Yorba Linda City Manager earns salary hike; landscape pact renewals; tree replacement policy

Three Yorba Linda topics merit ink this week: a raise and contract extension for City Manager Mark Pulone, contracts for landscape service for three of the city's largest maintenance areas and a look at numbers under a revised tree removal policy.

--Pulone, the city's top administrative officer since August 2013, was given a 2 per cent salary increase and a contract extension through 2020 on a 5-0 City Council vote. The $5,464 boost brings his annual salary to $218,614.

The increase, according to a report by City Attorney Todd Litfin, is based on “merit and performance that correlates to increases in cost-of-living expenses.” The extension also caps Pulone to a maximum nine months severance pay if he's “terminated without cause.”

The city's website lists salary ranges for six other management positions, as well as 25 mid-management and 69 miscellaneous classifications. Retirement plans and benefits also are explained.

To view, click on “human resources” under “transparency in government.” Data under “compensation” is from 2012, but my Sept. 4 column lists salaries and benefits for each council member (at ocregister.com/yorbalinda click on “Yorba Linda Star,” then “archives”).

--Three renewed contracts with an annual cost of more than $700,000 for landscape maintenance services in the city's cash-strapped Landscape Maintenance Assessment District also earned unanimous council approval.

The pacts are for East Lake Village, Vista Del Verde and west Yorba Linda areas, at yearly costs of $280,126; $248,805; and $185,039, respectively. The first two were renewed without price hikes, while the third has a permitted 1.4 percent consumer price index boost.

The city has seven landscape maintenance packages that are bid for initial three-year terms with two two-year renewals allowed. The December 2015-November 2017 renewals are the last for Rockey Murata (East Lake, Vista Del Verde) and Nieves Landscape (west side).

“This allows vendors to justify hiring the proper amount of labor and would give the vendor the confidence needed to move forward on the purchase of new equipment, which translates into better service,” noted a report by Bruce Carleton, assessment district manager.

--An April change in the city's longstanding tree replacement policy distinguishes between removals due to “risk” and “convenience.”

“Prior to the modifications of the policy there was no mechanism that allowed staff to approve tree removal requests for non-risk management purposes,” reported Director of Public Works Mike Wolfe.

So far, the city has received 28 requests for removals in the new “convenience” category, 22 in Landscape Maintenance Assessment District areas and six in city rights-of-way. Three were approved and 19 are in various stages of the process.

All six of the rights-of-way requests were withdrawn “once the requester was made aware that they would be financially responsible for the removals.”