For keepers of Culver City trivia, Chandler and Arizona also are associated with Mr. Skinner’s temporary successor.
Sam Chandler, ex-of Santa Monica, ex-of Portland, was the Deputy Director of Solid Waste for the city of Tucson until a couple of years ago. Presently, he is hiring out for a longtime consulting group in Rancho Cucamonga.
Charles Herbertson, the Public Works Director, was challenged over the proposed hiring of Mr. Chandler by Vice Mayor Gary Silbiger at this week’s Council meeting.
It was a re-visited pattern, a familiar battleground.
If the word “consultant” doesn’t make Mr. Silbiger shiver, the concept does — when applied to City Hall.
After giving the appropriate notice, the highly regarded Mr. Skinner left City Hall a month ago, on March 17.
Just a Coincidence
(In an aside, his departure sparked a backstreet whispering campaign because two workers in Mr. Skinner’s department left, suddenly, around the same time. However, the cases of the Sanitation Manager and the workers were unrelated.)
Mr. Silbiger objected to Mr. Herbertson’s plan to pay the temporary hire, Mr. Chandler, up to $80,000 for a likely four-month term — until a permanent replacement is found.
The figure struck the Vice Mayor as exorbitant. He wondered if someone on the Sanitation staff could not have been tapped instead, at a considerably lower rate.
Sanitation, hardly ever talked about with the ease with which tree-trimming or parking meters are, is a hefty $10 million enterprise, Mr. Herbertson explained.
Something that expensive can’t be handed over to a clerk, even for a short term.
Sanitation may not be sexy, but, as one of three divisions under the Public Works umbrella, “it is pretty important,” Mr. Herbertson said.
Mr. Silbiger’s blood-pressure level did not improve when the Public Works Director said the consultant probably would be working three days a week, with a caveat. He will undertake two large assignments plus plus some here-and-there duties.
Returning to his calculations, Mr. Silbiger pro-rated the numbers over a year’s time. The answers made him uncomfortable.
Mr. Chandler’s hourly rate of $125 seemed extraordinary to Mr. Silbiger.
“I am trying to figure out why a consultant costs more than a fulltime employee,” he said.
The dynamics and the needs are different, Mr. Herbertson said. While a fulltime employee
is expected to be on the job all day everyday, the nature of consulting differs.
“We need someone who is instantly available,” Mr. Herbertson said, “someone who can make himself available when we need him.”
Mr. Chandler will have extracurricular duties.
“I have asked him to do an analysis of the (Sanitation Manager’s) position,” Mr. Herbertson said. “I also have asked him to assist in the recruitment process.”
Sanitation Experts Are Rare
Although there does not appear to be widespread knowledge about the sanitation industry, Mr. Herbertson pointed out that “there are not many (sanitation consulting specialists) out there.”
At which point Mr. Silbiger, a lawyer by day, took a ribbing for raising an objection to a professional in another field earning an hourly rate that is a fraction of what many attorneys charge.
City Councilman Steve Rose suggested that Mr. Chandler’s fees might not be quite as attractive as they look since “he is paying for his own (healthcare) benefits.”
Mr. Silbiger said later that specific guidelines should be instituted regarding City Hall hiring consultants as temporary replacements for executives.
“I would suggest three rules,” the Vice Mayor said. “First, we should make sure no one on staff can do the job. Second, the consultant never should be paid more than the person whose place he is taking. And we have to make sure we have a quick method for hiring a fulltime person, especially in view of the city’s financial situation.”
At length, Mr. Chandler’s hiring, on Mr. Herbertson’s terms, was unanimously confirmed by the City Council.
Postscript
To hear Mr. Herbertson talk, young Mr. Skinner was one of City Hall’s rising, and under-rated, stars.
Financial acumen appears to be the strength of the onetime intern who holds an MBA in a scientific field.
Mr. Skinner’s Arizona adventure was ignited a couple of months ago. He attended an Intel job fair at the Convention Center in downtown Los Angeles. Intel chose two job fair participants to inspect more closely, and Mr. Skinner was one of them.
“He is very smart,” Mr. Herbertson said.