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Indybay Feature

6/29, Oakland: Risk Management in Oakland?

by Rashidah for PUEBLO
> We can't let these political pranks go by without comment. Come and stand with
> us on Tuesday night, and DEMAND that Council implement the Risk Management
> policy they adopted in January NOW!
Background on the issue and history of Risk Management and some talking points are in the attachment (pasted below)

From Rashidah Grinage

More stalling by the Council on risk management. We need to wake up the community and let them know the shell games this Council is playing.

We can't let these political pranks go by without comment. Come and stand with us on Tuesday night, and DEMAND that Council implement the Risk Management policy they adopted in January NOW!

FEEL FREE TO DISTRIBUTE WIDELY TO YOUR LISTSERVES, FRIENDS, ETC.
THANKS.

Rashidah
PUEBLO
1920 Park Blvd.
Oakland, CA 94606
452 2010


OAKLAND LEGISLATES BUT DOESN’T IMPLEMENT


A CALL OUT TO THE COMMUNITY
At the CITY COUNCIL/ORA MEETING OF JUNE 29, 2004


In January of 1998, the Oakland City Council adopted a Risk Management Policy (RMIP) originally proposed by PUEBLO. Six years later, it was revealed through a Public Records Act request that Staff had never implemented the program, although they had been issuing yearly reports suggesting that the program was in place. After much discussion, in January of 2004, the Council decided to adopt a slightly different model (based on the ‘Phoenix model’) Now Staff says we must wait until the 2005-2007budget-cycle before it is operational, and the Rules Committee refuses to schedule a discussion of this matter!

Managing the City’s risk, reducing its exposure to liability, STOPPING THE WASTE OF TAXPAYERS’ MONEY, SHOULD BE A TOP PRIORITY. At a time when local and county agencies are crying about having to slash budgets as a result of State and Federal cuts, Oakland can ill afford this foot-dragging by Staff. Staff has had six months to do the math; either they don’t know how to do it, or they simply don’t want to. ONCE AGAIN, STAFF IS SIMPLY HIGH-JACKING PUBLIC POLICY, and Council must put a stop to it!

Every election time, the question is asked, “Why do so many people not bother to vote?” Is it any wonder, when we have the City playing shell games with the community? What’s the use of going to town hall meetings, and getting something passed on paper, when it’s never going to see the light of day??? How can we say ‘your vote matters’ when even the Council’s vote doesn’t seem to matter!

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. IMPLEMENTING RISK MANAGEMENT SHOULD BE A PART OF THIS 2004-2005 BUDGET REVISION PROCESS. A YEAR’S DELAY IS UNACCEPTBABLE. OAKLAND MUST MANAGE ITS RISK NOW!

THE MATH: HOW HARD IS IT?

The ‘Phoenix model’ of Risk Management requires the following:

l. A calculation of how much money to set aside each fiscal year for liability; and

2. A calculation of the proportion of the City’s overall liability that is generated by the Big 4 Departments, averaged over a five-year period;

3. The transfer from the Non-Departmental General Liability Fund to the specific Big 4 Departments’ budget that amount: their ‘share’ of the City’s liability, from which payouts are drawn down, as they occur.

This policy was adopted on January 6, 2004. Step 1 has already been done: there is already an amount set aside for liability in the 2004-2005 budget. So…all that remains is to figure out the five year payout history of the Big 4 Departments: Police, Fire, Public Works, and Parks and Rec (already done up through FY 2002), and determine what proportion of the overall City payouts that represents!

Step 3 is simply the transfer of that amount from one fund to another!!!

Do you believe that this takes more than 6 months to accomplish this 8th grade math problem, or do you believe that Staff simply decided to wait until 2005 to implement it???? Come to the Council and DEMAND that this program which seeks to reduce the situations that give rise to expensive law suits that waste our precious resources be implemented NOW ---- not a year from now!!!
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