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With Pets In Need taking over Palo Alto’s animal-services operation, the city is raising its severance payments to the five employees who are facing layoffs as a result of the new partnership.
Under its agreement with the Service Employees International Union Local 521, the city is obligated to offer employees a month of salary as severance pay. But under a proposal that the City Council approved this week, each employee will get — in addition to the month of severance pay — another week of salary for every year of service, to a maximum of eight weeks.
In addition, the city had agreed to give each employee adequate compensation to cover four months of health, dental and vision premiums.
The city decided to raise the severance package after meet-and-confer meetings with the union, which represents four of the five positions. In doing so, management concluded “it is in the best interest of the City to provide additional severance pay to the employees who are impacted by the transition,” a report from the Human Resources Department states.
“Palo Alto shelter employees have demonstrated outstanding service, loyalty and a commitment to a successful transfer of operations,” the report states.
The deal pertains to the animal shelter’s animal services specialist, veterinary technician, administrative specialist, general laborer (the only hourly position) and veterinarian (the only position not represented by the SEIU). The bonus severance will cost the city about $50,023.
The council supported increasing the severance pay for these positions by an 6-1 vote, with Councilman Greg Tanaka as the sole dissenter. Tanaka said he saw no reason for giving a severance package that exceeds what is required in the city’s agreement with the SEIU.
“For me, it’s a really bad precedent,” Tanaka said. “Because if we have a memorandum of agreement, why are we going beyond that, especially if we are willing to expand it or ignore it.”
Tanaka also questioned the need for raising the bonuses in an email to City Manager Ed Shikada. He referred to the departing employees as “temporary workers” (even though three of them are full-time employees) and asked what benefit — “outside of goodwill” — the city is getting out of this arrangement.
Shikada said in his response that the five employees, despite knowing that their jobs are being outsourced, continued to work for the city.
“If they had resigned or retired when the City first entered into negotiation with an outside service provider, services to the Community would have been disrupted,” Shikada responded.
Under the agreement approved by the council, the employees must remain in their positions until Feb. 21 to be eligible for the additional severance pay. They will also have the option of staying even longer. According to Shikada, Pets In Need has extended job offers to the city employees at the shelter.
With Pets In Need now officially at the helm, Lead Animal Control Cody Macartney issued a Facebook statement on Thursday night to local residents, customers, patrons and “fellow animal lovers.”
“Today marks the last day of operation for Palo Alto Animal Services,” he wrote.
Macartney said the new shelter operator, Pets In Need, “pledges a high level of service and will to continue to offer animal adoptions, spay and neuter services, low cost vaccines, dog licensing, lost and found services, fundraising, education programs, and more.”
He also noted that the past three years haven’t been easy at the shelter. But even with the shelter’s future uncertain, its staff “continued to work tirelessly to maintain a high level of service for the animals and residents of Palo Alto, Los Altos and Los Altos Hills.”
“An already slender crew was stretched incredibly thin. And in the end, staff departures left some services and hours of operation cut,” Macartney wrote. “The decision to change the Shelter’s management is bittersweet. Our hearts and souls went into the shelter and our work, but we look forward to the restoration of vital shelter services and the ability to refocus our efforts.”
Watch the Jan. 11 episode of “Behind the Headlines” in which Pets In Need Executive Director Al Mollica discusses what pets owners can expect when the nonprofit takes over city animal shelter operations on our YouTube channel or podcast page.
Those employees deserve the extra severance. They served the public and the animals through months and months of negotiations without knowing what was going to happen. We’re not talking about a year’s severance either. Most of them have been in their positions for more than 10 years. It’s entirely appropriate that they should have those monies. They did a great job and deserve to be rewarded for their dedication.
While I’m all for helping folks whose jobs we just privatized, did anyone actually do the math on the totality of this Pets in Need thing? It all seems to hinge on bizarrely rosy-eyed assumption (foisted by departing City Manager and Deputy) that Pets in Need will raise and simply hand over gobs of fund-raising. An amazing new building at a fraction of the public cost
Call me skeptical. When they don’t raise the money, or don’t hand it over, then our contingency plan kicks in. Oh wait, we don’t have one. Seventeen managers, yes, but a plan, no. [Our partner knows this, to be sure.] Meanwhile, this will be one of a dozen “bumps” in the way that will result in a big check being written. When all is said and done, this will turn out as well as the decade old-debacle around the Ross Building.
And yes, I do know it’s a good organization and a needed service. But I am so hopeful that we can ALSO start operating with an understanding that money doesn’t arrive in wheelbarrows and the spend spend spend days won’t/can’t last forever. And our dear leaders making $240k/year to negotiate deals like this need to be much, much better.
I take no issue with the exception in this instance for the reasons noted above by Ms.Snow.
I also think Sally makes good points. I think we should look skeptically at anything our former CM promoted on his way out the door. He was a very expensive person to have at the helm.
In general, I appreciate that Tanaka is a hawk on finances. This time around he based his no vote on an existing Memorandum of Agreement. I think it unfortunate that he didn’t apply that same logic on Monday, respect the then existing Downtown Commercial Cap, and vote to retain it.
Can someone please explain how this yet another instance of outsourcing is saving us taxpayers money? Yes, I understand that city employees will cost the city money on their health insurance if and when they retire 40 years from now. Is that really what this is about? Why does the cost of employee/retiree health insurance have to trump all other management considerations?
QUOTE: The bonus severance will cost the city about $50,023.
A ‘drop in the bucket’ considering the inflated salaries some city administrators make.
Will the new proprietors of the Animal Shelter still loan out animal traps as did PA Animal Services?
We have an occasional feral cat problem & the PA Animal Services have always been very helpful in lending the traps to us. Once caught, we simply call PA Animal Services back & they take the cats away.
Temporary workers? This comment by Greg Tanaka is just clueless. Some of these workers have been at the Animal Shelter for decades. Bonnie Yoffe s a great vet who at the shelter took on spay and neuter of animals that other vets couldn’t do well, such as exotic pets. Other vets referred these cases to her and spoke highly of her abilities. To call someone like her a “temporary worker” is just insulting.
Thanks you, PAAS employees. You have done a great job for years.