Striving to be heard
Dear Treetop Yodeler,
Your letter reflects the quiet disdain many employees feel when leadership goes awry. Those that are aware have strong feelings. Many years ago, many of us set our career sails in search of public service. We navigated by the stars and adjusted our sails to mitigate the political winds to serve in the best interests of the public.
One day, it seemed, we no longer knew our captains. Cronies told us they no longer required our skills or opinions. We were freed from our sails and directed to stop looking to the stars for direction. Now, it seems we are shamed and sent below deck for asking, “Where are we are going?” We spend the remainder of our days mindlessly stoking a fire and hoping for true leadership and a return to glory.
It is my pleasure to meet your request.
The Gadfly
------------------------------------------------
Please post on your blog site http://civilactionpress.blogspot.com/
The following information is based on one of my e-mails circa 11/28/2004:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
DWP Ideas for improvement
Fundamentally, DWP has lost vision, lost supporting core values, is apparently bogged down in political expediency, and corruption. Seems to have virtually no independence to be run as a business. In house promotions to General Manager are long since history, to DWP's detriment.
DWP is being drained dry by direct and indirect transfers to City Hall. The Bank of DWP makes grants and loans that will never be repaid. No one will help DWP when it nears bankruptcy in the next three to five years. Except maybe fire sale deals to So Calif. Edison. Critical infrastructure goes unrepaired/unimproved. Employee positions in some areas are barely enough to cover needs on a good day. No depth. Just wait until retirements hit.
And DWP gets charged wherever possible for real and imagined services as well. And unfunded social programs. And contracting policies that cost DWP perhaps $200M/year in extra costs, in the name of "good faith efforts." Really a shakedown of ratepayers? Who really benefits from all the carefully contrived contracting bureaucracy?? Campaign contributions anyone? Have you read a simple recent DWP bid notice? Maybe 30 pages or more. The legal mumbo jumbo and minority hiring, child care, living wage ordinance, etc., is enough to give any bidder a headache. Need a lawyer just to figure it out. And maybe just have to hire an insider consultant (minority/female) to do the paper work, just like on formal contracts (PMI anyone?).
Promotions of loyalists, cronies, union buddies and shop stewards. Political decisions more important than fundamental business decisions. Seemingly global lack of integrity, in legal, in labor relations, in management, in Management Employee Association and IBEW union. Hide, cover up, stall, delay harass, retaliate. IBEW has black listed at least 10 former EAA employees, and denied them membership, while taking their dues.
And a fair and objective hiring and promotional process? DWP seems to take things to lower and lower lows. Pretense seems now almost unnecessary. Hiring and promoting less than qualified has real bottom line costs, beyond damage to loyal, qualified employees, minorities, females, or otherwise. DWP is the controlling authority. Whoose to say otherwise?
Historically, DWP was run by engineers. (currently a four letter word in many circles).
Engineers tend to take a conservative approach. To overbuild. To overdesign. Maybe less "cooperative." Maybe not as good at BS. And not as good at snow jobs while being publicly "beat up" at city hall public meetings. Engineers have been the key to DWP success. Vision, planning, objectivity, drive to fulfill core business. They are now history, as far as managing DWP.
Non engineers/attorneys/administratative types/bureaucrats seem to be willing to bend the rules, to rationalize, to push the envelope. To give away the store. DWP is a monopoly after all, and rate payers are always on the hook. Take a risk on reliable water and power? Nonsense?
Eliminate all DWP Exempt manager positions. No rocket science needed to figure out who the first to go should be. Some female exempt heads may roll as well. Politically dynamite. But do they, or others, add value? Base positions on business necessity, not political necessity. Way too many Assistant General Managers. And a biased selection process here as well? Exclude any former Southern California Edison employee from management positions. SCE culture is very different, and SCE, after all, is a competitor.
Require the DWP General Manager, and top managers, to have an engineering degree, as it once was. Not a political degree. Not a law degree.
Neutralize/isolate problem civil service managers who cannot otherwise be encouraged to leave (for example, retire, transfer, quit).
