City Council to Revisit Budget, City Manager's Performance

Correction* (Monday, June 13): The closed-door session to review the performance of City Manager Steve Burrell , not Tuesday.

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The Hermosa Beach City Council will meet Monday to resume discussion on growing budget concerns, and will then hold a closed-door session Tuesday* to review the performance of City Manager Steve Burrell, whom some council members have criticized as not being responsive to their requests.

At the council’s last public meeting on May 26, during its review of the 2011-2012 preliminary budget, City Councilmen Kit Bobko and Michael DiVirgilio said that Burrell had not provided information they had previously requested.

And Bobko engaged in a heated exchange with Police Chief Greg Savelli, who said he was still working on a report Bobko asked for at a prior council session.

On June 3 the council held a special closed meeting to discuss what its agenda listed as Burrell’s “discipline, dismissal, release,” according to a story published in The Beach Reporter this week.

Council members who attended the meeting declined to disclose details of their discussions, although City Attorney Michael Jenkins said no reportable action was taken, the newspaper reported.

Bobko and DiVirgilio reportedly requested the closed meeting because they were unhappy with Burrell’s performance.

At the May 26 council meeting, Bobko became upset when he was told that a city staff report he'd requested on the potential outsourcing of the police department’s parking enforcement and animal control services was not available.

"I’m not satisfied that I’ve got everything I’ve asked for.... I'm not going to vote on any budget tonight until I see that [report]," Bobko said at the meeting.

DiVirgilio also said that information he requested had not been included in the meeting’s materials.

"Items we specifically brought up about the budget aren't even mentioned,” DiVirgilio said. “I'm trying to keep my cool about it, but we're not getting legitimate responses.”

City Councilman Howard Fishman, however, said he didn't share the same level of dissatisfaction as his fellow council members, pointing out that some requests take more time than others to fulfill.

"I think we should look at the budget as is," said Mayor Peter Tucker.

The council ended up voting 3-1 (with Councilman Jeff Duclos absent) on a motion made by Bobko to postpone further budget discussions. Fishman joined DiVirgilio and Bobko in the majority vote.

The May 26 meeting ended after an exchange between Bobko and police chief Savelli, who said he was still working on the report that Bobko had requested.

"I’m trying to be as impartial as possible and present you the facts … [but] it’s very clear that Bobko wants to do this," Savelli said. "I think it needs to be done by the council and not one person."

"Chief,” Bobko said, “we didn’t ask for your opinion, we asked for the report."

As Savelli and Bobko continued the exchange, with Burrell joining in, Tucker suggested that the council move forward with Bobko's motion to adjourn and continue the meeting at a later date.

The motion also requested a full report on the outsourcing of parking enforcement and animal control services be ready at the next meeting, as well as an account of all the items council members requested in a budget meeting in February. (That report has already been drafted by city staffers and made public. See attached document under photo.)