Election, Power-Shift Changes in the Air for San Diego Politics : ‘Board of Directors’ Approach Advocated in Chamber Report

The balance of power in local government should be drastically altered by stripping the San Diego mayor, City Council and county Board of Supervisors of their large staffs and office budgets to make sure they conduct public business more like passive “boards of directors,” a confidential Greater San Diego Chamber of Commerce report recommends.

The report, written by an ad-hoc committee of the chamber and distributed for comment to its board members Thursday, accuses elected officials of interfering with the daily affairs of government and of using taxpayer money to build political fiefdoms. It calls for restoration of the “council-manager” form of government, in which elected officials set policy and bureaucrats are left to make more mundane administrative decisions about daily trash collection, street repairs, courts and welfare programs.

At City Hall, the recommendations would scrap a system engineered by former Mayor Pete Wilson to consolidate power primarily in the mayor’s office and, to a lesser degree, among council members. That system, which gives the mayor and council members control over four standing committees, now accounts for $2.6 million in staff salaries included in office budgets that have increased 371% in 10 years, the report said.

“Local elected officials have evolved from part-time legislators to full-time legislators over the last decade,” the report said. “They have expanded their involvement in all aspects of community life. Council and board staffs can be seen at community group meetings, business gatherings, ribbon cuttings, receptions, conferences, etc. . . .

“While some of the community activities have some relationship to their job, much of it is considered political, even by the officeholders themselves.”

Several supervisors and council members reacted to the report Friday by saying they believed their office budgets and staffs are needed to serve increasing demands from constituents, who fail to find satisfaction with county and city bureaucracies. Each council district includes about 125,000 people and each supervisorial district serves 400,000 constituents.

Councilwoman Gloria McColl, who has a staff of six and an office budget of $270,000, said she and her aide attend about 20 community meetings a month.

“I just think we’re representing the people and the way we can do this is by hearing their concerns,” she said. “We can’t do that locked up in our offices.”

Leon Williams, chairman of the county Board of Supervisors, called the chamber panel’s recommendations “unbelievable.”

“I’ve served on the City Council and the Board of Supervisors, and nobody in the public has ever complained to me about having a staff,” Williams said. “All the complaints are always ‘Why don’t you do this?’ or ‘Why didn’t you do this?’ I’ve gotten many compliments about my staff coming to community meetings and meeting with people.”

Mayor Roger Hedgecock declined to comment on the report. But his former chief of staff, J. Michael McDade, said he believes that the suggestions are part of a “power play” by a business community that is not unhappy with office budgets per se, but with people such as Hedgecock who now control them.

“I have to believe this is a move by the old-line Establishment to reestablish its primacy, which has been threatened by some government officials,” McDade said.

Clair Burgener, chairman of the chamber’s board of directors, declined comment on the report except to say fellow board members intended to seek input from elected officials before adopting an official position on the suggestions. Chamber spokesman Garry Bonelli said the report will be discussed at the board’s next meeting, on Dec. 19.

The report--written by an ad-hoc committee for the chamber’s local government division and marked “for internal use only”--lists an eight-point plan to pare the power of local officeholders.

The plan’s premise is that San Diego city and county governments are supposed to have a separation of powers. Administrators take care of the daily tasks while elected officials approve budgets, pass ordinances, set operational policies and choose either the city manager or county chief administrative officer, who runs all of the governmental departments.

“We believe the City Council and the Board of Supervisors should function as intended by the voters and serve as the ‘board of directors’ for the city and the county,” the report said. “There would be a significant monetary savings.”

The council-manager system has been upheld twice by voters, the report says. In 1973, voters rejected a City Charter change that would have given the mayor’s post more power; in 1984, they passed a reform measure that, in part, prohibited supervisors from meddling in the daily operations of the county.

Shortly after the 1973 election, however, former Mayor Wilson--who is never mentioned by name in the report--created a system of four standing City Council committees that “had the effect of expanding government and subtly allowing the mayor and council to intrude” into daily operations, the report says.

And that system at City Hall allows council members to sidestep scrutiny when setting their office budgets, the report says: “There is an unwritten rule that one doesn’t question one’s colleagues’ budgets. Consequently, council and board office budgets have grown much faster than the rest of the city and county budgets or the private sector.”

To counter that, the report suggests steps that include:

- Abolishing the council’s committee system. The committees require “repeated testimony and discussion,” and committee chairmen enjoy “media attention and political advantage.” The report said that abolishing the committees will save council members’ time, and it suggests that city officials follow the example of their counterparts at the county by only holding workshops on issues.

- Limiting the government staff for each council member and supervisor to three--a secretary, executive assistant and administrative assistant. The mayor should have five aides paid at government expense. The staff members should not be paid any more than comparable employees in city and county administration.

The move would drastically cut the staffing for most council offices. For instance, Councilman William Jones, whose district includes Southeast San Diego, has eight assistants and an office budget of $364,400, the largest at City Hall. McColl has six aides and a budget of $269,600.

There are 18 people working for Hedgecock, whose office encompasses two budgets totaling almost $790,000.

“The use of a large personal staff can be justified only as a political campaign organization for the incumbent,” the report said. “The advice provided by office staff will be colored by the political impact the issue has on their boss rather than by what is good for the region. Larger staffs have not resulted in better oversight of the administrative branch. In fact it is just the reverse.”

- The office budgets for mayor, council members and supervisors should “receive the same scrutiny” as other governmental departments, including the review of the office of financial management. In addition, officials should list line-item expenses instead of receiving lump sums in the past.

Three county supervisors interviewed Friday--Williams, Susan Golding and George Bailey--said their board would not adopt the chamber report’s drastic recommendations, if they are ultimately forwarded for consideration.

Golding said the suggestions would leave her constituents “frustrated with government.”

“If they want me to be a county supervisor with one secretary and one staff member, that’s fine,” she said. “But they will have to understand and my constituents will have to understand that their letters won’t be answered, their phone calls won’t be returned and my ability to be present at their meetings will be a lot less than it is now.”

McColl said people call her council staff because they likewise are “frustrated” with a lack of response from the city administration and “turn to us for help.”

She also said her current staffing is needed to handle the affairs of a district and city that are growing.

There were 978,900 people living in San Diego in April, compared to 740,100 at the same time in 1973.