Municipal employee urges Santa Barbara City Council to fix alleged misclassification and pay shortfalls; council enters closed session

Charles Schmidt, a municipal employee who said he represents the general unit covered by SIU Local 620, told the Santa Barbara City Council at a March 3 special meeting that members of his unit remain misclassified, underpaid and overworked and urged the council to act.

Schmidt spoke during public comment and said the city has used vacancy retention as a budget tool “a nuestras expensas.” He criticized a consultant classification study presented last year as “plagado de imprecisiones” and said the study’s findings have not been implemented for his unit. He added that the unit’s ongoing misclassification and resulting pay disparities violate “la sección 70 de nuestro MOOC” and constitute an unfair practice under state law, as stated in his remarks. “No somos números en una hoja de cálculo como ustedes, sus servidores públicos,” he said, calling for respect and dignity for municipal employees.

Schmidt told the council the general unit is the “peor pagado y más diverso” in the workforce, that staff have repeatedly been instructed to address the issue but that promises have not been fulfilled, and that employees remain overloaded with new responsibilities. He asked the council to be held accountable for prior instructions to staff and requested that the unit’s unresolved classification issues be addressed as the first priority in the closed session scheduled for the meeting.

At the start of the special meeting, the presiding official led the Pledge of Allegiance and asked the clerk to call roll; Councilmember Friedman and Mayor Pro Tem Esneden were recorded present, while Councilmembers Santa María and Gutiérrez were noted as not yet present, and Mayor Rauch was noted as present during the roll call announcement. After public comment, the presiding official announced the council would recess into a closed session, saying no report was anticipated and that the meeting would reconvene at 2:00 p.m.

The transcript records Schmidt’s direct assertions and requests but does not show a response from councilmembers or staff during the public comment period. The council’s decision to move into closed session means any deliberations or staff direction about the matters Schmidt raised were not discussed on the public record during this meeting.

The council is scheduled to reconvene at 2:00 p.m., when it may announce any next steps or report back from the closed session.