State of the City Speech
March 24, 2011
Mayor James T. Butts, Jr.
I want to express my thanks and gratitude to each of you in attendance here today, as well to all Inglewood residents and members of the Inglewood/Airport Area Chamber of Commerce for inviting me to speak with you to share my views on the State of our City.
I also want the acknowledge some of the key individuals in City government whose dedication and hard work is crucial to our future. First, my colleagues on the City Council: Council Members Judy Dunlap, Eloy Morales, Jr., and from the Great Fourth District Council Member Ralph Franklin. Also present today are City Treasurer Wanda Brown and City Clerk Yvonne Horton. I want to give special recognition to Yvonne Horton. Throughout this last year of political instability, she and her staff have provided confidence and stability in their conduct of the numerous elections required to comport with the City’s Charter. I have great admiration and respect for the integrity and competence of the City Clerk and her staff. Thank you for your service Yvonne.
On January 11th, the citizens of Inglewood honored me by selecting me to be the 12th mayor of our City. I am humbled by their decision and am deeply confident of my ability to lead our city toward better times. So, to the entire Inglewood community I say, “Thank You!”
I won’t be giving a flowery, feel good speech today. Frankly, this politician thing is still relatively new to me. You see, I’m a leader by DNA and executive administrator by experience and training, which means that I believe in getting to the point. So, what I am going to do this afternoon is discuss three basic areas that I intend to focus a great deal of time on during the next 12 months. Those areas are Fiscal Solvency, Public Safety, and Unified City Leadership.
Some of you know me very well having worked with me anywhere from 5, 10, or even 20 years. Some of you know of me from the news or through word of mouth. A few of you, even at this point, know very little about me. So, let me take this time to share a little bit about my background and qualifications and how they relate to my approach and philosophy as it pertains to serving you as Mayor.
I have a great deal of history when it comes to the City of Inglewood. In 1972, at the age of 19, I became a Community Service Officer and moved in to my first apartment on Inglewood Avenue near Venice Way. After I graduated the academy, I moved to the then new Sun Gardens apartments at the corner of Oak and Regent Street.
I want you to know that I am committed to making sure that the City remains solvent and ultimately, prosperous. As your Mayor, I will insist that our City Council remain focused on doing whatever is necessary to allow this municipal corporation to recover and thrive. I say municipal corporation because, that is what we are. My education is in business, I hold a Bachelor of Science and Masters in Business Administration. Looking at the current state of our financial profile, Inglewood would be well-served to adopt some of the common-sense business practices that your companies follow on a daily and long-term basis.
In the past, Inglewood, like many cities throughout California, has made financial decisions that produced long-term consequences. One of the consequences of those decisions is that our public service business model is unsustainable in a recessionary environment, which is characterized by a weak stock market and low investment yields. Throughout 2010, City leaders made a number of very difficult decisions that were necessary to allow Inglewood to continue to function as a City.
Over the past 14 months, the City of Inglewood has been in a constant state of change. We’ve had four mayor pro-tems, three different city managers, four mayoral elections, two councilmanic elections, and technically, three different mayors -- all in one year! And, we still have one more councilmanic election to go next month. Now, can you imagine a 100 million dollar private sector company going through such chaotic change in the upper echelons of its leadership? This type of instability would certainly be frowned upon by investors in the business world. With office holder continuity now established, we have already moved forward to regain the confidence of our citizens, employees, business community, and developers.
As was reported in the previous State of the City address, this time last year the City became aware of the fact that the 2009-2010 fiscal year budget contained an annual operating deficit in its General Fund of over $13 million. Inglewood’s General Fund is the main source of money from which various core services like public safety, recreational programs, libraries, tree trimming operations, and general government are financed. While I won’t go into all of the details of a specific numerical analysis, suffice it to say, deficits are bad while surpluses are good.
