Readers respond

At issue: The City Council OKd an expense for a holiday bash to boost

employee morale.

A job well done plus charity make party worth expense

I support the city’s holiday celebration for our city employees (“City

OKs $10,000 for bash,” Nov. 4).

Huntington Beach’s employees work hard and do an excellent job of making

this a place we all want to live. They do a difficult job very well and

are subject to intense scrutiny from the community and the media.

Think for a minute: What are the chances an article about your company’s

holiday celebration will show up in the paper? I called City Hall about

the celebration and learned that it also serves as a collection spot for

a canned food and a Toys for Tots drive. The donations collected for

charity are expected to exceed the amount of money being spent on the

celebration. I wish the Independent had seen fit to report that on the

front page.

Congratulations to the city for finding a way to thank its employees and

help the less-fortunate members of our community. Keep up the good work.

JACK MORROW

Huntington Beach

Better ways to spend city funds, and encourage workers

It’s nice to see the City Council taking an interest in the morale of the

staff, however the expenditure of $10,000 -- albeit only $10 per employee

-- is an unacceptable use of public funds, given the city’s crumbling

infrastructure.

Time and again, the council asks various city departments to study and

make recommendations on a particular issue, only to ignore those

recommendations and do what they believe to be politically expedient.

Perhaps a better way to boost employee morale would be to actually

implement the staff’s suggestions once in a while, thereby showing

respect for a job well done.

When employees feel valued, they enjoy their jobs.

CATHERINE SEIDLER

Huntington Beach

It is interesting that Councilman Dave Sullivan would think that a happy

city employee would be a more productive employee.

Years ago, when I worked for the Long Beach Naval Shipyard, I submitted a

suggestion that the shipyard should name Workers of the Week, with cash

awards, based on the idea that a happy worker is a productive worker. My

suggestion was turned down, with the comment that most of the workers

were happy and did little work, and the less work they did, the happier

they were.

JOHNNY B. MULLINS

Huntington Beach

The city should not use taxpayer money to throw a party for its

employees. I hear how we don’t have money for sewer lines or parks, so a

party isn’t a necessity.

STEPHANIE PACHECO

Fountain Valley

I have lived in Huntington Beach for 20 years. I used to live Downtown,

but as more development came in, it became a development nightmare.

I live in one of the oldest housing tracts in the city, at Bushard and

Garfield. The gutters and sidewalks are filthy. Across Garfield is

Fountain Valley. That side of the street and its sidewalks are

well-maintained and much cleaner.

If the city thinks its employees need a party to feel better about

themselves, then we have bigger problems than I thought.

Those employees need to feel good about a job well done, and the city

needs to provide its residents with a clean city. I work for the

third-largest insurance company in the country, and our holiday party is

not a free ride. The tickets cost $30 to $40 each, and we are only

allowed to bring one guest. It certainly is not to help us feel better

about ourselves or our jobs. It is pure and simple, a social occasion.

BEVERLY GAGNE

Huntington Beach

The use of $10,000 from Huntington Beach city funds for the purpose of

hosting a Christmas party for employees is absolutely not appropriate. In

fact, I am not sure that such an expenditure is also not illegal as a

gift of public funds.

I recently retired from over three decades of service for a department of

the county of Los Angeles, and it was the practice there, as I am sure it

is elsewhere, that if the employees have a Christmas party or other

celebration, the expense is borne by the employees via an employee fund

that they contribute to and maintain for such purposes.

In closing, the city of Huntington Beach is continuously involved with

budget shortfalls and one financial crisis after another. How, then, can

the city justify this inappropriate expense?

ALAN CHANCELLOR

Huntington Beach

I am appalled at the indulgence of the City Council members.

Where is the willingness to remember that they are servants of the

citizens in the position for which they chose to run and get elected?

What role modeling are they choosing to display by placing the item on

the consent calendar instead of on the agenda items for discussion before

the people? Does placing it on the consent calendar allow the council to

feel that justifies the cost?

MARGARET ROCKOFF

Huntington Beach