Bits and Pieces

Oro Valley Firm Partners With Roche
Icagen, a North Carolina firm, has a research facilty in Oro Valley. They are partnering with Roche Pharmaceuticals to develop a product for neurological disorder treatment. "Under the terms of the agreement, Roche will make a cash upfront payment and provide research funding to Icagen. In addition, Icagen is eligible to potentially receive development and commercial milestone payments of up to $274 million and royalty payments should a drug be commercialized." (Source)

Native Grill Wings is closing
Native Grill Wings in Steam Pump Ranch Village has closed its doors. The result is another empty store front in Oro Valley and the loss of at least some sales tax revenue to the town.

Former Oro Valley HR Director Corbin to head Cottonwood government
Former Oro Valley HR Director Ron Corbin will be the City Manager of the Arizona town of Cottonwood. Corbin left Oro Valley a few years back to join his spouse. He joined Yuma city government where he rose to assistant town manager.  (source)

Beware Cottonwood: Corbin left his mark on Oro Valley.

He was one of the people responsible for a study that led to large salary increases that were granted Oro Valley employees in 2014.  He also "negotiated" the memorandum of understandings with our police department. There is an agreement over police salaries. This agreement is outside of other town staff salary schedules.

Oro Valley Town Council Considers Police Contract Wednesday

The Oro Valley Police Officer's Association ("OVPOA"), also known as "Town's Public Safety Employee Group" has negotiated  "... a 2-year MOU providing for full implementation of the Town's market study with step ownership on July 1, 2014, and step increases in both FY 2014/2015 and FY 2015/2016. "
(Source: Town Staff Corbin Report)


The Salary Scales Are Based On A Possibly Flawed Market Study

The "town's market study" is a study that compares Oro Valley employee salaries and wages in communities that are almost 3 times the size of Oro Valley. They are in Maricopa County.  That study concluded that Oro Valley employees are not paid comparable to these communities.

"The only new costs associated with this MOU are the proposed changes to the Police Pay Structure which were recommended by the Waters Consulting Group after they conducted the market study. The one-time cost of implementing the structure is approximately $500,000 and will be a part of the recommended 2014-2015 budget."

The $500,000 is about 6% of police direct pay personnel costs.

(Oro Valley's police budget for 2014 is $14.1 million. $13.8 million is from the general fund.  This is 48.1% of general fund expenditures.  Total town budget personnel costs are $25.1 million.  $19.7 million are supported by the general fund.  There are 134.1 full time equivalent employees in the police budget.  These employees receive approximately 74% of total budgeted personnel costs of $11.6 million.  So, pay to police employees is about $8.6 million. The added $500,000 one time adjustment proposed by the MOU is a 6% bump in pay.)
---
"Insiders" Negotiated The MOU

Four town employees, one of whom is a police commander, negotiated the agreement with four other town employees, who represent the union.

The MOU, which must be approved by council, defines the salaries, terms and conditions of the employment of the police.

Winners and Losers

For the police, reporting to council and then influencing the majority of council through endorsements are the two key ingredients for OVPOA negotiating success.

The OVPOA follows the playbook detailed in the text: "Police Union Power, Politics, and Confrontation in the 21st Century: New Challenges, New Issues."

The book instructs to support friendly candidates and to score incumbents based on how they voted in relation to union related matters.   A "B" or better warrants a continued endorsement.

According to the text, police union candidate support should go beyond endorsements.  The book speaks at length of providing media support to candidates, using PAC money, and providing manpower to a candidate's effort: "The reason firefighters have so much influence... is that they own the yard sign franchise...candidates are getting yard signs printed and, in many cases,  installed by fire fighters."

The book notes that the police department should expect the following:  "When you endorse a candidate... make sure to extract a price. This candidate needs you much more than you need him or her. Get this candidate's binding promise to support the pay raise, next collective bargaining agreement or whatever else is your top issue before you make the endorsement. Then remember to collect on the promise after the election."  (This from page 114 of the text)

Lack Of Independent Negotiation Is The Problem

So, you may ask: "Why is this a problem?" Unions, after all, have using these same tactics for years.  And, they have been successful in doing so.  In addition, it is their right to do so.

We agree.  Lack of independent negotiation is not a problem for the union, of course.  It is also not a problem for a town employee as long as they stand down from challenging the union.  The town's employees involved in the negotiations have good reason to avoid angering the OVPOA.  All they need to do is look to what happened to Town Manager David Andrews in 2010. (Read: Evil Trickster of Oro Valley).

It is a problem for the residents of Oro Valley.

