Shields uses vote on police chief to object to idea of privatizing parking operation with lower-wage employees

The agenda item Wednesday evening was a formality -- approving City Manager Jim Prosser's new choice for police chief. The council had met the finalist candidates. And by city charter, council members had the ability to advise on the choosing along the way.

Nonetheless, council member Justin Shields used the vote on the chief to connect to another vote that is expected to be coming in the weeks ahead. That is one on privatizing some or all of the city's parking operation, which even advocates acknowledge will mean replacing public employees with lower-paid employees working for a private parking manager.

Shields made note that the city's new police chief, Greg Graham, will be paid $122,907 a year while his predecessor, Mike Klappholz, was earning $114,129 a year when he retired in March.

Shields, president of Hawkeye Labor Council, said he couldn't figure out why the city was paying the new chief more than the old one even as it was contemplating running its parking operation on contract, which he said invariably means lower-paid employees.

"I don't understand how that fits together," Shields said.

"If the philosophy is to cut wages," then why raise the chief's salary? he wondered.

He said Iowa already has a problem with low wages, and he didn't' like that at least part of the city's approach seemed to be to contribute to that.

In the end, he called the new chief an "excellent" pick and voted to approve his selection along with the other council members.

But he had used the moment to fire a shot over the bow for the coming debate over public v. private parking.

The Downtown District has been excited about looking at privatizing the downtown parking operation, hoping to get what it says might be better service and better-maintained parking facilities.

A committee studying the matter had narrowed the competition to two private vendors in recent weeks, and the city said the council would be asked to decide before July 1, the start of the new budget year, on whether or not to make a move to privatization.

To read about public v. private, go to: http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080416/NEWS/383977789/1006/news