Dear City Council, I ready in the Daily Journal yesterday that the City of Half Moon Bay Department Heads have all agreed to take a 10% pay cut and that the City has eliminated six positions resulting in five layoffs. The Staff Report makes no mention of a similar decision in Menlo Park. I’m disappointed that the Staff Organization has not pulled together better as a team to prevent layoffs. The MP Department Heads could have voluntarily taken a 10-15% cut and then asked the individual contributors to take a 5% cut. The Department Managers could also have given up some of their pension benefits, which are extremely generous when one considers their highly paid salary. Some general comments: I object to the use of the “Guiding Principles” as a way to lend credibility to anything. The report referred to the Guiding Principles from the 2016 ConnectMenlo exercise with a specific reference to “citywide equity.” The Guiding Principles were established and presented to the public as a form of “promises” that served to reduce opposition to the ConnectMenlo process and outcome. Unfortunately, the Guiding Principles were not followed and they lacked an accountability loop and reporting mechanism. Instead of equity, development was concentrated in District 1 with the revenue stream mostly benefitting the rest of Menlo Park. The Belle Haven residents are also still waiting for the promised amenities from the ConnectMenlo development. Despite public calls to fix this problem, the Guiding Principles continue to lack measurements and a reporting mechanism. The broad wording of most of the Guiding Principles also makes them unmeasurable. It more than time to fix this problem and to establish an actual accountability loop based on clearly stated values. While citywide equity is a noble idea, we need to start seeking that goal once we have an equal baseline across all areas in Menlo Park. Until we do, I think we should disproportionally deliver more and better services to the Belle Haven Community until that area is on par with the rest of Menlo Park. I object to the cuts in services in Belle Haven. Until that area has “equity” with the rest of Menlo Park, we should not cut the City services there. Make cuts in the wealthier parts of Menlo Park where we enjoy the pleasures of more services and also a more beautiful and less crowded outdoors. To balance the budget, my top suggestions include: • Layoff all Department Heads with the exception of those needed for mandated or essential reasons. The latter would include the Finance Director now Assistant Administrative Services Director. Once laid off, consider where the positions could be consolidated or eliminated to flatten the organization. Establish a hiring committee and have all laid-off employees apply for any newly reconstituted positions. • Eliminate the pension benefit for all new hires. • Establish an inducement to retire or resign for the individual contributor. Give everyone that does so 1/2 month pay for every year as an employee. Make them decide by end of May. No pension spiking! • Lay off most of the Community Services Department. That department has the most public-private partnerships out of the approximate 50 that the former City Attorney said existed in Menlo Park. Most of those are completely opaque to the general public. The public has called for an audit of some of these agreements due to questionable benefit to the City of Menlo Park taxpayer. For others, it’s unclear who benefits beyond a small segment of the community who also might not even live in Menlo Park. The offerings need a complete review and then a determination if it would be more cost-effective to outsource them and/or eliminate them. For example, the City of Redwood City contracts with the YMCA for its fitness center. I like this model. With the COVID-19 pandemic likely lasting 18 or more months, people will be taking fewer classes. We can also take classes easily from other cities or jurisdictions, so there is no need for Menlo Park to duplicate offerings readily available nearby. • Consolidate the Police Department into the San Mateo County Sherriff’s office. Sincerely, Lynne Bramlett P.S. Attached is a Word document the above suggestions. application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document attachment: Budget_Input_May19_2020.docx
