What do you consider the role of the city treasurer?
The role of the city treasurer is to act as the investment manager
of the city funds; act as the banker for the city and serve as
trustee for city bonds.
The other role of the city treasurer is to be accountable to the
people. The city of Glendale has mandated that the city treasurer be
publicly elected by the voters every four years to ensure this
accountability to the people.
I intend to be open and completely accountable to
the community. I will reach
out to our community and hold public informational seminars and
develop a complete web site similar to the Los Angeles and State
Treasurer.
What is your investment experience, and what is your vision for
the city's investment strategy?
My investment experience runs a range of activities from being an
individual investor, teaching classes on investing and money
management to representing individuals and companies engaged in
litigation against dishonest operations. In addition, I worked for
Bank of America and Union Bank in the trust department.
What is my vision for the city's investment strategy? First, have
an "independent" audit of the management of city investments to see
that the city is in compliance. Next, review all business
relationships with the office of the city treasurer for conflicts of
interest.
And then investigate forming working relationships with state
agencies like STRS and PERS, which combined have investment control
over more than $300 billion in assets.
What are the most important issues facing the city treasurer's
office?
We have been warned by Finance Director Bob Franz that the city of
Glendale many be facing budget deficits in as few as five years.
Thus, we should review our investment strategies and policies to
reflect the worst case situation so that we are not caught off guard
in case this warning turns out to be accurate.
The most important reason Glendale residents should vote for me is
because I will be accountable to them. I will provide residents
detailed information on the status of city investments that is
informative and understandable. This is not being provided at
present.
Next, I will provide accurate information that can be easily
verified. This is not being done at present.
Finally, I will reach out to the community and conduct with
subject matter experts, financial seminars for youth, adults and
seniors to explain the investing process.
