Arcadia: July 2008 Archives

Leftovers Column: Fuentes hit for political approach
By Tania Chatila and Jennifer McLain, Staff Writers
Article Launched: 07/27/2008 09:29:44 PM PDT

It seems Pico Rivera's city manager may have committed the cardinal sin in his profession: playing politics.

Of course, that depends on who you ask.

Charles "Chuck" Fuentes says he's just one of the few city managers who actually admit to politicking.

"Am I more political? I'm the first one to say yes, and that's a plus," Fuentes said in an article that ran a week ago in the Whittier Daily News. "Every city manager does what he or she has to do to take care of his majority."

But if you bring the issue up before ethicists at the state and national levels, they say Fuentes - who worked on President Jimmy Carter's re-election campaign and

eventually became chief of staff for Rep. Grace Napolitano, D-Santa Fe Springs - has got it all wrong.

After all, the job of a city manager is to work for all council members, not just the majority, experts said.

And if Fuentes were to read the code of ethics that the members of the International City Manager's Association follow, he would see that endorsing candidates - whether on the local or national level - is a big no-no, said Bill Garrett, executive director of the California City Management Foundation.

"The code of ethics says that you don't play favorites, and don't involve yourself in the political game," Garrett said.

By working for all members of the council, the city manager is completing the obligation to serve the interest of the com-

munity, said Martha Perego, ICMA's ethics director.

"When you have city managers that are more concerned about protecting their jobs and counting votes, then you need to think: Are they serving the long-term interest of the community?" Perego said.

Fuentes is not a member of the ICMA, Perego said.

Nearly 100 years ago, the council-city manager system was formed as a way to keep City Hall staff - the brains behind the requests and wills of council members - from being politicized, according to Garrett.

"It has been set to try to make sure that the manager responds from a professional standpoint, not from a political one," he said.

That hasn't always been the case.

South Gate's former elected city treasurer Albert Robles was convicted of soliciting more than $1.8 million in bribes from bidders on municipal contracts.

According to the Los Angeles Times, three of Robles' supporters formed a new majority on the City Council in 2001.

With their votes, Robles influenced ranks of city department managers, firing those who refused to do his bidding and promoting those who would, even though his official title granted him no such authority, according to the Times article.

"South Gate is a good example of what can happen when a City Council hires someone purely from a political background, and then tells them, `We want you to run this thing the way we want you to run it."'

Of course, some argue politics is inevitable when you are working for, well, politicians.

"Every city manager has to deal with the reality that there is a political component to the job," said Rosemead City Manager Oliver Chi. "But we must continue to strive in all ways to remain apolitical in our efforts to serve every single council member."

jennifer.mclain@sgvn.com

tania.chatila@sgvn.com

(626) 962-8811, Ext. 2477, 2109

www.insidesocal.com/sgvgov

Star-News report Nathan McIntire's story about a Southern California Edison proposal to increase rates is getting picked up everywhere.

ROSEMEAD - Southern California Edison estimates rates for some residential customers could increase by an average of 30 percent or more next year because of soaring fuel prices and costs to upgrade infrastructure, according to a company executive.

The utility will submit the final component of its application to raise rates next month. Any rate increases must be approved in December by the Public Utilities Commission, which sets the three-year rates and can deny all or parts of Edison's request.

Another interesting point in the story is Edison's proposal could really affect municipalities too, as Arcadia City Manager Don Penman points out: "Obviously its ominous, both for the consumer and for public agencies that depend on a lot of electricity."

I guess gas isn't the only thing we should be worried about these days...

It's the weekend! So here's something to think about:

Would you ever consider running for the City Council? Why or why not?

All I knew about charter cities before writing this story was, well, nothing. But it turns out that charter cities can make their own rules, including setting the salaries for their council members and not having to go out to bid for contracts.

This came up because voters will be asked if they want Rosemead to become a charter city. If that happened, it would become the seventh charter city in the SGV. The other cities are Arcadia, Alhambra, Irwindale, Industry, Whittier and Pasadena.

El Monte Councilman Art Barrios called this week, asking why I wasn't at the pancake breakfast last Friday. Um, because I had the day off and would much prefer to spend my free time at the beach.

But he didn't care about me: He wanted to know why the Tribune only writes negative stories about El Monte. It's a common complaint we get. Barrios was right, we didn't cover it. But we also didn't cover the dozens of other Fourth of July events in the 31 cities in the San Gabriel Valley. There's just not enough space.

But in honor of Barrios, how about we spend some positive attention to what is going on in your cities this weekend.

OPEN FORUM: What will you be doing in the SGV this weekend? 

It's been a tough few months for many of our cities in the San Gabriel Valley. And judging from the comments on the blog, many are upset at what their cities are doing -- and consequentially what this blog and newspaper reports on.

Most cities are dealing with budget cuts, some are dealing with embarassment by their elected representatives and several have or are facing lawsuits that have rocked city morale. But we may as well take one day to try to muster up some positive feedback about our cities and elected officials.

So, here's an open forum: What have your elected officials done to improve your city?