Ms. Wayne's Unsatisfactory Job Performance

By Charles W. Hughes

This paper provides an analysis of City Council agendas over the last 4 years to demonstrate the incumbent's failure to perform her elected duties in a satisfactory manner.

Oceanside Municipal Code, section 2.1.15, states that "as soon as possible after each meeting, the city clerk shall furnish a copy of the minutes to each council member, the city manager, city attorney, and any other individuals designated by the city manager." This legal responsibility is not being met by the incumbent and it is time for a change.

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For the last several years Ms. Wayne's outside activities and interests, unrelated to her duties as City Clerk, have caused her to spend a significant amount of time away from the office. The City Clerk Department has a very capable staff and much of the work can go on without her direct involvement. However, when there were issues that required her attention or decisions that she needed to make, it would sometimes take weeks or even months before she would devote the time necessary to get these matters resolved. Personnel issues, budget expenditures and records management decisions have all suffered from her neglect.

The best example of Ms. Wayne's unsatisfactory job performance is the backlog of City Council minutes. Whether Ms. Wayne attended the Council meeting or I did, she required that she personally edit the drafts of all minutes prior to submitting them to Council for approval. The problem with this procedure is Ms. Wayne's failure to do her part and edit the minutes in a timely manner. There are draft sets of minutes that have been waiting 2 to 3 years for Ms. Wayne's review and edit. At one point during Ms. Wayne's current term of office there was a backlog of over 150 meetings where the minutes had not been approved. Never in the City's 116 year history has there been a backlog like this of unapproved minutes.

An examination of Ms. Wayne's job performance with the City Council minutes for the first 7 months of 2004 (prior to the beginning of the election season) is representative of the problems involved. Minutes are submitted for approval to the City Council at its regular business meetings held on the first and third Wednesdays of each month. Agendas for all City Council meetings are posted on the City's website and agendas for the regular business meetings, under the consent calendar, show when minutes are being submitted and when they are not. Through July of this year the City Council has held 12 regular business meetings, and minutes were submitted for approval or acceptance at only 8 of these meetings or 66% of the time. There were no minutes submitted to the City Council at the January 7th, April 21st, May 5th, or June 2nd meetings. During the times of these meetings the City Clerk's office was at full staff. There were no vacancies and no one was on sick leave for an extended period of time.

If you review the agendas on the website and apply the same analysis to the first 3 years of Ms. Wayne's current term, you will see a range of 30% to 52% of the time when no minutes were being submitted to the City Council for approval. In 2001, 13 out of 30 meetings (43% of the time) no minutes were submitted; in 2002, 15 out of 29 meetings (52% of the time) no minutes were submitted; and in 2003, 7 out of 23 meetings (30% of the time). During this same period of time, the department's legislative services program had a staff of 6 full-time employees and a budget ranging from $471,215 to $494,170. In other words, the department had the resources needed to get the job done. The overriding cause for the backlog of City Council minutes is that 30% to 52% of the time Ms. Wayne was not doing the job she was elected to do.

It's time for a change. For commitment, experience and accountability, vote Charles Hughes, Oceanside City Clerk.