Artesia City Council Enables City Manager’s Repressive Work Environment, But Fails In Union Busting Attempts

 

                                                                                                                                                                     

Artesia’s City Manager William “Bill” Rawlings has a history of creating tumultuous work environments.

For the past eight years, Rawlings has successfully created a repressive work environment, especially within the offices of City Hall. At least, that is what employees who work under him say. This overall dissatisfaction among the City’s workforce manifests itself in the City’s ever-increasing turnover rates. Artesia currently has one of the highest turnover rates for cities in the region.  Additionally, the employee union has documented almost eight years of mostly failed attempts to weaken and erode the employee union.  

But, this trend in poor employee relations might not be in Artesia only.  In Menifee, Rawlings was apparently asked to resign. Former Menifee City Councilmember Tom Fuhrman, who was on the City Council when Rawlings was working there, explained in an interview with the San Diego Union Tribune. “Difference in management style,” said Fuhrman. “We’ll leave it at that.”

Artesia employees also contend that three councilmembers in particular are actively enabling Rawlings’ ability to create a repressive work environment.

A ‘Caste System’

According to Andrew Perry, President of the employee union (AFSCME Local 1520), since the beginning of his hiring, Rawlings has set to creating a culture in Artesia that could be compared to a caste system.

“A former manager at Artesia recounted to me a retreat that Rawlings took the managers to, in Newport Beach. This individual was aghast when Rawlings basically told the managers that they’re the ones who run the City, and the rest of us were just drones or robots,” said Perry. “At least, that’s how this manager interpreted his comments.”

Perry also remembered certain incidents where the City Manager tried to persuade employees to deal directly with him, and not go through the union.  For example, Perry recalled times when Rawlings would approach represented employees and tell them that they can go through him, and that they had no need to go through the union if there were any problems.

Unfilled Positions

The Public Works Department is responsible for a lot of the work that the general public sees and notices. They repair roads, remove graffiti, pick up litter and trash, maintain the pristine condition of the City’s parks, public right-of-ways, and city facilities.

Prior to 2010, the City had a crew of almost 20 Public Works employees.  “For awhile, that was the dominant department in Artesia,” said Perry. 

In 2019, the City had seven employees in Public Works. As of June 2021, the City now only has five employees in Public Works.  “Even though those positions are still budgeted, it’s been well over a year since those two positions were vacated. As far as I can tell, there has been no effort to fill those positions.”

Similarly, Parking Control and Code Enforcement are two jobs that have positions budgeted, but for whatever reason have not been filled.  “I hear there is movement on this on the City’s end, but consider that Code Enforcement still has had one additional full time employee budgeted, and for years the City has only had one part-time employee in Parking Control, even though there’s four positions budgeted.”

In the meantime, the City tries to cover for this loss by contracting out.

“Contracting out is a big no-no through our contract with the City,” said Perry. “The City should be filling those budgeted positions, and only after those positions are filled is the City allowed to occasionally contract work.”

Perry explained that Code Enforcement and Parking Control are a part of every city. Hired employees are invested in the community and have an interest and accountability to its residents. Contractors are mainly interested and accountable to the money they are paid.

Perry added, “It’s been years since filling these budgeted vacancies, but as soon as three Management Analysts leave, like what has happened in the past few months, Bill moved quickly to fill FOUR Management Analysts! And look, I’m not in any way disparaging the Management Analysts - I’m calling attention to the fact that the City Manager is using them, sometimes abusing them, while completely ignoring the real need to fill these important represented positions.”

Targeting Employees Who Are Considered Threats to His Power

According to Perry, Rawlings can be vindictive.

“It happened to me,” said Perry. “I used to have plenty of projects. I’ve been with the City since 2005. In 2015, my supervisor walked into my office just as I was getting ready to leave for the day. She made it clear she was speaking on Bill’s behalf. She said that the City Manager noticed that I’m friends with councilmembers, local reporters, and community leaders. She explained that Bill wants to know that everyone below him is loyal to him, and then she asked if I was ‘loyal to the City Manager’.  Taken aback, I answered that I was loyal to the City.”  

Not even two months passed before all of Perry’s work was transferred and disseminated among a newly renovated group called Management Analysts. Prior to 2015, a Management Analyst was essentially a Human Resources Manager. Perry contends the position was repurposed for special projects, and essentially absorbed much of his previous duties.

“That’s essentially what happened. After giving all my duties away, Billy began to tell managers that I was too busy, and for a long time I literally had no projects at all.”

“Thankfully I’m in the union, and so I was protected. But still, that’s a very poor reason to be vindictive, given that I was actually on good terms with Bill only up until he started thinking I was a threat. All his fears are just inside his head.”

Perry added that just about every employee, unless they were just hired, has a ‘horror story’ about Bill. “Today, most of his interactions with employees are with the managers. The most recent horror stories are now with them,” he said.  

Three Councilmembers Enable City Manager’s Repressive Work Environment

“For several years now, I have talked to councilmembers about Bill’s effects on employee morale. They have been aware for a long time” said Perry.  “There are now three City Councilmembers who back him. It’s a simple majority. Those councilmembers are Ali Sajjad Taj, Tony Lima, and newcomer Monica Manalo.”

“There has to be a logical reason why these specific Councilmembers would consistently ignore the concerns of employees, and bend over backward to protect the City Manager from investigations. We think we know why Monica Manalo and Tony Lima are subservient to Bill. It may be election-related. I’m not sure why Ali Taj is, though. Unlike Lima and Manalo, Taj essentially ran his own election.  Is it because Bill helped get him a seat as a vice president on the League of California Cities?”

Taj has not responded to a request to answer this question.

Perry also added that there are two councilmembers who have shown themselves to be independent of the influence of the City Manager. “Those two are the current Mayor Rene Trevino and Mayor Pro Tem Melissa Ramoso. Aside from being champions for employees, they’ve shown themselves to be champions of the residents of Artesia.”