Get rid of long term consultants. Do work in house.
Unscramble civil service classifications. New classifications and class consolidations have done great damage, especially Electrical Services Manager. Electrical Services Managers are not Equivalent to Power Engineering Managers.
Promote carefully employees based on dedication to DWP, ability to do the job. Especially emphasize integrity.
Eliminate, or transfer to City Hall, any DWP function not a core business, or business that generates actual revenue. Keep fiber optics, cell site rentals, or anything else generating revenue. Eliminate any group or individual giving away money, goods, or services. Like business development. If it is really important, let City hall do the work, do the social programs, and pay for it, outside of DWP.
Improve the job City Personnel does. More funding. Get rid of all exempt positions in City Personnel. Need honesty, integrity, and independence of City Personnel from City Hall and from DWP manipulation.
Put IBEW's feet to the fire. Audit the Trust Funds. Make sure all Trust Fund meetings are publicized public meetings. Audit the Joint Safety Institute, Joint Training Institute, IBEW health plans, and anything else taking DWP money. (Hello, Ms. Chick). See where the money goes, and who benefits. Federal audit of IBEW management income tax returns?? Investigation of bank accounts? Audit of IBEW financial records? Audit of all contracts IBEW has, paid for using DWP moneys? IBEW campaign contributions audit? RICO anyone?
Review and revise the process for election of employee representatives to the DWP Retirement Board of Administration. IBEW currently backs "favorite" candidates. Such as shop stewards, and other loyalists. This allows them better control of DWP, DWP management, $6B retirement fund, pursuit of political and social agendas using retirement fund clout, risks lower return on investment (at great cost to ratepayers?), and potential for questionable, if not unlawful actions. http://retirement.ladwp.com/
Try employee focus groups/lunches. The truth will out very quickly.
Replace the Director of Corporate Health and Safety with a real Safety person (not a high paid IBEW "favorite"). Recommend a Safety Administrator (civil service classification)
Stop giveaway's to the Bureau of Street Lighting, Street Maintenance, Department of Transportation, and Recreation and Parks, including free power. Change the Electric Rate Ordinance so everyone who gets power pays fairly. No more free lunches.
Audit all confidential contracts with large power users. Great potential for funny business, kickbacks, and campaign donations at the expense of DWP.
Get ALL exempt managers and consultants out of Finance and Accounting. Too easy to cook the books, or "spin" the facts.
Customers with special discounts/benefits/rebates must be verified US Citizens.
Only hire new employees, including exempt employees, and contractors, who are verified US Citizens (DWP is a national security issue).
Serious background checks for all new DWP employees.
Stop giveaways to the public, and private, via council influence.
Audit and annually track all moneys provided to other city departments. Free services, fees, fines, street resurfacing fees, pressure vessel fees, lot cleanup fees, lighting in city parks, streetlight installations, Christmas lights, etc. DWP is not Santa Claus, or the tooth fairy.
Audit all sales of DWP real estate since 1997. Prosecute any funny business, no matter where the cards fall, even councilpersons, commissioners, their spouses, friends, and campaign donors or fundraisers. (Giveaway of the "surplus" DWP Canoga Park Service Headquarters to a favored women's group at the second lowest bid??? Hello Ms. Miscowski? How about diverted DWP (and police??) resources for The Grove. Hello Mr. Caruso? And funny business at the Bureau of Street Lighting? And funny business contracts at General Services? When will we see that audit, Ms. Chick? Bad for your reelection campaign?)
Restart on-campus recruiting for engineers. Start hiring engineers to get them up to speed before existing engineers retire. Feb 1, 2006 may be a popular retirement date. The exodus is beginning.
Reduce annual transfers to city hall to 5 percent. NO supplemental one time only transfers.
Lay down criteria that DWP is a business, and is to be operated as a business. Have a hot line to someone with clout for anonymous watchdog reporting, faxing, e-mailing.