We were able to get though the 2009-2010 fiscal year, by using certain restricted reserve funds, similar to monies in your various savings accounts, to make up the difference between our revenues and our monthly operating expenditures. In essence, we’ve been spending more than what we make, but used our savings to make up the difference. You cannot continue to spend more than you take in, because at some point your reserves will be depleted. This was the challenge confronting the City a year ago. During that time, our reserves dwindled from $28.8 million to $11.2 million. That is a decrease of nearly $18 million in just twelve months. With respect to the broader economic downturn, it was projected that City revenues would decline another $3.2 million by September 30, 2010. Due to budgetary miscalculations, an already tenuous budget position was further aggravated resulting in an increase in our operating deficit from $13.4 million dollars to $17.6 million dollars at the end of the fiscal year.
Since personnel costs represent approximately 80% of General Fund expenditures, it became apparent that we could not address the deficit without taking a serious look at reducing the size of our workforce. The City Council and staff initiated a rigorous review of staffing levels throughout the organization. This work began under the direction of the Acting City Manager at the time, Mr. Sheldon Curry, and was refined, finalized, and implemented under the guidance of our current City Manager, Mr. Mark Weinberg.
The Council eventually approved a plan to address the deficit that included reducing the cost of contract services, creating new revenues, eliminating General Fund subsidies of other funds and assessment districts, and, most critically, reducing personnel costs. As we sit here today, further personnel cost reductions will be required to fully address the deficit issue until we can grow our revenues through business growth and economic development. In the fall of 2010, the City Council took the extraordinary action of declaring a fiscal (financial) emergency and implemented a “workforce reduction plan” to shrink the size of our organization.
Six months into this fiscal year, I am pleased to report to you that political courage, strong leadership and management, and a collective will has borne excellent results. Following more than 70 negotiation sessions with six separate bargaining units under the capable stewardship of Assistant City Manager Michael Falkow and Jack Hoffman, wage and benefit concessions equal to approximately 10% were achieved from all full-time employees, largely in the form of furloughs.
In an act of solidarity and shared sacrifice, the Mayor, Council Members, City Clerk, and City Treasurer also volunteered to reduce our salaries commensurately. For good measure, consultants and contractors, vendors, and other City business partners have been asked to reduce their service charges by 10%, and nearly all have complied.
In addition to curbing current personnel costs, we have looked toward the future by starting to reduce unfunded liabilities related to employee retirement and health care costs. In the bargaining agreements reached with the unions, new employees will pay part of the costs associated with these benefits.
Let me say that, on behalf of the entire City Council, we greatly appreciate their sacrifice. Their labor concessions are projected to result in a $7.7 million savings during the current 2010-2011 fiscal year. Please join me in giving our employees a round of applause.
Now, as can be expected, we can’t reduce the size of our workforce without impacting our ability to provide the level of service to which you and our residents have grown accustomed. While we have worked hard to maintain our core services, the need to cut costs and bring expenses in line with revenues has resulted in a number of service reductions. These include reduced library hours and recreational programs and decreases in personnel assigned to perform beautification and maintenance services. After a comprehensive review, the Council made the extremely difficult decision to temporarily close one of four fire stations located in the City. Since we contract for fire services through Los Angeles County, we are able to benefit from the other county fire stations located near Inglewood that are available to provide coverage for our residents and businesses. Although one Inglewood station was closed, we decided to keep its paramedic unit and reassign it to a nearby station located within the City. While this closure did not significantly impact overall fire responsiveness in the City, it did create a cost savings of about $2.5 million annually on our fire services contract. This effectively means that our annual contract cost of approximately $12.9 million has been reduced to around $10.4 million.
As a result of our cost reduction efforts, I am pleased to report that we have made significant progress in closing the $17.6 million budget gap. We are currently conducting a comprehensive organizational budget review, and although the final numbers are still being tabulated, we feel fairly certain that the deficit has been reduced by about half.
So our effort to readjust our organization to squeeze out additional cost savings and improve efficiencies continues. So far, we have made difficult but necessary decisions to stabilize our financial situation and improve our fiscal health. I want to assure the business community and our residents that I am committed to taking deliberate, pragmatic, and decisive actions to eliminate the remaining budgetary imbalance. I anticipate that there will be additional consolidation of services, which will include the exploration of Public-Private Partnerships. That is the new euphemism for contracting for services formerly provided by in-house staff.
