Retiring or leaving for greener pastures?

DANETTE GOULET

When did the meaning of the word retirement change? According to

Merriam-Webster it hasn’t.

Retirement

Pronunciation: ri-’tIr-m&nt;

Function: noun

1 a : an act of retiring : the state of being retired

b : withdrawal from one’s position or occupation or

from active working life c : the age at which one

normally retires

2 : a place of seclusion or privacy

But according to the practices of many -- especially in city

government it seems -- it has. It now seems to mean: the age at which

you can change jobs and yet continue to get a paycheck from your

previous employer.

We see it all over, people “retiring” to go take a different job

elsewhere. And I’m not talking about a little sideline thing to keep

busy. The retired Costa Mesa police chief, for instance, is now the

full-time police chief in Beverly Hills.

Our city administrator announced in the fall that he would retire

in July. He has now moved that date up by two months, leaving the

city in the lurch a bit, because he “has a business opportunity,”

according to the city’s public information officer. I don’t blame Ray

Silver for wanting to get out. Heck, it’s not really even his fault

the city has taken its sweet time finding a replacement -- although

after 13 years he should know they’ll need all the time he initially

gave them. But it doesn’t sound like retirement to me.

And now, despite assurances that we’d have a new administrator in

place by the time Ray left on April 30, the council has named

Assistant City Administrator Bill Workman -- who is in the running

for the job -- as interim city administrator. Talk about having an

edge.

City officials need to get serious and get on this issue. We

cannot afford to let this city flounder. Already Huntington Beach is

in financial straits when our neighboring cities seem to be faring so

much better than we. There are several huge development projects on

the horizon, which Surf City residents notoriously love to battle. We

need to find someone, someone permanent, who is ready to tackle the

job. Someone who will get things done and turn this city around. It

shouldn’t take a decade to refurbish a decaying mall.

This is not to say just throw the first guy you see in his chair.

Find the right person for the job. We need someone with the

enthusiasm for Surf City of Doug Traub, but the business sense of

Donald Trump.

Workman is a nice guy, but we can’t just throw him in that office

and say good enough. Someone needs to turn this city around in many

areas.

As for this hot potato we call retirement, it seems to me you just

don’t want to be the one employing people as they reach that age of

profitable job switching. Maybe we can hire a retiree.

* DANETTE GOULET is the city editor. She can be reached at (714)

965-7170 or by e-mail at danette.goulet@latimes.com.