In-House Training Criticized, Defended

City officials say they intend to continue scrutinizing the elaborate in-house training program that began during the tenure of recently fired City Manager Tom Frutchey.

The City Council received a glowing hourlong presentation on the program’s merits Tuesday night that was greeted with skepticism by the panel majority that voted for Frutchey’s termination.

Moreover, resident Jane Tolmach, a former mayor and frequent Frutchey critic, pushed the council to kill the program.

“I urge you to end this cult-type, in-house training program set up by the former city manager,” she said. “It is fantastically expensive.”

About 450 or 42% of all Oxnard employees attended more than 13,500 hours of voluntary training last year alone, Acting City Manager Prisilla Hernandez said.

More than $580,000 was spent last year on training that ranged from a nine-day leadership program to classes in problem-solving techniques. The figure includes the cost of a consultant who works with the city exclusively 4 1/2 days a week and such indirect costs as the wages of employees pulled away from their usual duties.

“It was really created to increase productivity,” Hernandez said. “We wanted to maintain service levels with a reduction in employees.”

In recent years, the city has cut about 260 jobs.

Hernandez said a city study showed Oxnard’s level of workplace training remains at or below the levels of other public agencies. And the training has helped the city improve services while cutting costs, although she conceded that “employees were already looking for ways to do things better” out of necessity.

But some council members said they wanted limits placed on how many hours of training employees could sign up for and alternatives to in-house training examined, such as using local colleges. The council will revisit the issue in coming weeks.

“It looks to me that we’re pulling people away from the work site,” Councilman Bedford Pinkard said.