Mixed Messages

54.6 MILLION dollars - that's the hole that Marty dug for the City of Albuquerque taxpayers - it's the legacy of unchecked ambition. Mayor Berry stuck with a $54 MILLION pit and not enough dirt to fill it.

The first thing Berry did when building his team at city hall was ask most of the new appointees to take a 10% to 20% pay cut. As a result the Berry administration is about 13% leaner at the top than the Chavez administration was. The problem is Berry is sending mixed messages to the public and to city employees by hiring a few select positions at considerably higher salaries than their Chavez era counterparts.

Worse... Berry seems to be protecting former CAO Ed Adams who along with his $147,000 a year salary was transferred to DMD where he is a "special projects manager" (whatever that is).

[Mayor Berry] rejected a council resolution that would have forced the city to legally challenge the $147,000 annual salary drawn by former top administrator Ed Adams.

Berry said although he disagrees with the salary, the legal expenses and the possibility of a countersuit make going to court a bad deal for taxpayers. He proposed amendments making it clear no similar salary deals can happen again.

- ABQ Journal (Subscription)

Berry is right that the council needs to clarify the city's ordinance regarding unclassified political appointees returning to classified positions and the commensurate salary. But that will never fix the Ed Adams situation.

Right now we're paying for two CAOs (actually more than two since CAO Campbell pulls down $159,000 a year) and getting the work of one. Over at DMD the city gets to pay for a CAO that does "special projects." All of this at a time when Berry would like city employees to accept a pay freeze.

Berry's mistake is only considering the legal cost of defending Adams' pay reduction. What about the cost of having to fight the city's public safety unions over a pay raise that - like Adams' sweetheart side deal - was agreed to by The Almighty Former Alcalde?

Berry took on union President Diego Arencon and successfully returned the firefighter to the pay of a firefighter. What's the difference between a firefighter and the former CAO? Nothing.

They both had side agreements with Marty. The message that Berry sent with his veto is that high ranking administrators have a different set of rules than rank and file employees. How much long-term trouble has Berry bought by "saving" a few bucks on legal fees?

Hopefully, the council will save Berry from his own misguided veto. Otherwise the mayor's mixed messages will land him in stormy seas at a time when he needs calm waters.

----- Correction -----
I have been rightly chastised for mixing up my union presidents. In point of fact the IAFF local President is Diego Arencon not Joey Sigala, Segalla, Sagala the APOA President. It has been corrected above.

Is our Eye red! Yet another correction. Uuugh! First Joey now Diego. Not Joey not Garcia. The IAFF union President is Diego Arencon. Really, really, we've got it right this time!

Gone are the Days of Diego

The Days of special treatment are over for Firefighter 1st Class Diego Arencón. Tuesday, the Albuquerque Journal reported that Arencón - the IAFF Local 244 Union President - was instructed to report to Fire Chief Breen for assignment. Until Monday, Arencón was pulling down the tidy sum of around $90,000 (read our take here). Not too surprisingly, the suddenly poorer Arencón wasn't happy about the new arrangement.

The union negotiated for the president's salary when it reached a contract agreement with the city in 2008, and the city should honor it, Arencón said. The salary agreement is separate from the main union contract.

Arencón said firefighters "absolutely" will consider going to court to enforce the salary agreement. Refusing to honor it will cost the city legal fees, even though mayoral executives know "full well that their accusations aren't justified."

- ABQ Journal (Subscription)

But don't worry, back in December the members of IAFF 244 re-elected Diego to another term which means so he's still got access to the union credit card to pay for his coffee and trips to the local watering holes (read it here). What will be more interesting is whether or not the union membership will agree to pay for a lawsuit for the express purpose of getting Diego Commander's pay and out of having to do fight any fires.

The side agreement entered into by former Mayor and Not-So-Might Alcalde Martin Chavez was determined to be illegal by attorney and current CAO David Campbell.

In a memo to Arencón, Campbell said the salary agreement:

• Violates the anti-donation clause of the state constitution, which bars the city from providing a gift or aid to someone.

• Might violate state law making it a felony to use or accept public money for "services not rendered."

• Wasn't properly ratified.

• Violates the city's "Merit System Ordinance," which calls for employees to be paid according to a classification plan.

- ABQ Journal (Subscription)

What we're wondering is how Campbell - an attorney - can determine that Arencón's little side deal with Marty is illegal when he's got an even bigger fish - Ed Adams - making a lot more over in Municipal Development.

An agreement signed in 2006, when Martin Chávez was mayor, says Adams can keep his $147,000 annual salary even if he's moved into a lower-level job.

