Hernandez, headed up controversial issues such as the the open space tax, the storm water tax and the county library takeover. The city council had at least two options without paying a head hunter. This likely gave them comfort in their decision to hire Mr. Striplin rather than pay a head hunter a fee (which can be as high as 1/3 of the salary of the position) to "find" these two gentlemen.

Hernandez has indeed been the front-man for much of the City's most controversial moves and has taken a lot of heat. He's made his bones/gone to the mattresses several times in defense of the City.

In contrast, Striplin has had a relatively quiet public profile at least in my mind. In the last five years, my most vivid memory of Striplin was when he donned Emergency Manager hat and went down to the site of that terrible truck crash in the I-5 truck tunnel in October 2007.

He strikes me as a quiet and serious professional who doesn't like interacting with the public much. At least that's the impression the old SCVTalk Council election team & I got when we tried to ask him questions during the vote count in the Council chambers in 2008 and he ignored us.

Although some wanted a different process, there have been no published criticisms of Mr. Striplin's qualifications or fitness for the job. This shows that the city council made a good choice, regardless of the process.

I guess we'll see how much blowback there is tonight at City Hall.

Another reader thinks we could have saved some money and possible controversy by hiring someone else. Why? Pensions:

In addition to many of the reasons already stated about the city's process in hiring Striplin, there is another cost (or better phrased a savings that we won't get) that the City has incurred with the hiring of Striplin for City Manager. The pension changes that will go into effect on January 1, 2013 for cities and counties that are part of the CalPers pension system.

If the city had done a search and hired someone who was from out of state or from a city or county that was not a part of the CalPers system the pension cost by the city would have been a lot less:

The new city manager would only be able to collect a maximum of $110,000 (or $130,000 if they don't receive social security) of pension, double dipping would have been eliminated, the city manager would have had to contribute at least 1/2 of the pension cost, the employee would not be able to spike his last year of employment to increase his pension (cashing in sick, vacation and other benefits) and several other costs. But since Striplin was already part of theCalPers system he would stay under the old plan which is very beneficial for senior management...not so much for the average employee but quite lucrative if you are an executive.

Striplin is the new Mr. City Manager 1

Striplin is the new Mr. City Manager 2
Striplin is the new Mr. City Manager 3

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