Meeting on Monday
There will be a city council meeting on Monday. The agenda is posted online here.
Now, if we could work on having them post copies of all the bills/proposed ordinances, we could really be an informed electorate.
Now, if we could work on having them post copies of all the bills/proposed ordinances, we could really be an informed electorate.
posted by suzyjax at 9:51 AM
27 Comments:
I'm concerned about the item on the agenda that suggests changes to the pension section of the ordinances. Currently, both the city and the police pensions are running well and are funded at slightly over 100%. This is exactly where we want them to be.
Perhaps this is a minor change, a simple legal change issue, etc. However, if there are going to be any significant changes to either pension like: when / how you qualify, how many you can receive at the same time, or when you can retire, we need to hear from the pension boards as well as have an actuarial review before ANY change is seriously considered.
Sweetpickles I am glad we cleared this up. Now, if we could only stop with the playground-like "I know a secret" silliness we would be getting somewhere.
What is the point of saying you know things but will not tell about them other than to gain attention? Though some of our politicians might be more at home at one, Overland is not a playground, so can we please abandon the grade school antics?
Here (I hope, as linking to the ordinances doesn't always work) is a link to the existing: 125.200, under government code, chapter 6. This section appears to cover survivor benefits.
Item "C" is what the agenda references. At first glance I can't hazard a guess as to what they might be seeking to change.
Sorry for the long series of posts.
Another issue I see with this agenda is the vague reference to "Amending Title II, Public Health, Safety and Welfare, Chapter 200".
Chapter 200 covers everything involving the Police Department (including their retirement benefits which is a different pension that the city employees have). It's odd to me that what is being changes was not better identified.
Sailor, you are dead on! Why isn't this issue being discussed in a workshop? What is the hurry?
I agree that bills could be (should be?) posted online as soon as the packet/agenda is ready.
Otherwise, I have to assume these retirement changes are to benefit the "old timers" who just can't get off the gravy train.
Just off the top of my head I think it might concern
SECTION 200.540: DEFERRED VESTED RETIREMENT BENEFITS
Some people wa t to move the vesting from 15 years to 5 yrs, so they could be eligible for a second pension.
This could very easily get the Pension Board in the same position as the Pension Board in San Diego. It's called indicted by the Fedral Governement. The cause has been ongoing and no yet decided. The short story is a Fire Chief setting on the Pension Board proposed a change that benefited him and 2 other "favored" emplyees. The Pension Board passed it as did the City Council. Alas the Department of Justice was not happy with it and upon review indicted the Pension Board.
I also suspect the mandatory age for retirement will be abolished to help some of the favored few continue collecting checks. As the City Ordinace stands know it is discriminatory. This is only because it was passed before 1996. The council can vote and enact the same bill and the City will be in compliance. This is what the EEOC told me.
Want a 70 year patrolman answering your prowler call? 65 is a reasonable age for police officers to retire.
If the city is going to consider changing either or both pension plans we need to hear the opinions of the pension boards. We also need to see that any such changes will not put either plan in the red, which is why we need to see actuarial reviews.
So Sailor, just how much are YOU in the red? Just what do you do for a living? You're certainly not a journalist. You cannot form simple sentences yet alone spell. I hear you got a house full of kids yet no one in your household is employed. Just how do you live? answer for once what is your job? Tell me how to live without a job.
Getalife,
Why don't you ask Courtney instead?
Redneck,
Sorry, not Sherry, you've got it all wrong, ask Sweaty, I'm Jeffery the greasy haired commy with a whore for a wife, then later somehow became bald, of course after her last post not sure but Wanda's name was brought up. Hope she wasn't talking to me cause thems is fight-in words.
Getalife Obviously your information is flawed if you think I have a "house full of kids". I don't know anyone one who considers a single child to be a houseful (even if that child's personality can overwhelm a room :-) ).
As for what I do, what do you think the van with the ladders on it is for?
When it comes to being a journalist, I never claimed to be one. I claimed to be a "citizen journalist" which is different. It is not the best title but it is the closest to what I do on my site, so I adopted it. I freely admit to a spelling mistake here and there as well as a grammatical error or two, but "full of" doesn't really fit. You should also check out the writing in some of our local newspapers as you'll find a similar number of errors in them.
If you do not like me, what I do, etc, fine. I have no problem with that and would welcome an honest discussion about the issues facing Overland. Just don't resort to trying to attack my character, you simply don't have the ammunition to handle it.
It should be very telling if an ordinance regarding changing the pension comes right off the bat after the election. The Old Boys Are Back!! Get use to it.
I'll stand up and by a Sailor any day before I'll stand by a jarhead.
Sweetpickles What else could it be but a game? "I have a secret, I'm not tellin' nah nah nah nah nah nah".
Seriously, and adult, who is intent on keeping a secret simply keeps it. They do not run around saying they have one.
It seems like a ploy for either attention or to stir up rumors / trouble. Ether way, it's sad.
I am not interested in trying to pry your "secrets" from you, I am merely pointing how ridiculous it is to run around tell that you have them.
