The Weekly Newspaper of El Segundo
Herald Publications - El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 109, No. 45 - November 5, 2020
El Segundo Girls Softball Team
Takes Home the First Place Win
A group of girls from El Segundo and their friends competed in a softball tournament in Mesquite, Nevada October 24th and 25th. The Eagles had an impressive run going 6-0 in the tournament. They
faced teams from Nevada and Colorado. Here they are showing off their first-place rings. Pictured from top left to right are: Sullivan Mclaughlin, Kathleen Lane, Molly McAndrews, Grace Linares, Ava
Waters, Carter Cswaykus, Kaitlin Crossett. Bottom left to right are: Brooke Engelhardt, Ella Sabosky, Layla Yermian, Olivia Galaviz, Ava Rumsey, Madeleine Ferrier, Katherine Reed. The head coach is Steve
Cleland. Photo courtesy Jordan Lane.
City Employees Offered $25k
Bonuses for Year-End Retirements
By Rob McCarthy
The financial effects of COVID-19 are
driving changes at El Segundo City Hall,
where officials on Tuesday pitched an incentive
Coloring Contest for All Ages
We received letters asking for an adult
aged version of our coloring contest,
and we are happy to comply. We now
have young adult and adult categories
for our coloring contests. Everyone’s
home these days, so let’s get creative. We
have four age groups: two age groups for
the simpler image 5-8 years old, 9-12
years old, and two age groups for the
more detailed image, ages 13-18 years
old and ages 19 and over. Each age
group will have one winner, who will receive
a $20 Gift Certificate! Everyone will get a
treat for participating because everyone’s a
winner with the Herald. We will publish
the four winning submissions in the following
edition of the El Segundo Herald.
The artwork is due Monday, November
16, 2020. Email (web@heraldpublications.
com) or mail/drop off at our office: 500
Center Street, El Segundo. We are social
distancing and won’t answer the door,
but we have a mail slot in the glass door
entry to slide it through. Good luck, and
we can’t wait to see your artwork. Have
fun. Go to pages 10-11 to start coloring. •
program of $25,000 for select employees
who agree to retire by year’s end. The earlydeparture
program is voluntary, and the 30
eligible employees will have three weeks to
make their decisions. If enough staff accepts
the offer, it could lower the city’s payroll
until revenues rebound along with the local
economy. El Segundo could reap a longer-term
bonus, too. The city’s pension contributions
could decline as experienced employees leave,
and replacements are hired. Public-employee
pension costs are linked to service time.
Each employee who accepts the retirement
offer will save El Segundo about $15,000
during the current fiscal year - assuming
the position stays vacant for at least four
months. Chief Financial Officer Joe Lillio
discussed several ideas with bargaining groups,
management, and individual employees, and
he reported the early-retirement incentive
generated the most interest. With the City
Council’s support, the offers will go out immediately
to 30 full-time employees eligible
under CalPers rules to retire. The workers
will have until November 25 to opt-in. They
must sign a binding agreement to retire by
December 31.
Rising pension obligations - due to changes
in the funding formula for CalPers - are a
concern for California cities and local governments.
Lillio assured council members that
filling the targeted positions with new employees
can alleviate some of the pension-funding
pressures facing El Segundo. According to a
report for the City Council, the city is looking
at up to $600,000 in savings in future
pension contributions if enough employees
take the money and retire this year.
The report did not specify which jobs or
staffers made the list. To be eligible, city
employees must have worked full time for
at least three years, with 12 consecutive
months of service back to November 2019.
The program has specific eligibility requirements,
which limit who can leave before 2021
and still cash out. Police and fire personnel
aren’t eligible because they are essential to
emergency services under the rules. Neither
will the city manager or deputy city manager,
or the department directors be offered the deal
- ditto for the police and fire chiefs, battalion
chief, captains, lieutenants, and sergeants.
See City Council, page 7
El Segundo
Election
Results*
Schools
El Segundo Unified School District
Dieema A. Wheaton and
Michael David Wagner
Wiseburn Unified School District
Neil Goldman and
Joanne L. Kaneda
El Camino College District, Area 1
Kenneth A. Brown
El Camino College District, Area 3
Trisha Murakawa
El Camino College District, Area 4
Katherine Steinbroner Maschler
Water District
West Basin Municipal, Division 3
Desi Alvarez
West Basin Municipal, Division 5
Donald “Don” Dear
State Measures
Measure 14
Bonds For Stem Cell Research - Yes
Measure 15
Increased Funding Sources - Yes
Measure 16
Allows Diversity - Yes
Measure 17
Right to Vote After Prison - Yes
Measure 18
17-Year-olds to Vote - Yes
Measure 19
Changes Property Tax - No
Measure 20
Restricts Parole - No
Measure 21
Local Govt Rent Control - No
Measure 22
Exemption of Drivers - Yes
Measure 23
Kidney Dialysis
Medical Professional - No
Measure 24
Consumer Privacy Laws - Yes
Measure 25
Referendum on
Money Bail System - No
* Results by deadline