Updated Jan. 16, 4:23 p.m.:
The Sacramento City Council on Tuesday took away City Manager Howard Chan’s power to put raises for himself on meeting agendas.
In an unanimous vote, the council changed one of its rules to reflect the shift. Now only the mayor or the Personnel and Public Employees Committee can recommend the full council consider pay adjustments for the city manager and other executives.
It’s unclear when or whether the council will approve a raise for Chan again after violating state law and facing public backlash.
Original story, published Jan. 10:
After facing public outcry, the Sacramento City Council on Tuesday postponed re-voting on a raise for City Manager Howard Chan and requested a change to its rules of procedures.
The council’s rules allow Chan to put pay adjustments for himself on meeting agendas. Council members said they plan to take away that authority in an effort to increase public trust.
Mayor Darrell Steinberg apologized for how the council approved raises for Chan and other city executives: The pay raises were approved during a special meeting around 9:30 p.m. on Dec. 12, right before they began a holiday recess. A state law called the Brown Act requires cities to approve pay for executives in regular meetings.
Steinberg as well as Council members Mai Vang and Katie Valenzuela abstained from approving the 5% raises last month, but the rest of the council approved them. The raises didn’t go into effect because the council violated the Brown Act, spokesperson Tim Swanson told CapRadio on Dec. 20.
“I owe the community an apology for allowing the matter to be heard at the holiday period of time when it was a violation of the Brown Act,” Steinberg said on Tuesday. “Ignorance of the law is no defense. We’re all expected to know our business and so, I’m ultimately the one that is responsible here.”
About a dozen people on Tuesday urged the council not to re-approve the raise for Chan. He was slated to receive a 5% cost of living adjustment, along with the city attorney, city clerk, city treasurer and the director of the Office of Public Safety Accountability.
Chan’s current annual base salary is roughly $400,000 and the proposed raise would bring him to about $420,000, which doesn’t include benefits. City staff on Dec. 12 and Tuesday also asked the council to consider giving Chan an additional 240 hours of leave time, which equals 30 eight-hour working days. The amount comes out to about $48,000 at his rate of roughly $202 per hour, but Labor Relations Manager Aaron Donato said Chan wouldn’t be able to cash out the hours.
Marbella Sala, a member of the city’s Measure U Community Advisory Committee, said the council intentionally snuck in approving the executive pay raises at the end of last month’s special meeting in order to prevent the community from discussing the issue. Sala questioned whether the council consulted the city attorney and city clerk on the issue and said as a city committee member, she knows the importance of following regulations.
“You all talk about integrity, transparency and building the trust in this community,” Sala said during Tuesday’s meeting. “Well, a few weeks ago you violated that; you destroyed that. When you come to us and say, ‘Trust us, we’re doing the best for our community, we’re doing the best with our money, we’re transparent,’ we’re going to think twice about it because that was disingenuous.”
Council member Eric Guerra proposed amending council rules and procedures in response to public concerns. The council still needs to adopt the change in a future meeting, but members voted unanimously to request staff work on his proposal.
Guerra suggested the council add an exception to the city manager and city clerk’s ability to determine council member agendas. He said an elected official and a committee should instead have the power to place discussions about city executive pay raises on the agenda. Guerra proposed the mayor or the Personnel and Public Employees Committee hold that authority.
It’s unclear when the council will revote on the raise for Chan and other executives, or if enough members will vote to approve it. Former Council member Sean Loloee voted in favor of the raise, but he resigned last week.
If you include the Dec. 12 vote, the council has voted to approve six raises for Chan in the past seven years. Chan has served as the city’s top executive since February 2017.
He made an annual salary of $282,060 when he first began the job, according to his initial city manager contract. As of his last raise approved in November 2022, his salary has increased by a total of 42% since 2017.
In 2022, Chan made about $548,000 in total wages, according to the California State Controller’s Office. The total doesn’t include health care or retirement contributions.
Out of the cities that reported city manager pay data to the office, Chan received the third most in total wages across the state in 2022. Only the city managers of Southern California’s Montebello and Palmdale made more, according to data on the office's website.
Chan’s responsibilities include preparing the annual budget, overseeing most city departments and making recommendations to the City Council. He reports to the council, which has the power to hire and fire the city manager.
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