UNINCORPORATEDMAN I am sorry to hear of you loss. Though I didn't know her, others have described her as one of a kind and someone I wish I could have had the opportunity to get to know. Grief can sometimes make the simplest tasks nearly impossible to handle, so if there is anything I can do to help, even something as simple a running to the store, please feel free to email me. It would be no trouble at all.
Fight the old boy network.
Stop Mike Schneider from using the City as a jobs program for his inefficient unqualified unmarketable loser friends.
Stop the proposed changes to the pension! No more permanent feed bag compliments of the public trough for Schneider's cronies.
Meritocracy be damned, Mike Schneider needs to free ride off the public.
What do we want,
Professional administration.
When do we want it,
Schneider is a fraud as a businessman and a fraud as an elected leader.
Deal with it. Fight Fight Fight
My suggestion is that people should call every councilman today and demand that the residents are taken care of. I want a pension for being a resident and I want free trash, and a skateboard park.
Heard there is a COGG meeting today at an undisclosed place outside of Overland. Maybe they are figuring out where there members can fit nicely on the city payroll. Heard PW is hiring a COGG member that the PD let go if this is true the media should be alerted about it.
This shows why we cannot ignore city business any longer. I am all for "healing" the city. However, that does not equal a blank check for Herr Schneider and his cronies.
I don't see any items from Schneider's campaign on the agenda.
Where is the Public Relations Development Board proposal?
Where is the Ward Warriors program?
According to Mike, landing a big box store could mean AT LEAST a million dollars in sales tax revenue thus funding city services such as free trash pickup.
Why not start on landing this million dollar tenant right now? What is he waiting for? Free Trash again hangs in the balance due to Schneider passing on his campaign agenda.
Mike can't run HIS business with only talking to HIS sales people and HIS service people a few times a month. He gets updated on progress and problems at least two to four times a day, depending on how heavy the work load and demand is. (prepositional phrase, oh never mind)
Mike thinks Overland's City Council could resolve many of its problems if its members would begin to communicate far more frequently than they used to. They need to communicate with each other and the Mayor not just at Council or workshop meetings but on a daily basis.
How many Council people did Mike speak to before putting a significant change in the pension program first on his agenda?
I don't remember the pension issue being discussed at all during his campaign yet he places the matter first on the agenda. The most important issue facing the City?
Doesn't make sense to me but then again I was hoping for a more straight forward,...ethical if you will,...brand of politics.
Mike should get a pass on the Skateboard park because the idea was only news to him during the campaign, but since he thinks it a good idea, why no discussion in the agenda?
It's the Police Chief and Chuck Boone telling Linda Downs to put this on the Agenda. Good Old Boys Are In Charge. Get Use To It Overland Get Use To It.
Who does the change help? Who needs this to trickle over to the regular pension. Who? Why The Police Chief and The Asst Director Of Public Works? Figure it out. It's not about the people of Overland it never was. The employee are going to run the roost. Get Use To It.
I am very concerned about messing with the pension(s). Our pension is a key recruitment tool when seeking qualified individuals for various jobs throughout the city. Few people have a pension these days and of those that do, we seem to regularly read about various plans falling short financially. Overland's pension is properly funded and managed. I would prefer that it stays that way.
To be comfortable supporting ANY change to the pension I would need to see that the pension boards support it and see an actuary's report that shows little to no reduction in the financial solvency of the pension(s).
My guess is that no such information will be provided when this issue comes up Monday evening and as a result I expect it will be tabled by the Council.
As for why all Mayor-to-be Schneider's various promises are not on the agenda, we should consider the fact that he is not yet sworn in as Mayor and it is unlikely he will be on Monday (because of the need for certified election results for the County Election Board).
I'm not saying I expect to see Mr. Schneider fulfill all his promises (as I do not think it is financially possible to address them all within the bounds of the City Budget), I'm only saying that it's a bit early to call him on it.
Oh well, hit post instead of preview, so let me continue.
I agree that it's odd that this issue was not discussed with the Council before this version of the ordinance changes were drafted and added to the agenda. It feels a lot like an attempt to sneak something through, lucky for most of the Council is playing attention and not planning to all such tactics.
I'd tend to agree. MS is not the mayor yet and isn't even sworn in yet. Real dumb move though to try this ahead of a swearing in but go figure ignorance is bliss up there. We all have our suspicions on who is calling the shots up there don't we?
This is pure speculation on my part but I'm not entirely sure it was a "dumb move". As a Councilperson Mr. Schneider has a vote. As Mayor, he would only have a vote if there was a tie. Unless he gets a yes man (or woman) to fill his seat (which I doubt the Council would approve), the thinking might be that the odds of passage are better with his Council vote than without it.
And, really, this is all speculation. I haven't seen copies of the bills/proposed ordinances. You never know, they may be puttting in changes that don't benefit "Friends of Mike". However, based on what has happened in the past, I would think some of our assumptions on this blog are probably true.
Cut out the middle-man,
We are going to be pissed when we find out what the policy change is and what it is for, so why wait?
See you at the pool.
Okay, I'll take off my Pollyanna hat. :)
Les Dills seems to have fallen ill with Schneider-itis. He has his own tax issues, which I posted on my blog here.
What is wrong with these people?
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