Budget committee examines transfer of data‑entry clerk after bargaining‑unit oversight

The Budget and Finance Committee heard from a senior adviser and the city's finance staff about an "oversight" that transferred a data‑entry clerk position from the mayor's office to the Department of Public Works and raised bargaining‑unit issues.

Senior adviser Spanner told the committee the administration "apologize[d]" for the error and asked the committee to allow the position to remain under the mayor's office for now so the city can negotiate with the clerical bargaining unit (SEIU). "I would like to apologize for that because, we didn't think it ahead," Spanner said.

Vice Chair Councilor Vivian Marmol pressed the administration for details, saying the timing and presentation of the change during budget hearings made it appear deliberate. "I don't think it was an oversight. It comes across as intentional," Marmol told the adviser.

CAFO Ramona Ceballos explained the contract language that prompted the reversal: the clerical (SEIU) agreement lists exclusions for certain mayoral‑office clerical positions, which means moving a role into DPW would require bargaining and could change salary and bargaining status. "Clerical employees in the office of the Mayor" are excluded under the contract, she said, and moving the post would have placed it in the clerical unit.

Councilors debated options — returning the incumbent to the mayor's office while negotiating with the union, keeping the employee in DPW and re‑negotiating, eliminating the position, or finding a different departmental posting — and asked about budget impacts. Ceballos said the $600,000 question (for a later agenda item) was unrelated; for this item she emphasized that any salary adjustments would result from bargaining and that the administration preferred to correct the placement now and handle bargaining at the end of the fiscal year.

After discussion and multiple procedural motions failed for lack of a second, the committee voted on a motion to send the item to the full council with an unfavorable recommendation; the motion carried on roll call. The committee recorded the disagreement among members and asked the administration to pursue the appropriate bargaining steps and to provide clearer documentation for future budget submissions.

What happens next: the item will be forwarded to the full council with the committee's unfavorable recommendation; any change that affects pay or bargaining status will require negotiation with the SEIU clerical unit and (where applicable) agreement with the incumbent employee.