Heated Meeting Marks Burke’s Debut as Leader : Supervisors: Boisterous session follows new chairwoman’s call for unity.

On the historic day when Yvonne Brathwaite Burke became the first woman and African American to chair the Board of Supervisors Tuesday, the county offered up a boisterous reception: chanting demonstrators demanding more pay, the first heated exchange between the board and its new executive officer, and an appearance by a clown who harangued the supervisors for their profligate ways.

In an address before proceedings got under way, Burke vowed to tackle head-on the county’s shrinking financial fortunes, its shaky public image, and its tattered relationship with Sacramento and the city of Los Angeles.

She also pledged to bring unity to a group long known for its fractious comportment. “I hope warfare on the board will be something we speak of as history,” Burke said.

The board then proceeded with no dissent to elect Supervisor Gloria Molina as next year’s presiding officer. As chair pro tem she will take over the gavel when Burke is away.

The board continued on to the next agenda item but quickly encountered the kind of interference that Burke was hoping to avoid. The rancorous exchange also highlighted the tortuous path that supervisors must tread as they try to cut spending without damaging morale among county personnel.

Molina objected to a proposed salary of $149,000 for Sandra M. Davis, the choice by Chief Administrative Officer Sally Reed for her top assistant.

Davis has been the county’s treasurer and tax collector for six years, earning $115,000 annually. Molina lauded Davis’ abilities as a manager but lambasted the salary raise as being too much, noting that the President of the United States makes $200,000 and the governor of California $120,000.

“At a time when the county is struggling with its budget, is asking employees to take a 2% pay cut, reducing library services and facing the gloomy prospect that next year may be worse, we need to examine every area of spending that may be out of line or excessive,” she said.

Molina added, “When we were in Sacramento, the county’s high salaries and perks were constantly mentioned as causing a credibility gap when we asked for assistance.”

Molina proposed that Reed, who earns $174,600, conduct a countywide salary and compensation study, and that Davis be given only a $5,000 raise pending the results of the study. Molina’s motion was supported by Burke, who observed that the county must start correcting some of its past decisions that “cause criticism.”

But Reed mounted a vigorous defense of her salary recommendation and accused Molina of exploiting the situation.

“To pick out one manager in this way greatly offends other managers and divides employees and managers,” Reed responded. “Let’s not exploit and keep dividing. If you want to change the salary, change it, but don’t go through this rhetoric.”

To raise her objections in a public forum, Molina answered, “is my duty and responsibility; it isn’t to demoralize Davis or any other manager.”

The debate ended when Supervisors Ed Edelman, Deane Dana and Mike Antonovich backed Reed’s recommendation of the higher salary, though the supervisors ended up approving the compensation study.

Paying close attention throughout the salary debate were about 150 Department of Children’s Services social workers who packed the meeting room following a demonstration in front of the Hall of Administration. The workers, most of them women, allege that the county is subjecting them to wage and sex discrimination and are threatening to strike unless they receive pay hikes that would bring them into line with county probation officers, who mostly are men and have similar job responsibilities.

Their demands are backed by the results of a county-sponsored study.

“We work very hard, have a lot of crises to deal with, are out in the field in many cases working with the same population as the probation officers,” said Hermina Ben, 42, who has been a children’s social worker for five years. “It feels very discriminatory that we make the pay that we do simply because we are female-dominated.”

The board agreed to hold an executive session Tuesday to discuss the worker’s grievances.

The meeting was topped off with an appearance by E.T. Snell, who was dressed in a multicolored clown suit, with a blue fright wig and garishly painted white face. Snell mounted a video camera at the front of the meeting room and somberly proceeded to record the events.

During the public comment session, Snell used his allotted three minutes to reprove the board for various offenses, concluding--to much laughter from the assembly--”I usually wear a clown suit when I appear before clowns.”

The board did not appear amused.