Glendale City Council candidates' Q&A

The following are responses, edited for grammar and space, to questions issued by the Glendale News-Press. Candidate Chahe Keuroghelian was non-responsive.

ARAM KAZAZIAN

How will you pull the city through the economic downtown and resulting budget gaps?

First, holding each department accountable for their expenditures is a requirement. Cutting costs, whether it is in supplies, salaries or project cost cuts — each department must submit a realistic budget and a path for achieving that reduction.

Second, any city project that is currently in progress or pending must come in either at or under budget. In an effort to ensure this is done, bonuses will be awarded to the project managers and construction companies who accomplish this. Those who go over budget will be subject to fines and penalties. Each project will be assigned a non-city employee who will act as a project manager and will be required to adhere to the budget stipulations of any job.

Third, I would look at current high-paid employees who are at or near retirement and consider exploring a "golden parachute" retirement offer. Once those positions are vacated, staff can analyze the need to keep the position, or restructure work load to accommodate the elimination of that position. If that means hiring lower-level employees to compensate for the increased work load, it would be a cost-effective solution rather than to continue paying high salaries to a small group of people.

Explain your position on Measure U.

Measure U seeks to deceive the citizens with its wording, promising a reduction in taxes; however, what it fails to state is that while it may reduce the tax rate, it is adding a substantial number of services to the taxable group that are not already taxed, thereby creating a higher overall tax burden for the citizens.

Explain your plan for retaining existing businesses and attracting new ones amid this harsh economic climate.

Current businesses should be offered a reduction in commercial utility rates in order to keep small businesses afloat during these hard economic times. Furthermore, working with businesses to streamline the permit and neighborhood services processes is necessary to ensure that small businesses are not burdened with time-consuming items which take away from the normal course of business.