The final chapter of Redondo’s nearly five-month election period comes to a close Tuesday, July 23, as voters choose either Dawn Esser or Steve Diels to be their treasurer. The final two candidates have vastly different ideas about the role the treasurer should play, and their debate has rippled through community conversations in the lead-up to Tuesday’s election.
Some people agree with Esser that the treasurer should continue to work full-time, not only because he or she identifies and manages income-earning investments but also because it is the treasurer’s job to provide independent oversight as part of a system of checks and balances governing City Hall.
“As the most qualified candidate, I am ready to serve as Treasurer in the capacity the Redondo voters want,” Esser wrote in a mass email to voters. “Currently that is a full-time, active, daily management and oversight role.”
Others, however, agree with Diels that the office costs too much money and that its duties can be delegated elsewhere. Diels wants to reduce the treasurer’s salary from $116,000 to $25,000 and to “remove the full-time requirement” from the job description.
“Our huge $116,000 Treasurer’s salary is among the highest in California,” Diels wrote in campaign literature. “Our Mayor earns $12,000 per year. Manhattan Beach pays its Treasurer $12,000, to manage the same size investment portfolio as Redondo Beach. Hermosa Beach pays $25,000 to its Treasurer. Redondo Beach City employees have taken a pay cut. The Redondo Beach Treasurer should too.”
Changing the treasurer’s job description would require an amendment of the city’s charter, an action that would not go before voters until the next round of elections. That could take place after the incoming treasurer’s term expires.
Ernie O’Dell, who recently resigned from an 18 year career as the city’s treasurer, believes the position should be full-time because it exists to balance the power scales at City Hall.
“When the charter was set up, there were three elected officials – the city attorney, city clerk, and city treasurer – and they were meant to keep the city manager from having total control.”
He believes this is one of the principal ways the treasurer’s role diverges from that of the finance director.
“The finance director is actually one of the employees of the city and can be hired and fired at will,” O’Dell said. “The city treasurer works for the people and can’t be fired, so he can have an independent view and speak out about issues and not worry about being fired.”
Diels said he is not aiming to compromise the independence of the treasurer’s office.
“I do not propose reducing any of the treasurer’s functions,” Diels said. “The oversight role is extremely important; the watchdog role is critical. I think that’s one of the highest values we have in an elected treasurer. I just don’t think we need to pay someone $116,000 to do [the job].
“To ensure proper oversight is actually done you can hire that out or do it internally, or use personnel from different departments. There’s a whole lot of ways to get that done.”
Like O’Dell, Esser believes these are functions that should remain under the jurisdiction of the treasurer.
“I want to maintain the integrity of the office and maintain those three functions [of fiduciary manager, tax administrator, and independent watchdog] and my opponent wants to transfer those revenue and expense duties over to the budget and finance office underneath the city manager,” she said. “He would have to do that to be able to make the salary cut he’s talking about. I’m not in agreement that these functions should be transferred to the city manager.”
O’Dell said historically, the treasurer’s office acted as a counterweight to the city manager’s office. He also said staffing cuts have forced it in a different direction.
“When I first got elected 18 years ago, the treasurer’s department was quite a different thing than it is today,” he said.
At the time of his election in 1995, the treasurer’s office encompassed a treasurer and deputy, plus two accountants, an auditor, a cashier, and several licensing department staff. In June 2005, the council voted to reduce staff numbers by two-thirds.
“Because of that, the city manager has taken over a lot of the city treasurer’s responsibilities and put them under the finance director,” O’Dell said.
City Manager Bill Workman said the treasurer and finance director continue to maintain a separation of duties, which ensures “safety of public money and conformance with accounting standards and law.”
He believes the reorganization to which O’Dell is referring was a “wise decision” taken by the City Council in 2005.
The reorganization, Workman said, “supported the integrity of an independent City Treasurer within the requirements of the City Charter but importantly brought the City back into conformance with rigorous governmental finance and accounting standards.”
“We were respectful to ensure the integrity of the City Treasurer’s office but at the same time, the Charter is actually subservient to state and federal law and I had to first make sure that I was going to make sure our accounting and financial and operational practices were in conformance with state and federal law as well as accounting standards.”
Workman said today the city’s financial management is “excellent,” and as evidence of that pointed to the 2013 Los Angeles County Grand Jury report, which assigns the city a number one ranking among 88 cities for governance and financial best practices.
Tuesday’s election marks the last phase of a cycle that began in earnest with a general election on March 5, which spawned a May 21 run-off for the offices of mayor and three councilmembers.
The treasurer’s race was the only one that necessitated yet another run-off. None of the three candidates garnered a majority in the election that was called when O’Dell resigned on Dec. 4, after being elected in March of last year to a fifth term. He has come under fire for resigning early, but is firm that he stepped down for health and personal reasons.
While the final run-off on Tuesday involves mailed-in ballots only, printing costs still exceed $160,000, according to City Clerk Eleanor Manzano.
