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GCSD General Manager's Annual Performance Review
2010-03-05
This Monday, at 9 AM the Board of Directors will convene a public
meeting at the GCSD Offices at 18966 Ferretti Road. The public
will have an opportunity to comment on General Manager Jim Goodrich's
performance. Later in the meeting, the Directors will go
into closed session to conduct the performance review, which includes
what the pay and benefits for the General Manager shall be for the
year ahead. Currently the General Manager's contract has 2 years
left on it; however, annually the Board determines what the pay shall
be for the year ahead.
Members of the public may be motivated to comment about this matter at
the beginning of the meeting this Monday. As one of the Board
members, I am always interested in hearing the comments of the public.
I think it is important for the public to know what the total
compensation package consists of for GCSD's GM, not just base pay.
It is also worthwhile to compare his pay to similar, relevant
management positions elsewhere.
First, here is a summary of the GM's pay and benefits (rounded to
nearest $1k):
$126,000 Base Pay
$22,000 Retirement
Contribution (paid entirely by GCSD)
$10,000 Annual Car
Allowance
~$14,000 Other Benefits (see
below) - present value cost/yr.
$172,000 Total annual cost
of GM's pay and benefits.
Estimated present value annual cost of other benefits includes a $4000
/ yr. lifetime supplemental Medicare given a 20 year lifespan after
age 65, plus a life insurance policy. The compensation above
does not include the accelerated vesting to qualify for early
retirement benefits included in the GM's contract. That
accelerated vesting alone is worth $1000's of dollars per year, and
is, in actuality, a cost to the District.
Last year I called TUD (Tuolumne Utility District) to ascertain the
pay for their GM. He gets the same base pay as our GM, and has
less benefits in total. The TUD GM runs a district with 7 TIMES
more customers, a much more complex water distribution and sewer
collections system, and does it at lower cost per customer.
Our County Chief Operation Officer is bounded by a pay schedule that
tops out at $135,000 base pay with benefits NOT more generous than
that which our GM gets. He oversees a diverse organization with
a budget in the HUNDREDS of MILLIONS of dollars per year, while the
sum total of GCSD operations is less than TEN MILLION dollars.
With regard to the information I have compiled and considering the
economic times we are living in, I can in NO WAY support any increase
in the GM's pay or compensation, even if his performance is rated well
by the other Directors.
Furthermore, I cannot see how our tiny District can afford so much
management overhead. The other 3 salaried at-will employees at
GCSD (Fire Chief, Finance Administrator, and Engineer) all have total
compensation packages that well exceed $100,000 each per year, such
that the total cost of the top 4 employees at GCSD approaches $600,000
per year.
While I am not suggesting that all 4 of the highest paid employees are
over-paid, I do believe that something has to give here. My
suggestion is that the authority for setting pay and compensation for
all salaried employees should be returned to the Board of Directors.
Currently the Board only reviews the GM's contract. The GM has
authority over the other salaried employee contracts.
The current General Manager, Mr. Jim Goodrich, has informed Board
members and other members of the public that his retirement is
imminent within the next year or two. It's not too early for
GCSD's Board, as well as other concerned citizens, to start
considering what to do when Mr. Goodrich, whom I consider an able
manager in many respects, does retire.
When Mr. Goodrich came on board a few years ago, the District was NOT
in good shape. Now it is much better organized and is operating
fairly well. I believe there is room for improvement, as there
nearly always is in any organization. I continue to believe that
we have significant opportunities to reduce costs. There will be
much more on this in the year to come.
One area people often point to for reducing costs is with management
overhead. Now that GCSD has a competent full-time engineer who
has been granted a significant amount of management authority, I
believe that, after Mr. Goodrich retires, the District can get by with
a part-time or a shared General Manager. In the case of a
part-time GM, we might reduce his cost by as much as half. Where
GCSD shares a GM with another District (say with Don Pedro, for
example), again, we could again save as much as half.
Others might have better ideas than what I have suggested. I,
for one, would like to hear any ideas that might help us better use
resources at GCSD. Please participate in GCSD meetings when you
have time. If you don't have time, you can call any Director to
discuss your thoughts. Often members of the public, as well as
members of the Board of Directors have made significant contributions
to improving operations at GCSD. For example, last year, both
the GM and myself, encouraged by other members of the public, made
significant changes to how we do business with our District Counsel,
saving tens of thousands of dollars per year.
I'm Steve Perreira, one of 5 Directors at GCSD. I can be reached
by telephone at 962 1808. You can email me at
steveperreira@yahoo.com.
Best regards, Steve Perreira |
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