It is a problem because, to this point, there has been group beholden to the people of Oro Valley who are negotiating on their behalf.

Our Analysis: A Sweet Deal For The Cops

That is the role of the town council.  In most instances that would be sufficient to represent the people. Not at this time however.

What will council do Wednesday night?  Here is our surmise:

The Majority-4 on council were endorsed by the OVPOA. They fawn publicly over anything police related.  They gush each time they mention the name of Oro Valley Police Chief Sharp.  They have yet to demonstrate that they will provide a critical eye to police operations and spending.

Only Council Member's Burns, Garner and Zinkin are independent of the police.  They were not endorsed by the police union.  In fact, OVPOA has actively complained against Council Member Zinkin, and has refused to talk with Council Member Burns.

The OVPOA has driven Oro Valley politics for years. It will continue to do so until voters elect council members who do not have the OVPOA "seal of approval."

Wednesday: "An Agreement Rich In Fringe Benefits"
---

OVPOA Goes to War On Council Member Zinkin

The Oro Valley Police Officers Association has declared war on Council Member Mike Zinkin. This is our conclusion based on a series of simple events in the past week.

The Facts

Earlier this month, Council Member Zinkin requested information regarding police overtime. He asked to receive a report regarding which program received overtime in each pay period. He did not ask for information by individual, just in total for each of the nine programs in the police budget.

Zikiin's request was made to Police Chief Sharp. Zinkin clarified what he wanted in an email to Town Manager Caton.  Click here to read both of these communications.

Somehow, the OVPOA was informed of the request. Marshall Morris, President of the OVPOA, wrote a 3 page memo dated September 16 to Ron Corbin, Oro Valley Human Resources Director. The memo attacked Zinkin's request.  Click here to read the OVPOA memo.

Our Analysis

The memo alleges the following:

• Zinkin asked for overtime slips of each employee.
  This is not the case. Zinkin did not ask for overtime slips by employee.  Zinkin specifically stated in his message to Chief Sharp that he did not want to see information by person.


• Zinkin asked for such information only for the police department and not for any other Oro Valley department.
  This is true.  The other departments do not report to the council. They report to the town manager; therefore, Zinkin did not request overtime information on those departments as they do not report to council. 


• Zinkin's request was targeted at commissioned officers.
  This is not true. It was asked in relation to 9 programs in the police budget, not by individual.


• Zinkin wants to monitor the overtime of commission personnel.
  As stated already, this is not what was requested.


• Zinkin is upset that the OVPOA found out about this request.
  If Zinkin is upset, he has a right to be so. He made the request to a department head, an individual who reports to council. The request was not made to OVPOA. In our opinion, someone deliberately passed the information to OVPOA,  a union that is not employed by the town of Oro Valley. Their being given this information is unethical on the part of the person who provided it to them.


• Zinkin has no confidence in Police Chief Sharp.
  Council Member Zinkin has never made such a statement.


• Zinkin has reason to accuse some officers of fraud and dishonesty when it comes to overtime.
  Zinkin has never made such an accusation.


• Zinkin is accusing all commissioned officers of collusion in committing overtime fraud.
  This assertion is absolutely without merit.  It is mere supposition, combined with imagination.  Zinkin has made no such accusation.


• Zinkin is attempting to reduce command staff in the police department.
  There is no evidence that Zinkin's request for overtime information could, in any way, relate to an attempt by Zinkin to reduce command staff.  In addition, Zinkin has never said that he is attempting to reduce command staff.


• "Through his actions, Council Member Mike Zinkin appears to have some unknown reason to undermine the efficient operations of the Town of Oro Valley Police Department, putting its employees and the residents of the Town of Oro Valley into unneeded danger."
  
How does a simple request regarding overtime put Oro valley residents in unneeded danger?

Questions Raised

Our reading of the OVPOA memo leads us to with some questions.

First, what is the intent of the OVPOA memo? Is it to intimidate Council Member Zinkin to prevent him from doing his elected job?  If so, then the OVPOA is trying to disuade Zinkin from doing what he was elected to do.  We hope not.  The job of the cops is to uphold the law; not to thwart it.

Second, is this memo is an example of the quality of the investigative prowess of the Oro Valley police?   We hope not.  The memo is factually incorrect. The memo is emotional. The memo presents illogical and presumptive conclusions.

Third, are there more people behind this sniping than the OVPOA?  We hope not.  OVPOA received the Zinkin request from someone in town hall.  Could this memo be a coordinated effort to impugn and discredit Council Member Zinkin?

