ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : A Disturbing Lack of Knowledge

Yorba Linda City Council members aren’t rookies. All are in at least their second four-year term on the council. So it was surprising last month when the mayor and his allies said they were unaware of the bonus arrangements for top city staff, including the longtime city manager, Arthur C. Simonian.

On a 3-2 vote, the council suspended Simonian after a closed-door discussion of his $200,000-a-year compensation package. Simonian has said he has done nothing wrong, that if the city’s elected officials didn’t know some details, it’s because they didn’t ask.

Regardless who is ultimately proved right, it is disturbing that council members did not have full details of the pay and perks provided to staff. Budgeting is one of an elected panel’s most important priorities. Taxpayers have the right to expect that expenditures are scrutinized and that office holders know who gets how much.

Simonian is Orange County’s longest-serving city manager. He began running Yorba Linda in 1972, back when the city’s most famous native son, Richard Nixon, was in the White House. His tenure demonstrates an ability to get along with his bosses, at least until now.

Some council members said they did not know Simonian paid himself a cash bonus of about $14,000 a year. They also did not know he gave top staff members bonuses that sometimes equaled 10% of their annual salary.

The city manager’s contract covers salary, car allowance, life insurance and other items, plus any benefit given to other management employees in the city. That includes cash bonuses that are part of a management incentive program.

Councilman Mark Schwing, who voted against putting Simonian on the paid leave of absence, said all personnel costs, salaries and perks in the budget were approved by the council. But Mayor John Gullixson, who spearheaded an investigation into Simonian’s compensation package, said no one knew Simonian was paying bonuses and the information was deleted from the budgets given to the council.

That’s a serious charge, which the outside attorney hired by the council to investigate the matter should address. Yorba Linda residents need to be told of the findings.

The City Council has been divided on other issues before the Simonian matter arose. Now the council has to dampen its political rivalries and determine what members knew and what they should have known about the compensation of the city’s management team.

They also have to examine the budgets more closely so there are no wrong assumptions in the future.