Calabasas commissioners told to de-emphasize budget watchdog roles




Calabasas commissioners told to
de-emphasize budget watchdog roles
By Michael Picarella
pic@theacorn.com

One way to find financial waste in government is to look for it, but the Calabasas City Council recently voted against an initiative that would continue to require city commissioners to be public watchdogs.


Calabasas Mayor Pro Tem Barry Groveman was the only council member who called for city commissioners to continue to cite wasteful spending. The council members who voted against it said the initiative is too antagonistic.


"I think it’s better to ask for suggestions from staff and other people on improvements and inefficiencies," said Calabasas Mayor Michael Harrison. "I’m embarrassed watching commissions struggle, making their waste reports. It seems humiliating. I feel bad that they have to do that. And I also don’t think that they’re the right people to be doing that."


Harrison suggested that the city possibly contract with a firm to review or audit programs and watch for the waste of tax dollars.


Councilman Dennis Washburn said the council approved the waste/inefficiency report initiative last year when the city only had a bookkeeper in charge of financial records.


"We were concerned that things might get out of hand," Washburn said. "We now have a (chief financial officer) that is audit capable and is directly reporting to the council."


Calabasas Communications and Technology Commission chairman Michael Brockman said he felt awkward providing waste reports.


"We deal with attempting to do things efficiently as a normal course of business in everything that we do," Brockman said. "We think it is part of our responsibility. I don’t know that it needs to have that sole focus as the objective when it’s an ongoing part of our activity."


Groveman said reports of wasteful spending led to improvements. They weren’t intended to make anyone feel bad or awkward, he said.


"This is about being better than we are," Groveman said. "Nobody should be afraid of this. This is good government at work. . . . There’s so much to look at where we can save money and have more money to do public good."


Groveman cited a few examples of city waste: tennis-court lights left on in the middle of night, using non-recycled printer cartridges and massive use of paper.


"There is tons of waste (in the city)," Groveman said. "You can eliminate money sitting in funds that isn’t getting better interest rates, you can cut down on paper and memos and switch to e-mail and electronics—you can save thousands and thousands of dollars. . . . The way you find waste is like everything else. You’ve got to have a strategy and you charge public servants for looking and getting rewards."


Washburn didn’t like Groveman’s use of the words "waste" and "inefficiency."


"A positive way to do it is to say we’re going to go on a conservation campaign throughout the city," Washburn said. "If you say there’s waste and inefficiency, people presume that you are unconscious to and inattentive to dealing with the issues of efficiency."


"I think there’s enormous waste—I don’t care what you call it," Groveman responded.


The council suspended commissions from conducting waste reports. The council will reevaluate the ways to report wastefulness or the ways to preserve resources—however the council decides to put it—after the city council election in March.



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