Long Beach Sticks With Its City Street Sweeping Op

Updated to clarify the Council's recommendation on the Little Hoover Commission report, regarding public employee pensions.

The Long Beach City Council opted Tuesday against a study of out-sourcing street sweeping services but did agree to hunt for cost-savings in its existing city staff.

The matter came after a minor tussle over the one relatively small department of about 18 city street sweepers, who clean about 170,000 miles of streets and remove about 13,000 tons of debris yearly, according to the Environmental Services bureau website.

After a series of motions and substitute and substitute substitute motions--all over voting whether to study whether to do something--the council members voted 8-0 and approved a substitute motion. It requests the city staff see if they can streamline Long Beach's operation, which the city’s current program.

The substitute motion replaced the original agenda item, which had called for city staff to investigate the pros and cons of contracting out services.

Councilmember Robert Garcia, who proposed the substitute motion, said he was in favor of examining the current program for efficiencies, but wouldn’t feel comfortable investigating “contracting out.”

Belmont Shore and 3rd District Council Member Gary DeLong, who supported the original item, said he wanted to examine all options during a tough budget time.

 “This is just one of the things we should take a look at with the potential to save taxpayers money,” DeLong said.

Council Member Gerrie Schipske said that she felt there should be large-scale examination of all the city departments instead of targeting just one group.

“What is frustrating at this council is that we are adding things by whimsy, and we pick a thing out of our hat or some other part of our anatomy,” Schipske said. “And consequently we look silly because we really don’t have a comprehensive plan.”

After hearing objections from other council members, DeLong said that the city must examine all possible  options in a tough budget climate. 

“If the council is unwilling to at least look at options, our problems will get worse and not better,” DeLong said.  

The city currently faces $18.6 million budget deficit for fiscal year 2012, according to the city staff.

Regina Savage, a city street sweeping employee, spoke during public comments and said that the council would never find a contractor who would do all the services that the city street sweepers provide, like storm water drain clearing and emergency responses.

Savage asked council members to think about the individuals that would be hurt if they eventually decided to contract out.  

Two men who provide street sweeping contracting services spoke during public comments and praised the work of the current street sweeping workers. One of contractor sweepers offered the services of his company and said that he would find jobs for anyone who would be displaced if the city chose to contract out.

Larry Boland, a Long Beach resident and frequent public commenter at City Council meetings, said that he felt that employee unions had an unfair say over issues like this one.

“We need to change the way we do governance,” Boland said. “To put the checks and balances between what you (the City Council) do and what the special interest groups want.”

After public comments, DeLong introduced a substitute-substitute motion that called for staff to get information from street sweeping contractors, and--among other provisions--to obtain input from current street sweeping employees. 

The substitute-substitute motion lost 3-5.

At the meeting council Member Steven Neal was absent.  

Other business

• The city voted to create a smart-phone app that will help locals find some of the hundreds of public art displays in Long Beach.
• Council members voted to send a message to the governor and state Legislature urging them "to evaluate each of the recommendations in the Little Hoover Commission and determine the potential benefits associated with them." Earlier, the Budget Oversight Committee had recommended sending a message fully supporting the Little Hoover Commission report, which urges major changes to state- and city-employee pension programs. However, because the city attorney had concerns about "the specificity" of that recommendation, DeLong (who chairs the budget committee) told the Council that the message should "be a little more general."
• The City Council voted to approve a plan to add more low-flush toilets the city.
• Officials recognized April as National Library Month and encouraged locals to visit their local libraries. They also recognized April as National Donate Life Month and encouraged locals to become organ donors.