Torrance OKs 15% Pay Raise for Police Chief’s Final Year

Just two weeks after the city of Torrance announced that veteran Police Chief Donald E. Nash would retire next February, the City Council has unanimously boosted his base pay by 15%, an action that also will increase his annual pension by almost $11,000.

Although council members praised Nash’s 21 years as chief in interviews this week, the resolution used Tuesday to boost his pay referred to him only by position and made no mention of how his pay would be affected. Several council members, however, acknowledged that the resolution was crafted specifically to sweeten the retirement package for Nash, who is 66.

As a result of the vote, Nash will earn about $133,000 during his final year with the city, according to the city manager’s office. Since pensions are based on an employee’s peak-year salary, Nash’s retirement income will grow from about $89,000 to $99,870 annually.

Several council members explained their vote by pointing to Nash’s long tenure with the city.

“A 40-year employee who’s been chief over 20 years--we’re not likely to see a similar situation, so we’re not setting a precedent,” Mayor Katy Geissert said.

She compared Nash’s raise to that given to longtime City Atty. Stanley Remelmeyer before he retired. In that case, the council voted in November, 1987, to raise Remelmeyer’s salary from $102,048 to $137,000 annually.

Rather than raise Nash’s pay directly, the council voted a special 15% premium for any police chief hired before 1991 who attains the “executive certificate” from the state Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training.

The council also voted to make the new premium expire in February, 1992, the same month that Nash retires.

Nash is the department’s only officer with the “executive certificate.” He earned it 19 years ago, two years after becoming chief, police spokesman Sgt. Ronald Traber said.

Eligibility for the state commission’s executive certificate, one of several granted by the agency, is restricted to people who have served two years as department heads in law-enforcement agencies. Candidates for the executive certificate must have served two years as department heads in a law enforcement agency, possess the agency’s “advanced certificate,” have 60 or more college semester units and meet certain training requirements.

Kathy Delle, information officer for the commission, said it has issued about 700 executive certificates since the certificate program started in 1971, and gives out about 30 to 35 a year.

The premium will be calculated as 15% of Nash’s base pay of $95,112 annually, which is $14,267. Nash already was earning two other city premiums: 10% paid to department and division heads and a 15% premium awarded to department heads who meet seniority requirements. Those premiums brought his annual pay to $118,890 before the new premium.

In addition, Nash may get a raise this summer. All city employees are expected to receive a cost-of-living raise in July, said Liz Rojas, assistant to City Manager LeRoy J. Jackson.

Nash announced his retirement Feb. 1 in a letter to the city stating that the notice would provide time for the city to select a replacement “as well as allow me the opportunity to apply for the most beneficial retirement options.”

Nash is the longest-tenured police chief in the department’s his tory. His last years have been tumultuous ones for the department. In the past seven years it has defended itself against three major lawsuits from individuals alleging police misconduct.

Two of the cases were settled out of court, but the third and most publicized lawsuit--involving the 1984 death of a San Pedro youth in a traffic collision with off-duty Torrance Police Sgt. Rollo Green--went to trial in 1989. The jury issued a $7.7-million judgment against the city and five current and former police employees, including Nash, after finding that Torrance officers covered up for Green.

The city is appealing the verdict.