Excerpts from Mike Feely; Beachcomber News: Two proposed ordinances took up the majority of discussion this past Tuesday night as council – and the audience – debated the merits of both. The elephant in the room was the proposed revised salary ordinance that was being introduced at the request of City Manager Jennifer Blumenthal.
The proposed ordinance drew debate between members of council as well as the audience which was made up by many of the fire, police and beach patrol departments. PBA President Rich DeLeon, Firefighter President Tom Bordonaro, and Lifeguard Vince Sera took members of council to task over the unresolved question of the future of the Public Safety Director (PSD) position and the unfilled positions of police, fire and beach patrol chiefs.
DeLeon specifically asked each member of council for their position on the PSD position. Mayor Guenther confirmed his opposition, and members of the Democratic majority stated their open-minded positions with Councilman DeLucry requesting facts from the unions. Guenther and DeLucry got into their usual debate with Guenther asking DeLucry to limit his comments.
“If you don’t like the length of my message, you can get up and leave,” DeLucry told Guenther – also saying, “You can make up any rules you want, but I am not going to (respect) them.
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