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AGENDA ITEM NO. 8.
CITY OF HAWTHORNE City Council AGENDA BILL For the meeting of 01/27/2026 Originating Department: Human Resources |
City Manager:
Department Head:
SUBJECT:
RESOLUTION NO. 8584 - A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF HAWTHORNE, CALIFORNIA AMENDING THE CITY’S SALARY SCHEDULE TO INCLUDE THE SALARIES OF THE CITY ATTORNEY AND POLICE CHIEF.
RECOMMENDED MOTION:
Staff recommends that the City Council adopt Resolution No. 8584, amending the City’s Salary Schedule to include the salaries of the positions of City Attorney and Police Chief.
DISCUSSION:
As a contributing member of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), the City of Hawthorne is subject to statutory and regulatory requirements for public agencies. The Public Employees’ Retirement Law (PERL), the Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act of 2013 (PEPRA), and the California Code of Regulations (CCR) require that public agencies contracting with CalPERS adopt a publicly available pay schedule to provide the base information for determining pensionable compensation. CalPERS has also provided guidance through the issuance of Circular Letter 200-003-20, which outlines the required elements under Title 2 CCR section 570.5 to be included. “Publicly available” is defined as “posted at the office of the employer or immediately accessible and available for public review from the employer during normal business hours or posted on the employer’s website.” The publicly available pay schedule is required to be duly approved and adopted by the governing body and made available to the public.
CalPERS requires that only compensation earned as defined in Government Code Section 20636 and corresponding regulations can be reported to CalPERS and considered in calculating retirement benefits. In order to determine the amount of “compensation earnable,” a member’s pay rate is limited to the amount identified on a publicly available pay schedule. 2 CCR 570.5 requires that a pay schedule must have the following:
As recently as June 2025, the City Council adopted resolutions pertaining to changes to job classifications and pay ranges as approved in and adopted by the 2025-26 Budget. However, the positions of City Attorney and Police Chief were inadvertently omitted from the City’s adopted Salary Schedule over the last several years because the terms of employment for those officials are provided in separate employment agreements. However, for CalPERS purposes, the salary information for those positions must be included in a publicly accessible Salary Schedule.
Because the Salary Schedule had not been updated to include the positions of City Attorney and Police Chief, and persons in those positions have retired, the Salary Schedule for those positions are being updated retroactively for the City Attorney position commencing May 11, 2021, and concluding on October 31, 2025, and for the position of Police Chief for the period commencing on April 8, 2023, and concluding on December 12, 2025. This will bring the City’s Salary Schedule into alignment and consistency with the salary provisions provided by the City in their respective employment agreements for those retired employees through their last day and year of service as an employee of the City, so as to ensure that the CalPERS retirement benefits are provided as provided by their employment agreements.
For these reasons, the salary ranges for the City Attorney as shown on Exhibit A are intended to be effective retroactively and for the period May 11, 2021, through October 31, 2025. The salary ranges for the Police Chief, as shown in Exhibit B, are hereby made retroactively effective from April 8, 2023, through December 12, 2025.
Nothing in the proposed action or Resolution will affect the salary of persons currently holding the position of Interim City Attorney or City Attorney and Police Chief as of November 1, 2025, and December 13, 2025, respectively, which salaries shall be set by a separate Resolution and further updated Salary Schedule.
CalPERS requires that only compensation earned as defined in Government Code Section 20636 and corresponding regulations can be reported to CalPERS and considered in calculating retirement benefits. In order to determine the amount of “compensation earnable,” a member’s pay rate is limited to the amount identified on a publicly available pay schedule. 2 CCR 570.5 requires that a pay schedule must have the following:
- Be duly approved and adopted by the employer’s governing body in accordance with requirements of applicable public meeting laws;
- Identifies the position title for every employee position;
- Shows the pay rate as a single amount or multiple amounts within a range for each identified position;
- Indicates the time base, including but not limited to, whether the time base is hourly, daily, bi-weekly, monthly, bi-monthly, or annually;
- Be posted at the office of the employer or be immediately accessible and available for public review from the employer during normal business hours or posted on the employer’s internet website;
- Indicates an effective date and date of any revisions;
- Is retained by the employer and available for public inspection for not less than five years;
- Not reference another document in lieu of disclosing the pay rate.
As recently as June 2025, the City Council adopted resolutions pertaining to changes to job classifications and pay ranges as approved in and adopted by the 2025-26 Budget. However, the positions of City Attorney and Police Chief were inadvertently omitted from the City’s adopted Salary Schedule over the last several years because the terms of employment for those officials are provided in separate employment agreements. However, for CalPERS purposes, the salary information for those positions must be included in a publicly accessible Salary Schedule.
Because the Salary Schedule had not been updated to include the positions of City Attorney and Police Chief, and persons in those positions have retired, the Salary Schedule for those positions are being updated retroactively for the City Attorney position commencing May 11, 2021, and concluding on October 31, 2025, and for the position of Police Chief for the period commencing on April 8, 2023, and concluding on December 12, 2025. This will bring the City’s Salary Schedule into alignment and consistency with the salary provisions provided by the City in their respective employment agreements for those retired employees through their last day and year of service as an employee of the City, so as to ensure that the CalPERS retirement benefits are provided as provided by their employment agreements.
For these reasons, the salary ranges for the City Attorney as shown on Exhibit A are intended to be effective retroactively and for the period May 11, 2021, through October 31, 2025. The salary ranges for the Police Chief, as shown in Exhibit B, are hereby made retroactively effective from April 8, 2023, through December 12, 2025.
Nothing in the proposed action or Resolution will affect the salary of persons currently holding the position of Interim City Attorney or City Attorney and Police Chief as of November 1, 2025, and December 13, 2025, respectively, which salaries shall be set by a separate Resolution and further updated Salary Schedule.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIC PLAN:
Not applicable.
FISCAL IMPACT:
No impact because the terms of the former Interim City Attorney, former City Attorney, and former Police Chief were already established in their employment agreements.
NOTICING PROCEDURE:
72 hours posted notice pursuant to the Ralph M, Brown Act.