- ABQ Journal (Subscription)

That's where the 2006 memo comes in. Bruce Perlman, Chávez's chief administrative officer at the time, signed a memorandum telling Adams his "rate of pay will be maintained" if he ever returned to a regular city job.

- ABQ Journal (Subscription)

The legal arguments used by CAO David Campbell in the Arencón case look strikingly similar to the ones made by policy analyst and attorney Bruce Thompson on behalf of city council despite the opinion of one of Marty's Minions - City Attorney Bob White - that the Adams' deal "does contain the essential elements of an enforceable employment contract" (ABQ Journal - Subscription).

Thompson's eight-page opinion outlines some potential problems with [former CAO under Marty] Perlman's action:

• It probably violates the city's Merit System Ordinance for employees, which says regular "classified" employees should be paid according to a plan based on their rank and classification. It's not clear that a CAO can "ignore the MSO by issuing an administrative instruction" on someone's salary.

•An administrative instruction that apparently gave Perlman the right to determine Adams' salary came from Perlman himself and may not be valid. In any case, it's not clear whether Perlman complied with it.

• The Adams' salary agreement could be considered a "professional services" contract that requires City Council approval.

• The Adams' salary agreement may violate the anti-donation clause of the state constitution, which prohibits the city government from making gifts. Adams' salary guarantee could violate that clause if it's intended to reward him for past work, and not compensation for future services.

- ABQ Journal (Subscription)

Then there's Lawrence Torres who slipped in and out of APD and like a thief in the night stole a 20 year retirement and two months worth of an $80,000 a year salary from the department aided abetted by Ed Adams who signed a similar "agreement" with Torres.

Look... If Arencóns dirty deal with Marty is illegal then so too is Adams' deal signed by Perlman. If Adams' deal with Perlman is illegal then so is Torres' deal with Adams and for all of the same reasons.

Paying Firefighter Diego Arenón the same as other firefighters and requiring him to well, fight fires is a good start. But while the Days of Diego may be over, those benefiting from dirty side deals with the devil, uh... Marty are still in play and we're paying for them.

MOU

Former Mayor Martin Chavez is becoming legendary for his little side agreements with his loyal minions. Firefighter's union President Diego Arencón signed an agreement with the Formerly Almighty Alcalde guaranteeing himself a hefty $90,000 a year salary despite holding a position as a Firefighter First Class (read it here). Ed Adams - Marty's right hand man - recently produced one of these little pieces of paper signed by former CAO Bruce Perlman that basically says that Adams has the right to keep his sweet salary ($147,000 a year) no matter what job he holds with the city.

Now our Eyes tell us that in the spirit of spreading the wealth to other Minion Alums, Lawrence Torres has produced a memorandum of understanding signed by former CAO and current Municipal Development employee Ed Adams that moved the former union president back to APD as a Patrolman 1st Class and like Adams Torres managed to keep his over $80,000 a year salary. The move was specifically designed to allow Torres to retire from APD.

You see, APD has a 20 year retirement. Despite the fact that Torres spent only around 15 years in open space, his service in HR (a non-public safety position) counts towards his PERA retirement if he retires from a public safety agency. The problem is according to our Eyes, Torres' allowed his state certification to lapse which would make him ineligible to return to APD as a sworn officer.

Our Eyes have it that back in late October, Deputy Chief McCabe spent some time over at the academy with Torres' file after which the file was noticeably bigger. It doesn't take a genius to guess that the additional forms might have something to do with Torres' certification.

Torres is set to retire later this week. It looks like he'll be able to use his salary from his job as "Employee Relations Director" to determine his retirement benefit and the fact that he's retiring from APD to make him eligible for a 20 year retirement.

The mistake that Adams and company may have made is in allowing Torres to take his former salary back to APD as a P1C. Our Eyes tell us that there are a number of officers who are none too happy that one of their fellow P1Cs was making roughly double their salary - even if it was for just a couple of months. Those officers are considering a lawsuit based on a violation of the APOA's collective bargaining agreement.

These little side agreements were standard operating procedure for the Chavez administration. What concerns us is that APD is still lead by those who have a vested interest in keeping these shenanigans under wraps. So far, three of Marty's closest Minions have been able to produce these MOUs. In the Torres case, Chief Schultz is directly responsible for allowing the move and potentially responsible for altering public records.

It's entirely possible that the Torres transfer was completely legal. But if Mayor Berry truly wants to create a transparent city government, every contract, every expense, every MOU needs to be easily accessible to the public. Taxpayers have to pay these bills... We should at least know what the bills are for.