Responding to a wave of criticism, the city of Manhattan Beach announced that it would not be filling the four new positions it created about a month ago in an email sent out Tuesday morning.
“In the past several weeks, since I brought forward the recommendation to add three new positions and reinstate one position, I have had the opportunity to receive and solicit feedback from the Community,” said City Manager Mark Danaj in the email. “As your new City Manager and a member of the community, I value this input and as a result, I have decided not to fill the positions.”
Danaj had proposed adding the positions at the Oct. 7 council meeting. The jobs included an economic development director, a communications/civic engagement manager, an information technology director and an assistant director of finance. They would have cost $847,700 annually. The council approved them 4-1, with Councilmember David Lesser dissenting.
Residents were immediately critical.
“What will we not be able to afford because we’re paying for these people?” asked resident Faith Lyons at that meeting. “Will we be able to afford a skate park? I don’t know. Will we be able to replace our sewer lines when they deteriorate because they’re aging?”
Danaj defended his proposal, saying that the creation of these jobs had been discussed with him as part of his recruitment process earlier this year.
In response to the negative feedback, the city debuted a new website with its financial data and instituted a quarterly budget update at the Nov. 5 council meeting. However, these measures were met with more backlash and left the councilmembers arguing over how to pay for the positions.
After that meeting, Mayor Wayne Powell had a link installed on the city’s homepage to the state comptroller’s website, which has detailed salary information for city employees. A link to the city’s new financial website, OpenGov, was also added to the top of the homepage.
Powell said in an email last week that he planned to make a motion to “revisit” the positions at today’s council meeting, although Danaj’s announcement appeared to preempt that motion.
In today’s email, Danaj said he would suggest a new “community budget process” for the council’s consideration in January. Included would be a community survey and community budget priority setting sessions.
