Pension payments figure largely in campaign against Silva

By Tom Barnidge, Contra Costa Times columnist — Inside Bay Area: The Oakland Tribune — September 29, 2010

CITY COUNCIL members and police usually come from different walks of life, but they have at least one thing in common. Neither would do what they do if they didn't care deeply about the community's welfare, and that is certainly true in Walnut Creek.

Police respond whenever asked to handle problems large and small. Council members work long hours for token compensation to resolve a laundry list of complex issues.

So it is, at best, disturbing when two bodies on parallel missions wind up in a hissing match. Such is the case in the re-election campaign of Councilwoman Cindy Silva, who finds the Walnut Creek Police Association trying to block her second term.

The association, a political action committee that includes officers and management, has not only endorsed Silva's two opponents, Kristina Lawson and Justin Wedel, but urged residents not to vote for Silva.

Sgt. Steve Gorski, the group's spokesman, said the association thinks Silva has shortchanged public safety to support artistic and recreational endeavors. (The $40 million library is a particular bone of contention, even though the project was set into motion before Silva took office.)

Gorski said the police department is undermanned, with the same size staff as 20 years ago. He said radios, cars and weapons desperately need to be replaced. Moreover, salaries are being unfairly squeezed by demands for employee contribution to the pension plan.

Silva thinks that last item is the live grenade.

"I don't take this personally," she said. "I haven't done anything different from my fellow council members. But I'm the only incumbent running. The five of us, working on budget issues, decided that the underlying issue of rising costs was the spiraling costs of benefits.

"We are doing our version of pension reform -- negotiating with our employees to pay a portion of their retirement costs."

She said five employee groups, from clerks to executive committee members, agreed to pay some, if not all, of their costs. (Police officers currently pay nothing.) Police managers agreed to partial payment in their current two-year contract.

Gorski counters, first, that police managers were arm-twisted into their agreement and, second -- this is hard to dispute -- police work is not like other city jobs. That's why they carry guns.

Back and forth, the argument goes, two sides glaring from opposite poles. (You wonder, by the way, what promises Lawson and Wedel made to secure their endorsements.)

For a voice of reason, we turn to City Manager Gary Pokorny, who is free to speak his mind. He is retiring at the end of the year, which explains why he's smiling.

"How much of this is just about money and how much is about not feeling respected, I don't know," he said. "I think it's a combination, but the police couch it in terms of the city isn't paying enough attention to public safety."

Is the department properly staffed?

"The police chief says it is," Pokorny said.

Has the department requested new radios, cars and weapons?

"No," Pokorny said. "The chief believes what we have is adequate for our needs."

That brings us back to retirement benefits, which Gorski notes do not include health care, as do some other cities' plans.

"If this were a city in financial trouble like Vallejo, I could understand pulling back," he said, "but this is Walnut Creek."

That's where somebody may be missing the point. It's because the council has been proactive in protecting the bottom line that Walnut Creek has not overextended itself.

Failure to do that is why Vallejo is bankrupt.