City Personnel Matters
Members of the Mayor and Council have received queries about city personnel matters. There are rules about what we and others can and cannot do and say. I want to explain some of those.
With respect to the personnel matters under review in the city it is worth keeping in mind the following: Mayor and Council do not have access to the personnel records of any city staff member under the city manager, nor can Mayor and Council discuss with the city manager, the director of human resources, or any other employee of the city, personnel matters in which Mayor and Council are not personally involved. Given the nature of the allegations, and that the elected body is not in a position to ascertain the truth, the most efficient and reliable way to determine what is going on is to hire an outside firm with expertise in this area. Members of Mayor and Council cannot presuppose the outcome of the review, nor should members of Mayor and Council be speaking on this matter at this time. Further, Mayor and Council directly supervise only the city manager, the city attorney, and the city clerk. Members of this elected body are not in a position to assess the performance of any other city employee and should not discuss personnel matters publicly and especially in the press.
Any information in the media has come from individuals who volunteered this information. If the director of human resources refuses to discuss personnel matters it is because he is doing his job and is following the law. Silence on the part of Mayor and Council and the city staff with respect to these matters does not constitute agreement with the allegations and does not amount to stonewalling.
Members of the public should not jump to conclusions about the merits of the allegations. Once the investigation is completed by Saul Ewing, the city will be in a better position to address any legitimate allegations as necessary.
Mark Pierzchala
Rockville City Council
Sean R. Sedam
11:06 am on Friday, June 1, 2012
For context, here's our report on the city's decision to have Saul Ewing LLP conduct an independent investigation of former city employees' claims of discrimination and harassment by supervisors: http://rockville.patch.com/articles/saul-ewing-law-firm-to-probe-former-city-employees-claims
Dan Cohen
11:42 am on Friday, June 1, 2012
Methinks the councilman doth protest too much.
Tom Moore
8:47 pm on Friday, June 1, 2012
Methinks the councilman hath provided a useful public service. Mark, thank you for making clear the limits on what can be said by city officials.
It has been frustrating for Rockville residents, city staff, and the Mayor and Council alike to have just one version of events out in public, and you have very deftly explained why the law requires this to be the case.
Dan Cohen
9:04 pm on Saturday, June 2, 2012
This, coming from the two councilmen, Pierzchala and Moore, that voted to cheat city employees out of an extremely modest and much deserved pay increase, the cost of which was about one quarter of one percent of the city’s annual budget. This same councilman (Pierzchala), is spending $7,000 of taxpayer money to go on an all-expense-paid junket to China.
It is clear to employees and citizens alike that these two councilmen do not care about Rockville’s rank and file employees. One the one hand, Pierzchala admonishes his colleagues on “not bashing city staff,” at the same time he endeavors to “bash” employees, their families and their children by vigorously attempting to block their modest pay raise.
The hypocrisy of Pierzchala and Moore can no longer be tolerated.
Theresa Defino
10:37 pm on Saturday, June 2, 2012
Hey, Dan! It's clear that you are spinning events to suit your own political interests. But the facts tell a different story. In fact, one that's right here....
http://rockville.patch.com/articles/council-approves-budget-with-more-for-employees-caregivers
joe
11:28 pm on Saturday, June 2, 2012
Dan is correct. Councilmen Pierzchala and Moore in fact voted against the 2% pay increase.Quoting from the link Theresa provides, "Council members Mark Pierzchala and Tom Moore opposed the salary increases." The two councilmen voted to approve the entire budget with the caveat they were doing so in order to avoid shutting down the City government. This was a bit disingenuous, given the fact the budget would have passed 3 to 2 had they voted against it.
Theresa Defino
12:02 am on Sunday, June 3, 2012
Hi, Joe Jordan. You should quote from the whole story, but then that would prevent your duplication of Dan's spin. The story explains the alternative proposals they put forward to fund the pay raise and also explains how both were upset the raise was brought up after months and months of meetings and public hearings--at the very last minute. The link is there. I am not going to do what you are doing.
Mark Pierzchala
10:30 am on Sunday, June 3, 2012
The original proposal, in place for months, and in the plan for a few years, was a 1% raise this year. Both Moore and I supported it. The additional 1% raise is unfunded and there is no plan to pay for it. The FY 2014 budget projections already assume a 2 Cent property tax raise, something that some of my elected colleagues have said they won't support. The City has funded enormous benefit increases for the employees including higher support for retirements and health.
Nevertheless we're getting off topic here, the original post was about what members of Mayor and Council can and cannot know in a personnel matter. This digression into the raise vs. bonus serves to get away from the original point.
Dan Cohen
10:44 pm on Sunday, June 3, 2012
Pierzchala/Moore, hypocrisy be thy name!
Given a city budget of $107M, $300K of pay increases comes to 0.28 %. The city’s ever expanding legal bill is in the millions per year, mostly due to law suits related to self-inflicted Town Center fiascos (payers, garages, etc.). There are many other places in the budget, where the city is spending millions that could be trimmed & yet you focus on 0.28% for Rockville’s rank and file. More than one week of the raises for ALL rank & file employees could have been paid for with the $7,000 you appropriated for your vacation to China at taxpayer expense.
As far as on or off topic goes, you raised the issue in your post. Agreed, you as an elected official cannot discuss personnel matters, but as a voting member of the City Council, you spoke volumes on how you really feel about Rockville employees by trying to nix what is rightfully theirs... a long overdue pay increase. In the May 21st council meeting, you & Moore fought vigorously for 90 minutes & used every maneuver at your disposal to kill modest employee raises. All of this can be seen at http://rockvillemd.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=2494
time mark 00:41 thru 02:12.
After attempting to “bash” the single most important issue for city employees, their compensation, please never again lecture others on “bashing” city staff.
Perhaps a slogan for your 2013 slate could read:
“PIERZCHALA/MOORE: A PENCHANT for MORE hypocrisy.”
Theresa Defino
10:59 am on Sunday, June 3, 2012
The "ambush" financing strategy of how the unfunded raise got passed also robbed the public of the ability to comment on this proposal, because it had never been expressed during the period when public hearings were held but was raised after, at the very last meeting--when a government shutdown could have hung in the balance, shamefully manufactured by the 3 in the 3-2 vote.
That's not responsible, representative, collegial or civil governance. The citizens of Rockville will remember how this was done and will not tolerate it.
Piotr Gajewski
11:55 pm on Sunday, June 3, 2012
Mr. Cohen:
I am curious about your statement: “There are many other places in the budget, where the city is spending millions that could be trimmed.” Giving you the benefit of a doubt by choosing the smallest number of “millions” – that would be $2,000,000; you claim that there are “many .. places” where this $2,000,000 could be "trimmed," but in the interest of brevity, could you just identify one possible solution that you would support?
You’ve already identified $7,000 (great start!), so now for the other $1,993,000 (specificity greatly appreciated so that I can get onboard and join you in lobbying the Council the next time around)?