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Kenise Myers, 4672 Lakewood Street, asked if the management end confidential employees were all fire and police personnel. She also asked if the five percent increase would affect the retirement benefits. Ms. McKeehan apprised her of the makeup of the management and confidential employees group. Out of that group, close to 25 employees are in the fire and police category and the rest are other employees. The reason police and fire keep coming up is because it related to retirement pension conversations that were being discussed earlier. The five percent increase does not affect the retirement benefits. Ms. Myers wondered if subordinate employees were union members? Out of the total management group, Ms. McKeehan said department heads and middle managers were not union members. Employees the managers supervise are union members, with the exception of the nine confidential employees. Ms. Myers believed the public's perception to be that the five percent increase could not be justified, especially when they take into consideration their own income and the services that the City can and cannot offer, particularly with regard to building a new school or constructing the golf course bypass road. She reminded Council that they were elected to represent the citizens of this community. Bud Barlow, 6723 Alisal Street, worried about the financial status of the City. He did not believe a prediction could be made eight years in advance, and would like to return to some small portion of the old job incentive, which is to "work hard or get fired". He believed an independent citizens group should make these types of recommendations to the City. Bruce Torquemada, 3072 Albumi Street, concurred with comments made by previous speakers. He did not believe cost comparisons should be conducted solely with cities. Comparisons should be done with the private sector. He suggested some portion of the five percent increase be given for a six-month period, and during that time, members of the public could do a survey by region and compare some of the job classifications that would be comparable to public entities. He was also concerned about the State's financial crisis and was worried how this would impact him as a member of In response to an inquiry by Mr. Campbell, Ms. McKeehan stated that employees not covered under the management and confidential unit were granted a five percent increase for this year. For the record Ms. Ayala provided a written correspondence to the City Clerk from Judy Symcox who believed that increased compensation for government employees is a mulfi-faceted issue. While it would be nice, Ms. Symcox stated that it might not be suitable for the taxpayem of Pleasanton at this time. She requested the Council weigh the options carefully for the Pleasanton electorate. Pleasant City Council 23 10/21/03 M'mutes