10/11/2007 Should Centennial voters approve Question 200? She says: 'Ask First' does not make sense for Centennial Rebecca McClellan As a city council member in Centennial, I'd like to share my perspective on the matter of "Ask First Centennial." This editorial is not written on behalf of the city, or on behalf of any other elected official. hen the Centennial City Council was asked to pass "Ask First Centennial" as an ordinance, no elected official moved for its passage. That may be due in part to the fact that if one sees preventing the withholding of union dues as a goal of "Ask First," the issue is moot in our city. Centennial is a contract city with no unionized employees. If you'd been given the impression that "Ask First Centennial" would empower city employees to have greater control over their paychecks, you may want to be aware of some concerns. The plain language in "Ask First Centennial" could be interpreted to mean that our city employees wouldn't be at liberty to make payroll deductions except as expressly allowed. For example, this may call into question their ability to make payroll deductions to a non-retirement brokerage account or to a child's college savings fund. We have one of the leanest city staff-to-citizen ratios in Colorado and even so, our salaries aren't on the high side. Our staff provides excellent value for the dollar. Treating them as second-class citizens by interfering with their paychecks raises concerns, both moral and practical. How would this kind of governmental overreach into the financial lives of city employees impact our ability to recruit and retain talented professionals who can best serve citizens? If passed, "Ask First Centennial" would make payroll deductions to charitable organizations more challenging for city employees to make by requiring them to submit an additional written authorization annually. Unless you feel it's in the city's best interest to interfere with contributions to the Red Cross, the USO, or any other charitable organization, then "Ask First Centennial" is problematic in this regard. Centennial's tradition of respect for the tax dollar, and for the value of preventing governmental overreach is not best honored by "Ask First Centennial." The council's unanimous absence of support for passage of an "Ask First Centennial" ordinance was in my opinion, consistent with Centennial's best interests. Rebecca McClellan was elected to represent Ward 3 on the Centennial City Council in 2005.

©Colorado Community Newspapers 2007