Hermosa Beach won’t outsource parking duties
The Hermosa Beach City Council voted 3-2 against moving to outsource the community services division that maintains the parking meters in town. Mayor Pro Tem Kit Bobko spearheaded the initiative, introducing the proposal to outsource in June and saying at Tuesday’s council meeting there’s no harm in taking a look at competing offers. Mayor Jeff Duclos and council members Howard Fishman and Peter Tucker voted against inviting private companies to bid on the services. Council member Mike DiVirgilio and Bobko supported sending out requests for proposals. DiVirgilio said outsourcing the department was “not my favorite idea.” But DiVirgilio added, “No one else is offering a solution.” Since the city staff level has been reduced from 144 to 125 over the last several years, the quality of service has also been reduced, DiVirgilio said. Seeing that the outsourcing proposal was failing Tuesday, DiVirgilio floated the idea of a 5 percent cut in salaries across the board to raise about $750,000 to pay for more staff, including three police officers and 4-6 other staff positions. Fishman said the city ought to move on replacing coin-operated meters with credit card-accepting parking meters…
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