Measure U would give the City Manager more power in the hiring and firing of City Hall’s top executives by re-classifying department heads as “at-will” employees, stripping them of protections granted under the city’s civil service system. Voters also are being asked to give the City Manager sole authority over the hiring of department heads without first seeking the approval of city commissioners and board members.
Councilman Richard Bloom and former Mayor Nat Trives said the reforms are necessary because the civil service system is outdated and hinders the swift removal of manages who perform poorly. In some extreme cases it has taken as long as two to three years to fire someone under the system’s lengthy disciplinary and review process.
The charter changes — four in all — would create greater accountability on all levels of government, while modernizing the civil service system to bring about more efficiency in operations, Bloom and Trives said.
Those who would be affected by the proposal include all department heads, except the chief of police. City Attorney, council members and the City Manager, all of whom are already considered at-will employees, are not covered by the civil service system.
There was no opposition to the measure. “When it comes to management, one person needs to have the authority and the responsibility,” Trives said. “Like President Harry Truman said, ‘The buck stops here.’”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 21, 2006. Read the original PDF.