More To Pleasant Hill City Council Agenda Item Than Meets The Eye

PLEASANT HILL, CA — A consent calendar item on the Pleasant Hill City Council's Monday night agenda figures to mark the official end of a joint Martinez-Pleasant Hill agency that, as used by Martinez, will end up costing that city millions of dollars.

The Pleasant Hill council will likely not talk at all Monday about the dissolution of the Pleasant Hill-Martinez Joint Facilities Agency, created in 1975 to operate and staff the two cities' recreational facilities.

There is no proof this joint agency ever served its intended purpose, or ever held meetings in either city. But in 1983, almost three-quarters of Martinez's total workforce were technically made employees of the Joint Facilities Agency, and not the city. That meant the workers paid
into a CalPERS retirement fund, and not into Social Security, as is typical for most city workers.

This remained the case in Martinez for many years until a 2015 report by the California Public Employees' Retirement Systems Office of Audit Services contended that those 100 or so workers — non-sworn Martinez police department employees, administrative assistants, corporation yard employees and managers — should have city employees and paying into Social Security all along.

In July, the Martinez City Council voted to take out a five-year, $4-million line of credit to cover three years of back Social Security taxes and other expenses the city must pay in connection with the JFA — the maximum penalty. The exact amount of that repayment has yet to be determined.

The Martinez City Council voted in January to dissolve the joint agency.

Monday's Pleasant Hill City Council meeting begins at 7 p.m. at Pleasant Hill City Hall, 100 Gregory Lane.

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By Bay City News Service