For the Record Gazette

It wasn't that many years ago when the hue and cry to keeping employees in the public sector was to compare salaries with the private sectors. “Oh, we will lose them to the private sector,” was heard throughout city, county, state and federal offices. And the salaries in the public sector kept going up while the private sector struggled to keep healthcare insurance, some kind of retirement benefits and whatever else goes into those delectable “bene” packages.

No, “bene” in this case, is not a drug. It is the sought after “benefits” package coveted by just about every public sector employee. The numbers have juxtaposed themselves to where more people are aiming for careers in the public vs. private sector. First, if not foremost, there is incredible job security! Have you tried to fire an employee in the public sector lately? Don't bother; with or without cause. Other than being convicted as an axe murderer, it is most difficult to leverage out a public sector employee. If you can't fire them, sometimes superiors are able to (read forced to) offer incredible, and at times not deserved, severance packages.

I overheard a conversation at a recent city council meeting in another city. I was familiar with the players, so I paid particular interest to the conversation. A senior department director had been “encouraged” to take an early retirement. There were hundreds of thousands of dollars involved; including such significant items, as insurance and more, included in the settlement package. A councilmember responded by saying, expensive as it was, it was still cheaper to rid the city of this employee once and for all. Hum.

Then there is the gravy train of retirementŠ. PERS (Public Employees Retirement System). While many employees may have earned the right to their pensions, did you know that cities and counties are “upside down” because the PERS contributions would render them bankrupt? You don't have to look any further than San Diego.

There's health insurance (often with choices of plans), as well as cars or car allowances for senior staff. The office cell phones/ Blackberry's should be part of the equipment and are. Next time you watch a city council meeting and you have the opportunity to look at the attorney's table, see where their hands areŠ. oft times under the table initiating or responding to text messages! I want a job where I can earn $300 per hour and get paid to do my email.



Okay, we've got substantial job security, retirement, health insurance and lots of other benefits. Did I mention some of the salaries earned by Banning department heads? Here are some examples: $124,198, $151,323 and $123,342. Those are the base salaries. The current city manager is/was being paid $180,460. It would surprise me if the soon-to-be-hired new city manager's salary isn't substantially over $200,000 + + +.

One would think receiving these decent (in some cases excessive salaries), department head(s) would be able to rein in their staff and take responsibility for what I have dubbed “the oops factor.” That's where there's a major screw up and nobody is willing to take ownership of it; ergo “oops.”

Whether it is a new clerk, middle-management or the director him/herself, at the end of the day, it is the responsibility of the director to make certain that everything that goes in/out of their departments is: timely and correct!

Not so this week! There was a special meeting of the Banning Planning Commission called for January 10, 2008. On it was an item about . . . . (Drum roll here) . . . Drag City. No, this is not a social commentary about life in Palm Springs; we're talking about the 7 years not-in-the-making Drag City raceway.

No comments forthcoming here about whether I: love, hate, don't care about the project. The fact is, the City Council turned down the project because the applicant hadn't met any of the milestones, which were part of the conditions of approval.

I understand this item was placed on the Special meeting of the Planning Commission's agenda at the request of our barristers in order to revoke the UUP. (Unclassified Use Permit). Now I ask you folksŠ. unclassified use permitŠ could anything be more vague? Thankfully, this is one of the last, if not the last projects from the old set of codes.

Okay, we have a high profile and sometimes contentious project known as Drag City. It has been sent away by the city council. The last bit of tailoring was to be done to create this nice, neatly sewn together legal package at a Special Planning Commission meeting. Right? (Can you feel the tension mounting?)

Well the Drag City item was pulled from the agenda because, for not the first time, the meeting was improperly noticed! I've seen this happen too often in Banning and guess whatŠ the applicant is the last to know.

Properly noticing a public meeting is not rocket science or brain surgery. It's a simple, easily doable, yet extremely important administrative task and it should be taken seriously. Apparently, judging by the number of times this has happened to planning commission and city council meetings, it isn't taken seriously. Could that be because there are no consequences to staff; except the egg in the face (which gets too quickly washed away) and the butt-saving “oops” factor?

If the money in a bank teller's drawer is not correct, he/she will have to make it right. Is a city employee held accountable for the thousands of dollars it needlessly costs an applicant because of incompetence on the part of a city employee not properly noticing a meeting?

Every time one of these “oopses” happens, I am embarrassed for the city I live in. It just doesn't send us to the front of the line, competence-wise. Each time this happens and it is attributed as a clerical error, I feel like I had just been put through the spin cycle of a washing machineŠ. again!

Now the Drag City project itself is a different story. Because three separate city council's approved it must mean that somebody saw something in it. I have heard compelling arguments on both sides of this issue. For the moment, I'll surprisingly keep my opinion to myself.

Drag City has been hanging around the City of Banning for seven years; 5 years of which I've been told was used to get approval from the FAA (Federal Aeronautics Administration).

Was the city's termination of Drag City premature? Possibly. To date, I have not been privy to any potential economic engines waiting in the wings that could create as much revenue for the city of Banning as Drag City claims they can.

As always, I am happy to hear your comments. Please email me at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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IN THE REAL WORD is written for the Record Gazette by Gail Paparian, a Banning resident for nearly six years, has served on Banning (and Riverside County) commissions and committees.
She currently serves on the following boards: Community Blood Bank, San Gorgonio Pass Rotary, San Gorgonio Pass Boys and Girls Club and a member of the Banning Economic Development Committee.
Gail and her husband Bill Paparian created a service called Writing Solutions in 1996. Gail has also written for a number of local and national magazines and newspapers over the years. Currently, she provides public relations consulting services for the Banning Unified School District. She can be reached at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .