Most city employees were off on a four-day holiday weekend as the council and top staff gathered at a Best Western hotel to discuss human resources at City Hall.
City officials say no decisions were made at the meeting nor at a follow-up call-in meeting Tuesday morning. Rumors of pending layoffs have swirled around town but there was no official confirmation heading into Tuesday night’s regularly scheduled meeting. That meeting occurred after the Review’s print deadline.
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Some city employees say they feel their jobs are imperiled due to Half Moon Bay’s continuing financial problems.
Detective A.J. Johnson, president of the city’s Police Officers Association, says that he is hopeful that the city can avoid layoffs.
“Our officers are worried in general about job security and providing for our families,” Johnson said. “We’re remaining optimistic, and essentially trying to focus on what we can, like the quality of our work.”
Mayor John Muller says that no decisions have been made about layoffs or staff changes for the city’s 69 full- and part-time employees.
“We’re just working on our personnel issues,” the mayor said. “I don’t think there’s any individual city, state or federal agency that’s not reviewing everything due to the financial crisis.”
City leaders managed to avoid cutting any employees during a round of budget cuts earlier this month. But they continue to face immense financial pressures as the city enters its budget period for the next fiscal year.
The $18 million Beachwood debt, the most deadly sword hanging over the city, remains an abstract problem for many.
The Beachwood debt, which stems from a court judgment in a long-running land dispute, has dominated all public business for the city. It is due in full in June. Though everyone involved considers it the most pressing issue for City Hall, almost no new information has been disclosed since early November, when the city failed in an expensive bid to win legislative relief in Sacramento.
Some say the city is giving mixed messages. On the one hand, the city leadership has encouraged citizens to look for solutions to help, but months of closed-door discussions on the city's strategy have left the community in the dark.
“You all speak of transparency, but in the wake of the most critical issue in our city, your silence is deafening,” said city resident George Muteff at the Feb. 11 City Council meeting. “We have 147 days to the June 30 deadline, and we appear no closer now than when we signed the agreement last year.”
City leaders have said they plan on beginning a third push to get legislative aid for Beachwood in the coming weeks. The city also plans on issuing lease-revenue bonds to the pay off whatever may remain of the $18 million.
Muller says that the city has to wait until the state Legislature is freed from its tedious budget negotiations before anything can be revealed publicly.
“We’re working on Beachwood daily, we’re working with Sen. (Leland) Yee and Assemblyman (Jerry) Hill … but they have a huge undertaking to deal with the budget first.” Muller said. “They have no time to spend on other issues than the budget.”
Muller said no new information on Beachwood would be revealed at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
Howard Engelson says if elected leaders continue to withhold vital information on Beachwood, the public will hold them accountable for the $18 million problem. The 90-year-old Half Moon Bay resident says he’s rallied more than a dozen people to voice their concerns to city officials at Tuesday’s meeting.
“I’m just a resident here, but most of us feel there’s been no leadership or transparency on this,” Engelson said. “In July, if we don’t have something in place, we’ll revert to being a village controlled by the county of San Mateo.”
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