Create an authority that can respond to claims of violations of civil service rules. Things seem to be out of control at present. No rules. No accountability. No rocket science here either. Five minutes of asking questions anywhere will yield answers. Tape record and preserve tape recording of all new hire, transfer, and promotional interviews held at DWP. May need to hold interviews at City Personnel Dept. Maybe include an exempt "Interview Specialist" in such interviews? Cannot trust DWP on this.
Without a fair and objective hiring, promotion, and transfer process, DWP will continue to be doomed. Simply a despised puppet, to be alternately robbed and cursed, to serve at the whim of the mayor and council, to be beat up publicly for "evil" deeds, to further political ambitions. Bad, bad puppet.
Prosecute criminally and civilly any manager who behaves inappropriately, unlawfully, or unethically. Send a clear message to everyone that there are rules, and no one is exempt. That DWP is to be run as a business.
Revise the selection process for DWP commissioners. Seek a balance of left wing and right wing. Maybe have them selected by neighborhood councils?? Or by city council (instead of the Mayor?) Or by election? How about one member being a retired DWP manager, selected by DWP retirees? With a defined term?
Reinstate rules that all managers over technical areas must have a current, valid, engineering license.
Reinstate selecting General Managers from ENGINEERS within DWP. Choose long term civil service employees with proven integrity and performance. Can also cut the pay of General Manager. Civil service employees will work for less as General Manager, and may be expected to perform better in improving the bottom line.
Make DWP far more independent of City Hall and the Mayor, and all the political micromanaging, such as green power taking priority over cheap, clean reliable coal power from Intermountain Power Plant. Get realistic. Get pragmatic. Need to be run as a business, not as a political campaign. Stop the spin. And hope for a miracle or two.
Treetop Yodeler
Your letter reflects the quiet disdain many employees feel when leadership goes awry. Those that are aware have strong feelings. Many years ago, many of us set our career sails in search of public service. We navigated by the stars and adjusted our sails to mitigate the political winds to serve in the best interests of the public.
One day, it seemed, we no longer knew our captains. Cronies told us they no longer required our skills or opinions. We were freed from our sails and directed to stop looking to the stars for direction. Now, it seems we are shamed and sent below deck for asking, “Where are we are going?” We spend the remainder of our days mindlessly stoking a fire and hoping for true leadership and a return to glory.
It is my pleasure to meet your request.
The Gadfly
------------------------------------------------
Please post on your blog site http://civilactionpress.blogspot.com/
The following information is based on one of my e-mails circa 11/28/2004:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
DWP Ideas for improvement
Fundamentally, DWP has lost vision, lost supporting core values, is apparently bogged down in political expediency, and corruption. Seems to have virtually no independence to be run as a business. In house promotions to General Manager are long since history, to DWP's detriment.
DWP is being drained dry by direct and indirect transfers to City Hall. The Bank of DWP makes grants and loans that will never be repaid. No one will help DWP when it nears bankruptcy in the next three to five years. Except maybe fire sale deals to So Calif. Edison. Critical infrastructure goes unrepaired/unimproved. Employee positions in some areas are barely enough to cover needs on a good day. No depth. Just wait until retirements hit.
And DWP gets charged wherever possible for real and imagined services as well. And unfunded social programs. And contracting policies that cost DWP perhaps $200M/year in extra costs, in the name of "good faith efforts." Really a shakedown of ratepayers? Who really benefits from all the carefully contrived contracting bureaucracy?? Campaign contributions anyone? Have you read a simple recent DWP bid notice? Maybe 30 pages or more. The legal mumbo jumbo and minority hiring, child care, living wage ordinance, etc., is enough to give any bidder a headache. Need a lawyer just to figure it out. And maybe just have to hire an insider consultant (minority/female) to do the paper work, just like on formal contracts (PMI anyone?).
Promotions of loyalists, cronies, union buddies and shop stewards. Political decisions more important than fundamental business decisions. Seemingly global lack of integrity, in legal, in labor relations, in management, in Management Employee Association and IBEW union. Hide, cover up, stall, delay harass, retaliate. IBEW has black listed at least 10 former EAA employees, and denied them membership, while taking their dues.
