Six Questions and Answers for "The Record".

By Michael Flake

These answers are to six questions asked by Lisa White, reporter for the Contra Costs Times, to be published in "The Record" on Oct. 14th. My total response was limited to 450 words. (http://www.contracostatimes.com/the-record/)

• Permanently lift restrictions on free-standing signage for businesses that were temporarily lifted by Council on June 7th. This restriction was unnecessary under any economic condition.
• Focus on funding more small scale improvements for business in redevelopment zones, such as recent outdoor improvements for Jack's and Shadzee.
• Have Economic Development Director leverage City activities and improvements to promote business, especially new business, to increase access and attract customers.

City employees should contribute to their CalPERS retirement and health care. Currently, the City's employees do not contribute to CalPERS and only $55 per month on medical benefits. State workers in the management classifications contribute 5% of salary to their retirement, while members of the CHP will contribute 10% to their retirement. All State employees contribute 15% to their health plans. The State union contracts and management benefits will be the yardstick for City employee contracts. Finally, I would ask that council members receiving contributions from City employee groups recuse themselves from contract negotiations; they cannot be impartial when negotiating these contracts.

3) What do you think is the biggest challenge facing Pleasant Hill and what, specifically, would you do to address it?

Rising personnel costs (see answer to question 5).

4) During the protracted fight last year over the St.Theresa's alcohol and drug rehab center, several people accused the city of violating the Brown Act and Public Records Act. Opponents of Measure T have criticized the council for discussing the tax increase in only one meeting. Should the council do more to reach out to and involve the public? What would you do to increase transparency?

Yes. Hold workshops on controversial topics; members of council simply listen and collect information. Responses of council should only be for clarification on statements. Outreach to community groups on topics relevant to their mission (i.e. UUT and PH Taxpayers Assoc.). Increase speaker time at council meetings to 5 minutes.

5) Pleasant Hill faces deficits in fiscal years 2010-11 and 2011-12. If the utility tax fails and the economy doesn't improve, what would you cut to balance the budget?

Personnel costs; we need to control long-term commitments associated with pensions of employees, especially Department heads and above. All employees are to contribute more to their health plans.

We need to reduce the salaries of mega-earners, such as the City Manager and City Attorney. These salaries left unchecked only exacerbate our future commitments when they retire and we no longer benefit from their services. We should offer compensation normalized with all California cities of our size. If concessions cannot be achieved on these items, then we need to be prepared to furlough non-essential employees a percentage that would achieve a balanced budget, perhaps up to 1-day a week.

6) There has been an uptick in violent crime recently in Pleasant Hill -- there were two home invasion robberies this summer, a hair salon was robbed at gunpoint in July, a videogame store and a McDonald's were robbed at gunpoint in September Do you think the city needs more police officers? What would you do to ensure that Pleasant Hill remains a safe community?

Only the backfill vacant positions and seek grants to assist. Consider a predictive policing program and cameras. Offer incentives for officers to live in Pleasant Hill or within neighboring cities. We need to have our officers living within a reasonable distance from the City; reasonable is not living on the Solano side of the Benicia-Martinez Bridge. This increases their ability to quickly access Pleasant Hill during an emergency (e.g. earthquake, gas pipeline explosion, wildfire, etc). Also, their "off-duty" presence in the City allows reaction to potential crimes in progress or to alert officers "on-duty" to suspicious activities. Higher visibility, letting officers drive a "marked" car to/from work.