At the special council meeting, the council chambers were standing room-only and the tension could be cut with a knife. Speaker after speaker told the council how important it was to preserve the fiscal sustainability of the city, control runaway salary and benefits costs, reform public employee pensions, and let the voters have a chance to decide these critical issues.

In the end, only four of 39 speakers wanted to protect the status quo. The council action paves the way for an Aug. 30 mail-in ballot special election.

Read The Tribune article on last night’s meeting. Click here for Councilmember Andrew Carter’s slide show on the growth of pension costs.

It will take highly concentrated, coordinated and well-funded grass-roots political action to spread the word on the need for binding arbitration repeal.

The police and fire unions, among the most powerful and well-funded political entities in the state, will likely pull out all the stops to defeat the reform measures. They have the advantage of having an army of off-duty firefighters (who get at least four days off a week) to carry their message door-to-door.

The future viability of the city depends on whether or not concerned citizens rise to the challenge. Want to help in this effort? Click here to sign up.  

The nationwide search to find a new Chamber President/CEO has begun. The new Chamber executive will replace current President/CEO Dave Garth who’s retiring July 1.

A search committee comprised of seven past Chamber board chairs and current Chair of the Board Michael Gunther will review the applications and make recommendations to the Board of Directors, who will then make the final decision.

The committee is anxious to hear from members who have ideas about the type of person who would be best suited for the job.

Click here to provide input by taking a quick two-minute survey.

Cities throughout the state of California have come to the realization that paying anyone 90 percent of their highest year’s salary for the rest of their life starting at age 50 is fiscally unsound and completely unsustainable. Of the roughly 20 cities that had binding arbitration in California, many have either repealed it, restricted it or are considering a move to do so.

Last November in San Jose, 66 percent of the voters said “yes” to a measure that severely restricts the process and potential awards of binding arbitration even though the police and fire unions spent more than $800,000 to defeat it. Stockton voters successfully passed a measure to completely eliminate binding arbitration from its charter this past November.

The political environment and fiscal conditions of cities and states has completely changed since these benefit packages were first approved. Interestingly, an obscure provision of San Luis Obispo’s City Charter says that pension benefits can only be increased, but not decreased, by the city council without a vote of the people. Wonder how that got in the charter?

A council majority took a huge step last night by agreeing to agendize a possible move to put binding arbitration and the city’s ability to make pension reductions on the June ballot. The issue was brought forth by Councilmember Andrew Carter and supported by council members Dan Carpenter and Kathy Smith (Ashbaugh, Marx, no). City staff will now develop a staff report with various options to be discussed at a special meeting next Tuesday evening.

The San Luis Obispo City Council made some truly historic decisions at a daylong workshop Saturday by identifying economic development as a major city goal for the 2011-2013 budget cycle. This goal – which was determined after extensive input from residents, community groups and city advisory bodies – was the top vote getter among council members, tied with “preservation of essential services and fiscal health.”

These top goals – the only two the Chamber advocated for – signal a council that appears ready to embrace the changes needed to preserve the current high standard of city service. These represent the highest priority goals for the city to accomplish over the next two years, and as such, resources to accomplish them will most likely be included in the 2011-2013 Financial Plan.