And a fair and objective hiring and promotional process? DWP seems to take things to lower and lower lows. Pretense seems now almost unnecessary. Hiring and promoting less than qualified has real bottom line costs, beyond damage to loyal, qualified employees, minorities, females, or otherwise. DWP is the controlling authority. Whoose to say otherwise?
Historically, DWP was run by engineers. (currently a four letter word in many circles).
Engineers tend to take a conservative approach. To overbuild. To overdesign. Maybe less "cooperative." Maybe not as good at BS. And not as good at snow jobs while being publicly "beat up" at city hall public meetings. Engineers have been the key to DWP success. Vision, planning, objectivity, drive to fulfill core business. They are now history, as far as managing DWP.
Non engineers/attorneys/administratative types/bureaucrats seem to be willing to bend the rules, to rationalize, to push the envelope. To give away the store. DWP is a monopoly after all, and rate payers are always on the hook. Take a risk on reliable water and power? Nonsense?
Eliminate all DWP Exempt manager positions. No rocket science needed to figure out who the first to go should be. Some female exempt heads may roll as well. Politically dynamite. But do they, or others, add value? Base positions on business necessity, not political necessity. Way too many Assistant General Managers. And a biased selection process here as well? Exclude any former Southern California Edison employee from management positions. SCE culture is very different, and SCE, after all, is a competitor.
Require the DWP General Manager, and top managers, to have an engineering degree, as it once was. Not a political degree. Not a law degree.
Neutralize/isolate problem civil service managers who cannot otherwise be encouraged to leave (for example, retire, transfer, quit).
Get rid of long term consultants. Do work in house.
Unscramble civil service classifications. New classifications and class consolidations have done great damage, especially Electrical Services Manager. Electrical Services Managers are not Equivalent to Power Engineering Managers.
Promote carefully employees based on dedication to DWP, ability to do the job. Especially emphasize integrity.
Eliminate, or transfer to City Hall, any DWP function not a core business, or business that generates actual revenue. Keep fiber optics, cell site rentals, or anything else generating revenue. Eliminate any group or individual giving away money, goods, or services. Like business development. If it is really important, let City hall do the work, do the social programs, and pay for it, outside of DWP.
Improve the job City Personnel does. More funding. Get rid of all exempt positions in City Personnel. Need honesty, integrity, and independence of City Personnel from City Hall and from DWP manipulation.
Put IBEW's feet to the fire. Audit the Trust Funds. Make sure all Trust Fund meetings are publicized public meetings. Audit the Joint Safety Institute, Joint Training Institute, IBEW health plans, and anything else taking DWP money. (Hello, Ms. Chick). See where the money goes, and who benefits. Federal audit of IBEW management income tax returns?? Investigation of bank accounts? Audit of IBEW financial records? Audit of all contracts IBEW has, paid for using DWP moneys? IBEW campaign contributions audit? RICO anyone?
Review and revise the process for election of employee representatives to the DWP Retirement Board of Administration. IBEW currently backs "favorite" candidates. Such as shop stewards, and other loyalists. This allows them better control of DWP, DWP management, $6B retirement fund, pursuit of political and social agendas using retirement fund clout, risks lower return on investment (at great cost to ratepayers?), and potential for questionable, if not unlawful actions. http://retirement.ladwp.com/
Try employee focus groups/lunches. The truth will out very quickly.
Replace the Director of Corporate Health and Safety with a real Safety person (not a high paid IBEW "favorite"). Recommend a Safety Administrator (civil service classification)
Stop giveaway's to the Bureau of Street Lighting, Street Maintenance, Department of Transportation, and Recreation and Parks, including free power. Change the Electric Rate Ordinance so everyone who gets power pays fairly. No more free lunches.
Audit all confidential contracts with large power users. Great potential for funny business, kickbacks, and campaign donations at the expense of DWP.
