In the past, I have tried to point out the duties of the two branches of city government.  Someone forgot that the mayor is the head of the Executive branch of the city government. The mayor is assisted by a full-time professional city administrator, who administers the day-to-day operations of the city.  This includes the staff and their department heads.

The City Council is Bonney Lake’s seven-member elected legislature who make the laws. Council members are non-partisan (they do not represent political parties). All seven council members are elected ‘at-large’ and represent the entire city.

I have recently witnessed at various meetings that some seem to have forgotten the roles do not overlap.  And not everyone in the room is an elected official.  Some seem to have forgotten their manners.  Just because you have a small business and attended a two day workshop does not make you an expert on government finance. And I have recently consulted an attorney, and you are skating on thin ice when you disrespect a government employee in writing or publicly (like at an open meeting).

The staff of any government agency have put up with a lot in the past years due to the downturn in the economy and political wrangling.  One example is the jail deputy situation in Pierce County.  According to a Sept. 18 Tacoma News Tribune story at the Pierce County Council meeting,  Sgt. Sabrina Braswell questioned why the council, Undersheriff Eileen Bisson and Sheriff Paul Pastor “have never asked us a team, as a family what we can do to save ourselves?”

“They didn’t ask for a hiring freeze,” Braswell said. “They didn’t ask us to voluntarily lay ourselves off. They didn’t ask us to voluntarily take a furlough day every now and again. … They didn’t ask for buyouts. They didn’t ask for voluntary retirements.”

Sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said in an interview Tuesday night, “the sheriff’s willing to look at any way to save money and save jobs.” But Troyer added it’s not clear who would decide whether to offer early retirements or to shift workers to part-time positions.

McDonald said job-sharing and retirements had been discussed at meetings about reducing the jail’s budget but apparently those suggestions didn’t reach the level of the bargaining unit.

The Sunday News Tribune featured an editorial co-written by the Pierce County Executive Pat McCarthy and council member McDonald that stirred the pot by pointing the finger at elected Sheriff Paul Pastor.

Dennis Box’s column last week hit the nail on the head when he said:

“Council and commission seats are legislative bodies that decide (or can’t decide) and work through consensus and coalition. Coalition building is often poorly understood or attempted at the local level. All that listening and compromising goes against nature. We are all too often in a legislative milieu of, “there are my facts, and your facts that are all wrong. But it is OK for you to believe in facts that are dumb.”

My experience is you take things as they come, one day at a time. Government is reactive, not proactive like private sector.  Government tends to stay within the lines, private sector excels in the gray, creative areas.  Ask Chris Hansen. There is no I in team. And you don’t get to use “we” until you have actually done team building.  The best outcomes are where consensus was built, not a dictatorship. It doesn’t fly to have someone come in with their agenda to change everything because they can, trying to push back.  It is costly.  It alienates. You have to listen and get the lay of the land.

It helps to have been active in the community you are working with/for and have a network, not an entourage.  It is also helpful to do your research and be on a board or commission, be part of the process.  If you have never done the job, it pays to observe before you open mouth and insert foot.  Or before you make an uninformed statement or decision that must be revised or retracted the next day, which makes you look indecisive, especially when it happens over and over.  Recently, some on the council had to have a sit down meeting to redirect their thinking.  You cannot demand respect, you have to earn it. Be part of the solution, not the problem. Just because you are technical on creating a phone system or programing a computer, doesn’t mean you have people skills, it just means you can work alone and create good systems.

When I was on the council, staff left and were not replaced; there were furloughs. There were department reorganizations. Priorities had to be made because with a streamlined staff, some tasks were cut out, longer processing times occurred, more time between tasks.  This put a huge burden on staff, and the public found themselves having to be more self-reliant, using the city website to download forms and get information. Furloughs may have meant the person you needed to talk to was not there when you were. Hours may have been shortened or offices closed due to a furlough day.  The county, state and federal government have experienced the same.  Staff are humans, not machines.

Budget cuts mean people out of work, or at the least with less income with furloughs.  Working part-time can mean more share of cost on medical insurance, or loss of insurance. It also means the public does not get served in the manner they are accustomed. It further distresses the economy.

The budget was tight, but in spite of tough times, the Finance Department, under Chief Financial Officer Al Juarez, MBA, continually used models and projections to crunch the numbers to get the city through those tough times. And they continue to do so, under the laws of the State of Washington and using best practices.

For 9 years Terrina Marchant and for 22 years Al Juarez have earned awards titled “Professional Finance Officer for the State of Washington” from the Washington Finance Officers Association.  This annual award requires ongoing educational and professional excellence on the part of each individual and is not automatically awarded.

It was impressive when the city was presented by the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) presented a Distinguished Budget Presentation Award to the city of Bonney Lake for the biennium beginning Jan. 1, 2009 through Dec. 31, 2010.  This is the first time the city had ever received the award.  The GFOA distinguished budget presentation award was again presented to the city for its biennial budget for the period beginning Jan. 1, 2011 through December 31, 2012.

I followed up with CFO Juarez about what has happened since I left the council in 2011.  Nothing different, the same exemplary work.  However, the city was not able to submit the 2013 – 2014 biennial budget document for the award due to staff turnover and the added burden of maintaining day to day operations shorthanded for an extended period of time.  The city chose to function shorthanded for this duration to enhance long range capability of bringing in the most desirable candidate available, who is actually a former staff member of the WA State Auditor’s Office of seven years.

The internal financial and operational activities of the city continue to meet the high standards outlined by the GFOA in order to qualify for the distinguished budget presentation award.  CFO Juarez said, “It is our intent to again submit our 2015 – 2016 biennial budget document to the GFOA as a candidate for this national award.  In order to receive the GFOA distinguished budget award a governmental unit must publish a budget document that meets program criteria as a policy document, as an operations guide, as a financial plan, and as a communications device.“