City official violated policy

Newport Beach City Manager Homer Bludau did not follow City Council policy in September 2005 when he, then-Chief of Police Bob McDonell and then-president of Police Management Assn. John Desmond entered into a professional services contract without City Council approval, city officials confirmed Friday.

According to City Council Policy F-20, which covers contracts with former city employees, “All professional services contracts with former city employees or temporary employment contracts with retiring or former city employees shall require approval of the City Council.”

Nowhere from the day Bludau, McDonell and Desmond signed the “Agreement Regarding Post-retirement Continued or Part-time Employment for NBPMA Members” on Sept. 12, 2005, to the most recent City Council meeting was it ever approved by council members, said city officials, who wished to remain anonymous as to not jeopardize the city’s ongoing investigation into the matter.

The agreement allows retired officers to continue working with the department in their former position and at their most recent pay rate, but accrued on an hourly basis, without the city having to pay medical benefits or pay into the employee’s retirement account. The agreement essentially saves the city money for having an experienced officer working for them without some of the auxiliary costs while the employee gets paid hourly and begins to collect their retirement payments. The practice is common among cities statewide, officials said.

“We don’t know why it didn’t come before the council. In my understanding, the agreement was not valid,” Councilman Steve Rosansky said.

The council may have never voted on the agreement because Bludau believed it did not have to be approved by the body, Mayor Ed Selich said.

“My understanding is that the city manager ran it by the police department legal advisor and was advised it wasn’t necessary,” Selich said. “He was under the impression he didn’t have to bring it under the City Council.”

Then-City Atty. Robin Clauson, who has since retired, notified the council that the agreement was invalid sometime last fall, Selich and other council members recalled.

“Homer has always tried to help me, but also help me help the city,” Councilwoman Nancy Gardner said. “As far as with the retirement thing, as soon as he had this pointed out to him, he let the council know. I’ve never sensed he was trying to circumvent the City Council.”

Newport Beach hired six officers back under the agreement, but has stopped since Clauson declared the agreement “null and void” after the police union asked for an investigation. Figures on how much Newport Beach paid those six officers were not immediately available.

While Bludau did not follow the first step of the process — having the contract approved by the City Council — he did adhere to the requirements of that now-defunct contract. The hirings of all six employees, nevertheless, were approved by the chief, Bludau and the City Council at different times as they continued to honor the unapproved contract, sources said.

Bludau declined to comment on why he and police department leaders passed on approval from the council, citing a current Civil Service Board investigation into this very issue.

“I don’t have any intention of compromising the integrity of the investigation,” he said. “There is a process for dealing with [these] things that was agreed to by the police association, the city attorney and the chief of police.”

Attempts to reach Desmond and McDonell were unsuccessful.

The Civil Service Board hired former Irvine Police Commander James Blaylock to spearhead its investigation into the police union’s concerns regarding the F-20 violation, the promotional process for police officers, John Klein’s rise to police chief and Bludau’s potential city ordinance violations in recruiting him, and the way promotional candidates are rated.

Reporter JOSEPH SERNA may be reached at (714) 966-4619 or at joseph.serna@latimes.com. Reporter BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at brianna.bailey@latimes.com.