I met RPV resident Ken Dyda a few years ago when we he was running for City Council. I heard he was running again for City Council of Rancho Palos Verdes, and asked him to tell me about that decision. He sat down with me to tell me his story and position.
EN: Ken, I know you are a Founding Father of the City of Rancho Palos Verdes and have served on City Council in the past. You are now running for City Council in Rancho Palos Verdes. What events sparked that decision?
KD: I have watched the city slowly move away from its founding principles. More and more is being relegated to the staff. It seems there is a misconception between oversight and micromanagement. The council has made decisions based on misrepresented and redacted information in the recent past. The city needs to return to a more actively involved council and insist on complete and accurate information in order to make informed decisions for the benefit of the resident. Transparency must be more than a slogan but a reality.
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EN: In your opinion, what challenges do you foresee the city facing over the next few years?
1. Building senior staff members that are not only good administrators but knowledgeable in the field they administer.
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2. Developing a more definitive budget process.
3. Stop the hemorrhaging of taxpayer dollars of the patchwork effort on the Portuguese bend slide.
4. Develop and implement a more sustainable pension program for all new employees.
5. Only apply for grants that support an identified city need consistent with the city’s goals, general plan and resident desires.
EN: How would you effectively see that these challenges are met?
KD: To meet these challenges would require council majority vote. I believe I can make persuasive arguments to convince my fellow councilmembers of the efficacy and benefits of these initiatives for the residents.
1. The position requirements for a specific department administrator need to include knowledge of the field they are to administer. The city could use its educational reimbursement to encourage professional staff members in a department to pursue an additional degree in management and administration.
2. Rather than just budgeting general categories, each category should have a subsection defining the specific projects and their estimated costs. These projects should be included in the goals for the city. They need to define the specific end result, the time frame and the budget.
3. The city can’t wait for the loss of a portion of PV Drive South in the Portuguese bend slide area to become so critical, as it did for the San Ramon Canyon and the PV Drive East switchbacks. We know the underlying cause of the slide and it’s time to take definitive action. This project can be divided into manageable components. These can be ordered in a hierarchy that begins with that complement capable of the greatest benefit. Those benefits may even reduce the complexity of future complements in the program. It could also begin to reduce the annual cost of over $500,000 year just to maintain PV Drive South plus an additional $2-$5 million every 2, 3 or 4 years to relocate it.
4. The Council was told that the Public Employee's Retirement System, in effect at the time, was a contractual obligation. Their analysis resulted in setting up a second tier pension program for new employees that had some financial benefit to the city. It’s somewhat reduced the city’s contribution to the program and reduced the benefit formula. A change to the benefits from a possible 75% of the highest salary plus cost-of-living allowance for tier 1, to a pssible 70% of the highest salary plus cost-of-living allowance for tier 2. In my view this does not change sustainability by any significant amount. For a city of our size to administer our own pension plan would be administratively daunting. However, there are firms that will manage a pension program for the city, such as a 401(k), for a manageable fee.
5. Grants from government agencies are still your tax dollars. Applying for such grants that may become available for projects not yet defined and for excessive development not consistent with the city goals and general plan, in my view, is an unnecessary use of staff time and the related cost. Before doing any work on the grant, regardless of its urgency, the staff should present the option to the city Council. The Council then has the obligation to determine whether or not it is part of an existing plan or a contemplated plan for the future and a project that is consistent with the city’s goals and general plan. If not, no other expenditures should be made for that grant.
EN: You bought your home in RPV in the '60's. What was that like?
KD: Lorraine and I visited the Peninsula in 1952 shortly after we arrived in California. We immediately initiated a 10 year plan to live on the Peninsula. We chose our lot from developer’s grading plans even before he had all the approvals. The view was fantastic. It began in the west with the coastline of the Queen’s necklace starting a Redondo Beach and moving up the coast to Malibu. Then it swung over the entire LA basin toward the east up to and including Cajon pass. The unincorporated area was being actively developed to meet the housing shortage. Unfortunately there was a trend of high-rise high density buildings being built. However, at this time the magnificent coastline in the unincorporated area stretching from Palos Verdes Estates down to San Pedro was still intact from the very beginning and even until today. This Peninsula has a community feeling unlike anywhere else in LA County. Even back then, going to any public place, you were sure to run into people you knew. In our view it was as close to paradise as you could get to raise a family. Fortunately, with the incorporation of Rancho Palos Verdes in 1973 we were able to retain that feeling of Paradise.
