Council Puts 7 Reform Measures on City Ballot : Government: One would give mayor greater freedom to fire general managers.

Plans to give the mayor of Los Angeles greater freedom to fire top city officials, to appoint a watchdog to oversee citizen complaints of misconduct against the Police Department and to reform the city’s antiquated purchasing process will go on the April 11 ballot, the City Council decided Wednesday.

In a series of votes, the council agreed to put seven measures on the ballot. The fate of an eighth measure--a plan affecting police disciplinary procedures that is opposed by the police officers union but supported by Chief Willie L. Williams--was uncertain Wednesday. A final decision is expected Friday.

Wednesday’s votes sparked numerous mini-debates on the merits of the measures, the most animated surrounding the proposal to exempt all the city’s 38 general managers from 1930s-era civil service protections that have often stymied attempts to discipline general managers.

Four times in the past 14 years, voters have rejected nearly identical plans to undo the city’s civil service protections and give greater power to the mayor to fire city department heads who make anywhere from $171,000 (in the case of Fire Chief Donald Manning) to $76,000 (for Social Services Department chief Robert Burns).

“I hope and pray they do it a fifth time,” said Councilman Nate Holden, who claimed that the proposed Charter amendment would pave the way for a patronage system, staffed by mayoral cronies.

The measure--which would apply to present and future city department heads--may also face an early lawsuit from the General Managers’ Assn. Stripping existing executives of their rights is legally questionable, the association has warned the council.

But Councilman Marvin Braude claimed the proposal would give the mayor and the council the ability they need to effectively govern the city.

In recent years, the city had to go through a long and costly process in its efforts to remove Sylvia Cunliffe, the former head of the Department of General Services accused of abusing her authority, and Fred Croton, the former head of the city’s Cultural Affairs Department accused of lying about his job qualifications.

Exempted from the measure would be the Ethics Commission director, the chief of police and the council’s top adviser--the chief legislative analyst. Separate rules govern their hiring and dismissal.

The council also agreed to place a measure on the ballot to hire an inspector general who would oversee the city’s system for handling police misconduct cases. The official’s duties would include “thorough and objective investigation and adjudication of complaints and identification of trends.”

Creation of the job was one of the recommendations made by the Christopher Commission, the blue-ribbon panel set up to review police practices in the wake of the beating of Rodney G. King.

Another measure on the April ballot would help overhaul the city’s purchasing system. This highly technical measure--coupled with other reforms--could result in millions of dollars in savings, according to its sponsors, who include Mayor Richard Riordan and Councilman Joel Wachs.

Also scheduled for the ballot are measures to increase from five to seven members the size of the board that oversees the pension funds of civilian city employees; to permit the civilian pension board to pay its administrative costs out of retirement fund assets; to make technical adjustments in the police and firefighters pension fund system, and to make technical changes to the airport accounting system.

An eighth measure was turned down for placement on the ballot by a 7-6 vote. This measure would have changed various procedures for disciplining LAPD officers.

Wachs said the changes were innocuous but that they would send a signal that the city does not respect its police officers at a time when the force’s morale is low. Another vote is scheduled for Friday.