In This Issue...

. City Breaks Ground on City Office Project

. Council Approves Labor Agreements With Employees

. Fiscal Sustainability Process Update

. Jim Berg Named Novato Interim Police Chief

. Employee Profile: Teresa Ehteshami

. Rent a City Facility for Your Next Event!

. Application Deadline for Boards and Commissions Extended

. Marin County CERT Classes Coming to Novato

. Sign Up For A Green House Call

City leaders break ground on City office project. City Manager Michael Frank (far left) and Senior Engineer, Julian Skinner (far right) join the City Council for the ground breaking ceremony.

At the ceremony, Mayor Athas and City Manager Frank thanked everyone who has had a role in bringing this project to this point. The City Manager also stated that while there is significant work ahead, the groundbreaking ceremony was a testament to the hard work of a number of employees. Mr. Frank specifically thanked the City's Police Department employees that will be particularly impacted as the parking lot becomes a construction zone for their patience and flexibility during this transition.

Please continue to monitor the City's website for additional information on the City office project. The City has created a specific City office project webpage at this link. If you have not seen the computer simulation of the new building, check it out!

On July 17, the City Council approved labor agreements with the City's employee bargaining units. This approval was the culmination of four months of negotiations between management and employees. The agreements include meaningful pension reforms that will help the City achieve long-term fiscal sustainability and provide a partial offset for the increased pension costs.

The salient points of the agreement include the following:

• Employees will now be responsible for paying 100% of employee pension contributions. Safety employees will pay 9% of their salary towards their pensions and miscellaneous employees will pay 7%.
• Employees will receive a salary adjustment to partially compensate for their increased pension contributions. Safety employees will receive a 5.25% adjustment and miscellaneous employees will receive a 3% adjustment.
• On July 1, 2013, all employees will receive a 1.5% cost of living adjustment (COLA). Employees have not received a COLA since 2008.
• Employee furloughs will be eliminated for the next two years.

The agreements provide financial and organizational benefits to the Novato community. First, the financial savings to the City over the two-year agreements will be approximately $1.6 million. In addition, the City will realize approximately $400,000 in permanent, ongoing savings due to the negotiated pension reforms. Finally, the elimination of furloughs will result in increased service levels to the public and additional hours of service over the next two years.

The City thanks employees and their representatives for their hard work in securing a timely and reasonable resolution to these labor negotiations. The negotiations were conducted amicably. Novato is fortunate to have such dedicated and professional employees. 

The agreements are retroactive to July 1 and will expire on June 30, 2014.

Additional information on the agreements can be found in the staff presentation here. The City has also created a webpage on the City website related to pension and retirement benefits.

The presentation made to Council included this slide showing the interests that must be balanced in developing a fiscal sustainability plan.

On July 24, the Council and the community received a presentation from staff outlining a fiscal and organizational sustainability process. The City is committed to developing a plan that ensures Novato's long-term sustainability. To develop this plan, the City Council will receive input and suggestions from the community and employees. 

Over the last two months, City staff has been working to develop a process to have discussions in an open format. The process sets aside the remainder of 2012 (August thru December) for education, questions, outreach and the development of options. The beginning months of 2013 would be set aside for outreach, discussion, decisions and direction. 

To facilitate these discussions, the Council will hold a series of work sessions to consider specific topics. For instance, the August work session will look at some of the City's unfunded liabilities. Future sessions will address service levels, compensation, revenues (Measure F and economic development) and infrastructure and technology. Staff will develop a fiscal sustainability options "tool" for both Council and the public to review possible revenue and expenditure scenarios. This tool will serve as basis for the final fiscal and organizational sustainability plan. 

In conjunction with the Council process, City staff will reach out to community members and employees through direct meetings, suggestion boxes and a city satisfaction survey to ascertain the interests of these stakeholders. 

The Council was receptive to the staff-proposed process and it will serve as the framework for future fiscal and organizational sustainability discussions. However, the process is dynamic and can be changed if necessary. Staff will monitor the process and make changes as appropriate. 

Additional information, including the presentation from the July 24 Council meeting, is available on the City's fiscal sustainability webpage.

Last month's Our Town included an article about a number of openings on City boards and commissions. The City relies on community volunteers to fill these position and advise the City Council on various issues and topics. The City is currently seeking applicants for certain boards and commissions.

The City Clerk has extended the application deadline for boards and commissions to August 13th. The City Council will interview the candidates to determine the best applicants. These interviews will take place on August 20th with official appointments being made on August 28th.

The City hopes you or someone you know has an interest in joining one of Novato's advisory boards. For more information, please visit this page on the City's website or contact the City Clerk, Sheri Hartz, at 899-8900.