The public has a right to
know about how Marin’s elected officials strike pay and benefit deals with
public employees, the county’s civil grand jury says.
The jury Thursday urged
county supervisors and city councils across Marin to let taxpayers see how pay
and benefit pacts progress and what they cost, giving them a chance to chime in
before decisions are final — and making officials more accountable for the
result.
The jury’s report, “The Need
for Labor Negotiation Transparency,” urges officials to adopt a formal
negotiation process used in Orange County, Beverly Hills and several other
Southern California cities called Civic Openness In Negotiations, or COIN.
The program requires public
agencies to hire independent professional negotiators and an outside auditor,
issue a fiscal analysis of all pay and benefit proposals, and post details of
tentative labor pacts at least two board meetings before they are adopted.
After each proposal is accepted or rejected during closed-door negotiations
involving labor and management, it is publicly disclosed, along with costs.
Tentative agreements would be made public a week before their consideration,
and a final agreement would be placed on the agenda for discussion for two
consecutive meetings of the agency board, giving taxpayers time to weigh in.
“Although Marin County residents pay taxes to
support decisions by the Marin County Board of Supervisors and the city and
town councils, there are numerous times when no transparency into the
background of those decisions is made to the public,” the jury said.
The issue, as the jury framed
it, is “What should be disclosed to the residents of Marin, and when?” More
disclosure than now provided is needed, jurors concluded.
There is now little or no
time for the public to react to city or county agenda announcements of labor
pact deals, and little advance disclosure of fiscal impacts in a process that
excludes taxpayers “until it is too late for a reasoned public dialogue,” the
jury observed.
Marin residents have “minimal
opportunity” to review and comment on labor issues, and the COIN process can be
put to work without affecting the manner in which tentative agreements are
negotiated, the jury said.
The COIN process, it
asserted, illuminates “decisions made during negotiations that lead to a
tentative agreement.” Negotiations are not held in public, and the program does
not allow the public to negotiate. It does require periodic reports about
proposals and their costs — and time for the public to react to a final package
before it is adopted.
“The COIN process mandates transparency in
government decision-making, allowing residents to be informed and to
participate in public discussion of how their tax dollars are spent,” the jury
reported.
The panel urged the county
board and local city councils to adopt COIN ordinances no later than July 1,
2016, including providing for independent negotiators and auditors, fiscal
analysis, public disclosure and weeks-in-advance notice before agreements are
adopted. It sought formal responses from the county board and Marin’s 11 city
councils.
Marin’s Citizens for
Sustainable Pension Plans urged the county board to adopt the COIN plan in
April but it drew heated protests from union representatives. County
supervisors expressed lukewarm interest, calling aspects of the plan
challenging but worth exploring.
Supervisor Judy Arnold at the
time said supervisors will never “open existing contracts” and cut benefits.
Arnold, questioned about the grand jury report Thursday, said she intended “to
put the report where I put all jury reports,” and then, told she would be
quoted, added, “...in a bag to take home and read this weekend.”
Roland Katz, head of the
Marin Association of Public Employees, could not immediately be reached for
comment Thursday, but made clear last April he was no fan of the COIN program.
Jody Morales, head of the
sustainable pension group, was jubilant after reading the jury report, noting
it will force elected officials at the Civic Center and in city halls across
Marin to issue formal responses.
“We will
now have answers as to how our elected officials feel about this critical
issue,” Morales told pension critics in an email blast. “We should all offer
our thanks to this, and all grand juries, for their vigilance on our behalf.”
June 4, 2015
Marin
Independent Journal
By
Nels Johnson
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