What the future holds for Inglewood
Let me say unequivocally that the City of Inglewood will get through these challenging times. We will do so because all of us—residents, businesses, and government—will work together to move our community on toward better times. In the short- to medium-term, local government may not have the same look or size that we are used to seeing, but our primary goal of protecting core services and attracting new business and quality revenue-generating development will not be deterred. One reason that I am confident of this is because of the interest in our community expressed by prominent businesses and individuals. For example, in the six weeks I have been your mayor, both the owner and the president of the Madison Square Garden Corporation (a billion-dollar entity) on three occasions have flown to Inglewood to further negotiations in their quest to purchase, renovate, and operate the Forum as a concert venue once again. If such an acquisition were to occur, it would be a very positive step for the community.
The multi-billon dollar Hollywood Park Tomorrow development project is still moving forward and reflects a continued interest and willingness to invest in Inglewood on the part of prominent businesses.
The improvement of the Century Boulevard thoroughfare is also a high priority on my to-do list. This is because Century Boulevard, with its existing retail centers and additional planned developments, is connected to a major transportation hub that brings billions of dollars to the region -- the Los Angeles International Airport. We have to take advantage of the opportunities presented by our proximity to this world-class facility and improve our transportation infrastructure in order to funnel some of those dollars into Inglewood.
A few weeks ago, I was set to travel to Washington, D.C. on my first lobbying trip and discuss Inglewood’s needs with our congressional delegation and various Federal agencies. However, as you might have heard, the State of California is attempting to dissolve local redevelopment agencies. The Village at Century that contains Bed Bath and Beyond, Chili’s, Red Lobster, all sales tax producers --- Redevelopment Funds. Improvements at the Regent Towers Senior Citizens Housing Facility, which improves the quality of life for our seniors --- Redevelopment Funds. And, just last week, the City Council unanimously approved a new 145-unit affordable workforce housing project that will include an onsite, after-school learning center, childcare facility, computer center, pool, and tot lot. This project, which will increase the supply of quality, affordable housing opportunities in Inglewood, would not be possible were it not for the availability of redevelopment housing set-aside funds.
I don’t know what other redevelopment agencies are doing with their funds, but I can tell you that Inglewood’s Redevelopment Agency is putting Inglewood Property Tax increment dollars to good use. Our redevelopment funds are used to remove blight, improve housing, and make Inglewood a better community in which to live and invest. Because the State is once again attempting to take local resources to address their budget problems, my colleagues and I had to meet in several emergency sessions to attempt to protect our ability to continue to remove blight from the City and improve the quality of life, shopping, and employment opportunities in Inglewood.
Public safety is crucial to improving the quality of life in our City and to establishing an image that increases business confidence in Inglewood. Toward that end, I want to acknowledge the fantastic work that Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks, Captains Fronterotta, Irvine, and Sissac, and the men and women of the Inglewood Police Department have done in dealing with difficult situations, both internal and external to the Department. In spite of numerous challenges, our police department remains focused on its mission of protecting lives and property.
The fact that they’re doing a good job is evidenced by the latest annual crime statistics. Last year, overall crime dropped significantly, by 14 percent. What’s really interesting is that crime decreased in nearly every major reporting category. This included decreases in homicides, robberies, aggravated assaults, burglaries, larceny, auto thefts, and arson. In fact, last year’s incidence of crime was at its lowest level in over 32 years! These are the kinds of results that businesses should appreciate and that residents definitely deserve. I strongly believe that public safety is an important part of establishing a healthy, prosperous community. It represents the foundation of restoring confidence in our City’s future. We have refined our enforcement strategy for 2011 to focus on gangs, gang-related assaults, and the suppression of robberies and burglaries. We will stress prevention, intervention, and enforcement in dealing with the gang situation. But let me make this perfectly clear, there will be no tolerance from this day forward for crimes of violence perpetrated by gangs in this City. I will do everything possible to provide the Department with the resources and direction it requires to accomplish this task. Please join me in giving our police department a round of applause.
I am a committed, dedicated, and driven person. But, I fully recognize that I can’t do this by myself. I need the guidance and support of all Inglewood residents. I need the collaboration and cooperation of the City Council. I also need a permanent, solidified City workforce with high morale to carry out our policy directives. City employees are what turn General Fund dollars into the services received by residents and businesses.
