As a candidate for the Rocklin City Council, I have criticized our council for their continued spending of our tax dollars on pension spiking, massive pension contributions, and the over $100,000 a year PART-TIME salaries for the city management. Today, I found out that they continue to hand out our tax dollars.

The city manager retired last year. Besides his $170,000 a year pension and being hired back for $137,000 a year for PART-TIME work (total compensation $307,000), the city wrote him a check for $159,452. This included $120,931 for sick leave and $38,520 for vacation.

I work for a $2 billion defense and security company as a Business Development Manager. As a manager I do not get sick days. If I am sick, I am sick. I do get 5 personal days. These personal days cannot be accumulated. If you do not use them by the end of the year, you loose them. I also earn vacation time. I can carry over 2 weeks into the following year. That means I only have 2 weeks in reserve coming into a new year. Companies do this because vacation time and sick days are liabilities that they need to show on their books.

Our city council does not care about its liabilities. They have over $21 million in under funded health benefits for retired city employees.

If elected, I would eliminate sick days. If someone gets sick, they can stay home until they get better. If this system is abused, the employee will be counseled. I would only allow city employees to carry over 2 weeks of vacation.

The time has come for the city council to stop using our tax dollars to take care of their friends.

I am the only candidate that has proposed specific programs and policies. Two candidates have the full support of 4 out of the 5 members on the city council. The other councilman is up for re-election. Electing these people will only continue the massive pension contributions, pension spiking, and 6 figure PART-TIME salaries.

To find out more information about where I stand on the issues and my plans for Rocklin, please visit my web site at www.markklang.com