Presumed Elk Grove City Employee Pleads Case To City Council: Deal with Employees or Deal Under Collective Bargaining Agreement
Jim Cooper, Gary Davis, Mayor Pat Hume and Sophia Scherman are you listening, or at least reading what the 'disgruntled' employe...
https://www.elkgrovenews.net/2009/07/presumed-elk-grove-city-employee-pleads.html
Jim Cooper, Gary Davis, Mayor Pat Hume and Sophia Scherman are you listening, or at least reading what the 'disgruntled' employees of the City of Elk Grove are saying?
Here is a comment left on EGN earlier today:
The number of "anonymous" posts suggests fear of reprisals including dismissal of any employee known to be in disagreement with administration. How does one (City Council) investigate the fox(es) (City Manager and City Attorney) in charge of the hen house? Good luck with getting any cooperation or truthful accounts from employees. HR reports to the CM. It seems Administration, by abusing its authority, has laid the foundation for unions to step in; if for no other reason, to protect employees against intimidation and harassment.
If this was in fact written by a city employee, city council members take note - either deal with this or deal with a collective bargaining unit. The choice is yours.
Can you say SEIU?
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3 comments
Perhaps before resorting to blaming the union "boogey man" some consideration should be given to the possibility that the "contract city model" (brain child of John Danielson) isn't working for the residents and employees of Elk Grove. Elk Grove is run by consultants for consultants with no checks or balances for accountability. That's not to blame the consultants, that's what they do, it's their business model, make as much money as possible. However, other agencies of government pit civil service employees against consultants. The tension between the two produces an imperfect but more credible business accountability.
When you put the fox in charge of the chicken coop a lot of eggs disappear. If there are a lot of eggs to start with and nobody is counting the eggs the missing eggs go unnoticed. There are fewer "eggs" in Elk Grove these days and it's starting to draw notice. The Sinclair report pointed this out but little serious action has been taken since. It's time to either accept the Sinclair report and act accordingly or accept that earnest employees will sooner or later discover something they shouldn't know about and either react and be eliminated or escape on their own. "Reaction" is what is happening right now but the state of the economy prevents voluntary "escape". Keeping a lid on employee reaction is likely what is causing the City Manager to scream and swear and the City Attorney to spend too much time with her Blackberry (which by the way isn't new behavior to EG city hall at the executive management level...)
But in any case the "do nothing" option is no longer available. One way or the other this situation is going to resolve itself. The question is what will the ultimate resolution be? For the residents, the tax payers, and the employees it's all on the table.
Seems like one possibility if you want to have someone watch over the hen house would be to go ahead and replace the HR Manager with a seasonsed HR professional - but make that position report directly to the Board, not through the City Manager. Many cities and local entities are set up with HR folks (who are responsible to handle EEO complaints, etc) report directly to the Board. Particularly in those agencies with other elected officials that don't seem to report to anyone.
Just a thought.
Don't blame the employees for the City Manager's rude behavior. If screaming and cursing at employees is her way of dealing with pressure -- she's the wrong person for the job; which is the issue under consideration. Executives must find a way to deal with the pressures of the job. Demeaning employees is not acceptable or productive; and does not result in a workplace where employees can do their best for the City; and more importantly, they can not serve the public well. If "leadership" throws tantrums and wastes time playing games, the employees will follow the examples given.
The question at hand, is this behavior acceptable to the City Council? Are they comfortable with mediocre, or worse, leadership? Every employee, represents the City and the City Council. If the City Council is willing to accept this behavior what does that say about the City Council?
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