Excluding the Police Department and City Attorney’s Office, the City of Inglewood has eight operating departments. Half of those departments do not have a permanent department director managing their operations. There are vacancies in the top levels of our executive management ranks. And while we continue to benefit from the efforts of a dedicated workforce, it troubles me to see that City Hall has lost a number of individuals who possess the “institutional knowledge” that is of unquestioned value to all successful organizations.
Given everything that I’ve just said, another of my top priorities is getting critical positions in the City filled with permanent employees. There is no more critical a position to be filled than that of City Manager. While we expect to conduct our first round of interviews to fill this position very soon, I want to tell you that we have been well-served by the selection of Mark Weinberg to temporarily fill the City Manager position while we continue our recruitment efforts. Mark formerly held the City’s top administrative spot during an over 25-year career with the City of Inglewood. He came out of retirement to help us through this challenging period. One of the first actions I took when I assumed office was to convince him to stay on for up to 6 additional months while we stabilize our financial situation. He is an intelligent, no-nonsense person and a perfect role model for the staff we currently have and the management team we are building. He is a consummate professional, a gentleman, and a close friend. Mark, thank you very much for your continued leadership.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I want you to clearly understand that in spite of all of the challenges faced by our City, state, and country, I am extremely confident and optimistic about the future of our City. Government will be smaller, leaner, and must, by necessity, increase overall efficiency. Our institutions and actions will be more transparent and responsive to the desires of its residents --- which is a good thing. I pledge to work hard to restore responsible and respectable leadership in the City of Inglewood. This includes being a catalyst for a more dignified legislative process where civility and collaboration among our leaders is the norm rather than the exception to the rule. I am committed to integrating progressive business practices within our governmental operations. Not out of desire, but rather out of necessity, because the ways of the past are no longer applicable to achieving a healthy, prosperous future. If we are to thrive as a community, we must adapt to the changing economic conditions that confront us.
As I campaigned in neighborhoods throughout the City, residents indicated that they wanted a fresh approach to the way the City worked and responded to their needs. I am continuing to work hard everyday to give them exactly what they asked for.
I am, above all else, committed to a complete break from the “business as usual” way of thinking and acting. I am devoted to renewing a spirit of hope and optimism that is essential to facilitating success. I’m focused on instilling a "sense of urgency" throughout every City department when it comes to responding to residents and customers because I want people treated in the same manner those employees would want their own family members and friends treated. Inglewood’s residents expect and demand that the Mayor, the City Council, and all City employees recognize that all of us are servants of the people.
For any of you that have observed City Council meetings in the last few years, there may have been many occasions where the interaction between the Council members were not where we wanted it to be. Well, I want to be a catalyst to take some the “excitement” out of our meetings, and instead, focus on doing the people’s business. Council meetings are not a reality show, and they are not a campaign platform. Rather, they are the people’s business meetings. In that regard, I’m trying to lead by example and conduct myself and our meetings in a way that is respectful of the public, to City staff, and my colleagues on the City Council. Given the list of challenges confronting Inglewood, we have little time to waste on actions that are counterproductive to the goal that we all should share --- that of improving the progress, image, and stability of our community.
If we all work together, Inglewood will achieve the stability, safety, productivity and prosperity that our citizens expect and deserve. I am grateful to the residents for expressing their confidence in me to lead this City. With their continued support and guidance, I have no doubt that I can lead us toward a better tomorrow.
Thank you very much.
POEM:
DON'T QUIT
by Edgar A. Guest
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
when the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
when the funds are low and the debts are high,
and you want to smile but you have to sigh,
when care is pressing you down a bit - rest if you must,
but don't you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns
as every one of us sometimes learns.
And many a fellow turns about when he might have won had he stuck it out.
Don't give up though the pace seems slow - you may succeed with another blow.
Often the goal is nearer than it seems to a faint and faltering man;
often the struggler has given up when he might have captured the victor's cup;
and he learned too late when the night came down,
how close he was to the golden crown.
Success is failure turned inside out - the silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
and when you never can tell how close you are,
it may be near when it seems afar;
so stick to the fight when you're hardest hit - it's when things seem worst,
you must not quit.