Fourth, why is the police union coming down so hard on a simple request?   This OVPOA memo is way "over the top".  To paraphrase Shakespeare: OVPOA "...doth protest too much, methinks."

What do you think?

---

Northwest Conservatives Forum Incumbents Misstate The Facts On Oro Valley's Employee Wage Increases They Granted

Last week the Northwest Conservatives hosted a candidate forum at the Oro Valley library.  LOVE's John Musolf video recorded the event.  We posted in on YouTube for you to view.  You can access it at the top right panel of this blog.  This posting is first of several that we will post regarding the forum.
---
Incumbents Mayor Hiremath and Council Members Hornat, Snider and Waters either misstated the facts of simply obliquely responded when asked the following question at last week's Northwest Conservatives candidate forum.

"Lacking any evidence that the Town has difficulty retaining employees, the recently adopted salary increases were based on a study that compared Oro Valley to cities and counties with much larger populations. The increases are ongoing and also trigger increased retirement obligations for the Town. Given that residents’ incomes are flat or declining, and County property taxes are increasing significantly, please explain your views on fiscal responsibility relative to salaries.” 

Fact Check: When All Is Considered, The Average Wage Increase Is 6.5%, Mr. Mayor, not 2%

Mayor Hiremath stated:  "The reality is, the average raise the employees got was 2%."

Mayor Hiremath is wrong.

The fact is that the minimum one time salary adjustment was 2.7% for Oro Valley's top 24 employees. Some one-time adjustments are as high as 6%.  On top of this, each employee will receive an merit increase on their employment anniversary date of from 3.5 - 4.0% on their new base wage.  Taken together, the one-time adjustment plus the merit increases will average about 6.5%,  Some employees will see a double digit increase over their 2013-2014 compensatoin

Fact Check: There Is No Town Of Oro Valley Employee Retention Problem

No one discussed the retention rate of Oro Valley employees.    Our guess is the incumbents either never checked on what the retention rate is or that the retention rate is high, therefore not supporting their position.  We have seen no mass exodus of Oro Valley employees despite not receiving salary increase for 3 years. This is because there are few comparable job opportunities. 

Incumbent Lou Waters provided two examples of the town is losing employees. In neither case, compensation was not the reason.

Waters pointed to former town planner David Williams. Williams, be believe, left to go into private practice for, what we understand, were personal reasons over which the town would have no control; and the town's Human Resource Director, Ron Corbin, left to return to Yuma to be with his wife.  His position, based on this study, received a 8.3% earnings increase based on the study.

Fact Check: 8 of 11 Municipalities To Which Oro Valley Was Compared In The Salary Study Are In The Phoenix Area

Council Member Joe Hornat disputed that the study included towns bigger the Oro Valley. He observed that Sahuarita and Marana were included in the study. He is correct. However, these are only 2 of the 11 communities considered.   The fact is, as noted in our posting last week, 8 of the 11 cities in the study were in Maricopa County. All of these have substantially larger populations than Oro Valley.

Fact Check: Current Compensation Is Just One Possible Factor That Attracts Or Retains Quality Personal

Council Member Snider stated the following in response to the question:

"Any organization that thinks they can satisfy the needs of their constituents on mediocrity [of employees] is set up for failure."  

We think that Snider equates high pay to retaining quality employees.  Pay is merely one possible reason people want to work for the Town Of Oro Valley.

Some like public service. Some serve because a public sector job presents a more suitable life style than the pressure-filled competitive nature of the private sector. Others like working in the public sector because public sector jobs are more secure than private sector jobs. Some like it because the benefits they receive, like the ones offered in Oro Valley are far richer than those offered in other communities or the private sector.  Even others like it because of the rich defined benefits retirement program, a program that is no longer offered in the private sector. Regardless of the reason compensation is only one reason that motivates people to work for the Town of Oro Valley.

Fact Check: Challengers Agreed That Some Increase Was Warranted, However...

Mayoral Candidate Patrick Straney and Council Candidate Don Bristow observed that raises were in order for town staff.  Employees had, after all, not received increases in 3 years.

Bristow pointed out that it is the basis for determining the size of the raises that is of concern: "The problem is that the study [upon which the decision was made to significantly increase staff salaries] is flawed."

Pat Straney cautioned that Oro Valley should be thinking "long term" when it comes to granting salary increases.  Given the transient nature of most of Oro Valley's revenues: "We need to know the impact and where the money [in the future] is coming from" to pay for increases.
---
Please watch the video. Then, tell us: What is your analysis of the responses?