Editor,
We are voting for Laura Parisi because she is a CPA and has SEC and industry experience. Rather than viewing these credentials as negatives for the city, we view them as positives. Not only has Laura been professionally trained, with the experience and expertise to perform the duties required, she also brings independence and integrity to the treasury position.
The cost of the treasury function has been questioned in campaign materials and we agree it is always good civic duty to question the compensation of our public servants. We would like to know how much of a savings would result from a change in personnel at the position and at what cost to the city in terms of experience and expertise?
We are aware that in December 2015 Laura was awarded additional pay by the City Council for professional services she was asked by the city to perform that were outside of her normal responsibilities and duties. Our understanding is that the work related to changes required to be made to certain mandatory disclosures the city previously had made to the SEC that were discovered to be in error. The city wisely obtained the treasurer’s expertise at a rate of $60 per hour, which is considerably less than it would have paid for outside consultants.
At the City Council meeting awarding the treasurer the additional pay, council members made various relevant observations about the process. One council member asked what we believe are the pertinent questions—why was the treasurer asked to do this work and how did the errors happen? To our knowledge, those questions (and we would add another, what has been done to ensure the City does not get into a similar position again?) have yet to be answered in a public forum.
Campaign materials being distributed cite Laura’s expertise and experience as negatives. In our opinion, Laura’s expertise and experience have proved critical to the City of Laguna Beach in the past and are two of the reasons we are voting for her.
Mary Locatelli and Robin K. Hall, Laguna Beach
The authors are both CPAs.
The only problem that I see Laura Parisi having is being loyal to her job, and not being tied to any special interest group.
$60.00 an hour is practically working for free when you consider how much a good private CPA costs, not to mention having to consider all the attributes and additional education that is required to maintain her status.
She is one of s few people that would assist the city government through any crisis any still maintain a professional corporate demeanor as she always has.
What will happen if Laura Parisi ever retires! How will the city ever survivor? This is not a “job” – it is an Elected Part Time Position. Let’s get this back to where it really belongs!