Get ALL exempt managers and consultants out of Finance and Accounting. Too easy to cook the books, or "spin" the facts.
Customers with special discounts/benefits/rebates must be verified US Citizens.
Only hire new employees, including exempt employees, and contractors, who are verified US Citizens (DWP is a national security issue).
Serious background checks for all new DWP employees.
Stop giveaways to the public, and private, via council influence.
Audit and annually track all moneys provided to other city departments. Free services, fees, fines, street resurfacing fees, pressure vessel fees, lot cleanup fees, lighting in city parks, streetlight installations, Christmas lights, etc. DWP is not Santa Claus, or the tooth fairy.
Audit all sales of DWP real estate since 1997. Prosecute any funny business, no matter where the cards fall, even councilpersons, commissioners, their spouses, friends, and campaign donors or fundraisers. (Giveaway of the "surplus" DWP Canoga Park Service Headquarters to a favored women's group at the second lowest bid??? Hello Ms. Miscowski? How about diverted DWP (and police??) resources for The Grove. Hello Mr. Caruso? And funny business at the Bureau of Street Lighting? And funny business contracts at General Services? When will we see that audit, Ms. Chick? Bad for your reelection campaign?)
Restart on-campus recruiting for engineers. Start hiring engineers to get them up to speed before existing engineers retire. Feb 1, 2006 may be a popular retirement date. The exodus is beginning.
Reduce annual transfers to city hall to 5 percent. NO supplemental one time only transfers.
Lay down criteria that DWP is a business, and is to be operated as a business. Have a hot line to someone with clout for anonymous watchdog reporting, faxing, e-mailing.
Create an authority that can respond to claims of violations of civil service rules. Things seem to be out of control at present. No rules. No accountability. No rocket science here either. Five minutes of asking questions anywhere will yield answers. Tape record and preserve tape recording of all new hire, transfer, and promotional interviews held at DWP. May need to hold interviews at City Personnel Dept. Maybe include an exempt "Interview Specialist" in such interviews? Cannot trust DWP on this.
Without a fair and objective hiring, promotion, and transfer process, DWP will continue to be doomed. Simply a despised puppet, to be alternately robbed and cursed, to serve at the whim of the mayor and council, to be beat up publicly for "evil" deeds, to further political ambitions. Bad, bad puppet.
Prosecute criminally and civilly any manager who behaves inappropriately, unlawfully, or unethically. Send a clear message to everyone that there are rules, and no one is exempt. That DWP is to be run as a business.
Revise the selection process for DWP commissioners. Seek a balance of left wing and right wing. Maybe have them selected by neighborhood councils?? Or by city council (instead of the Mayor?) Or by election? How about one member being a retired DWP manager, selected by DWP retirees? With a defined term?
Reinstate rules that all managers over technical areas must have a current, valid, engineering license.
Reinstate selecting General Managers from ENGINEERS within DWP. Choose long term civil service employees with proven integrity and performance. Can also cut the pay of General Manager. Civil service employees will work for less as General Manager, and may be expected to perform better in improving the bottom line.
Make DWP far more independent of City Hall and the Mayor, and all the political micromanaging, such as green power taking priority over cheap, clean reliable coal power from Intermountain Power Plant. Get realistic. Get pragmatic. Need to be run as a business, not as a political campaign. Stop the spin. And hope for a miracle or two.
Treetop Yodeler
posted by The Gadfly at 5:00 AM
1 Comments:
Recycled So Cal Edison managers at DWP? Hmmmm Bull in the china shop Edward Chauncy Miller, stiff upper lip word economiser Enrique Martinez, and slick as oil Harold Dalton Lindsey, from the SCE era of manipulating safety numbers, and customer surveys, to questionably get millions in Public Utility Commission bonuses? But they fit in so well with the puppet masters, and Mayor Jim's DWP lawyer buddy Tom Hokinson, and the loyal DWP sidekick, master of manipulations, Mike Coia. Have a heart, pleeese. These guys need a little love, and maybe nice ratepayer financed retirement checks and medical coverage.
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