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
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.
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.
http://rockville.patch.com/articles/council-approves-budget-with-more-for-employees-caregivers
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.
That's not responsible, representative, collegial or civil governance. The citizens of Rockville will remember how this was done and will not tolerate it.
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.”
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)?