INSIDE INGLEWOOD-How can a mayor who claims to possess a Masters Degree in Business Administration mistake the number 44 for “1”?
The Chronicle has obtained a copy of a letter from Inglewood City Manager Artie Fields sent to the mayor and city council. Dated October 8, 2013, the letter is titled “Approve the FY 2013-14 Workforce Reduction Plan” and is a remarkable directive which “eliminates 44 full-time positions, 1 permanent part-time position, and 5 part-time positions.”
At the January 14 City Council meeting, Inglewood’s Mayor, James T. Butts, ultimately said that only one employee was laid off.
Before he admitted even that “one,” he angrily talked at a resident who dared to ask a question.
“We have to shrink the workforce!” said Butts.
“No one’s been laid off yet,” he also said. “No one has been forced to do anything. The employees that left ... made a choice to leave.”
Inglewood District 4 Councilmember Ralph Franklin appeared to berate residents who dared to speak out. “It’s interesting when you hear comments from people who don’t have all the facts,” he said.
While Franklin spoke, Inglewood City Manager Artie Fields jumped up and whispered in Butts’ ear. “Oh, OK—we laid off one person from the ninth floor. An administrator,” Butts said.
What the mayor would not discuss was if that “administrator” was Daryl Brown, the former Deputy City Manager of 20-plus years whose seniority is far above any of the Mayor’s “executive” assistants.
The Mayor also did not discuss the $60,000 spent to renovate two of his three female assistants’ offices, why one of his executive assistants—Melanie McDade—was paid approximately $15,000 for “campaign miscellaneous” for Butts’ 2011 mayoral campaign or McDade’s annual salary of $138,072.
The plan has since been approved despite the Mayor and Councilmembers knowing that it would “result in program eliminations, increased employee workloads, and extensive service delays.”
The letter goes on to state: “In addition, the loss of valuable employee experience ... will also have an adverse impact on City operations.”
None of these "facts" were mentioned during the Mayor or Franklin's comments.
(Randall Fleming is a veteran journalist and magazine publisher. He has worked at and for the New York Post, the Brooklyn Spectator and the Los Feliz Ledger. He is currently editor-in-chief at the Morningside Park Chronicle, a monthly newspaper based in Inglewood, CA and on-line at www.MorningsideParkChronicle.com)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 12 Issue 9
Pub: Jan 31, 2014
