Three openly gay members of Mayor Jerry Sanders’ staff fielded questions about their jobs and other aspects of life at City Hall last Friday at The Center’s monthly Community Coalition Breakfast.

Sanders’ director of communications and press secretary Fred Sainz, director of council affairs Jeff Gattas and deputy press secretary George Biagi talked openly about how being out impacts their work and Sanders’, as well as the GLBT and larger San Diego communities.

Sainz said that although the majority of the issues he encounters at the mayor’s office have nothing to do with the gay community, it’s sometimes difficult to separate the person he is with the particular situation at hand.

“But it’s impossible to say that who I am and the community in which I live in and the beliefs that have helped me kind of become the person I am don’t influence recommendations that I give to the person that I work for,” he said. “Not just on actions that [Sanders] takes every day but on the actions of government. There is a balance there and you have to strike it. And you have to make sure the recommendation or the advice that you’re giving is appropriate for the position involved.”

Biagi, who previously worked as the communications director and GLBT community liaison for District 3 Councilmember Toni Atkins, said it is important for GLBT community members to be involved in city processes, whether that means serving on boards, in neighborhood groups or by attending City Council meetings during open session.

Many times individuals with anti-gay agendas will speak out at City Council meetings, Sainz said.

“There are very hateful individuals who will march down there and completely spew vitriol back. But not just really on the irresponsible side, but completely factually inaccurate,” he said. “Unfortunately we have to be here to correct the record. That’s where you come in. Councilmember Atkins can’t do it all herself.”

The most pressing issues facing the city are its fiscal stability and the reform of managerial issues by right-sizing and restructuring its budget, Sainz said.

“The city has failed miserably when we try to be all things to all people,” he said.

In mid-November, Sanders plans to introduce a five-year budget plan recommendation to the City Council that will radically change the priorities of funding at City Hall, Sainz said.

“What does that mean? That means the citizens will see services cut. That means that you will see employee layoffs,” he said. “That means that the pain will really be felt across the entire city.

“Why do we have to do that? The reason why is we have a lot of long-term obligations in this city that have not been funded appropriately over the past few years and the problem is the rubber has hit the road.”

Sainz said an increased contribution to the pension retiree and health system must happen or the current debt of $1.4 billion will balloon to $2 billion very quickly. He also said the city will contribute more to its reserves in order to re-access the public credit markets sometime next year.

“The city right now is not looking all that hot. About 3 percent of our total general fund is what we have in savings. It should be around 8 percent,” he said. “What that means is putting money away for that rainy day; that won’t be able to fund as many parks programs. That will be hurtful to our community.”

Gattas, who acts as the chief intermediary for the mayor’s office and city departments to the City Council, agreed and said the city’s financials need to be in order so it can move forward.

“It’s going to be working with the council, working with the City Attorney’s Office, communicating that and getting that out to the public so everybody understands that this is a different time in our city,” he said. “It’s now time to fess up to it and to start funding these issues and start straightening everything out.”

When asked if the mayor has any plans to establish a GLBT advisory board, Sainz said Sanders does not and has no plans to form other advisory boards for other groups.

“At least on LGBT issues, I think the mayor is very well served by the council that he receives by Councilmember Atkins, as well as members of his staff,” he said. “The mayor is very well aware of issues in our community. He spends an awful lot of time in our community….

“It’s not just a plan on not creating an LGBT advisory board,” Sainz added. “It really has to do with the concept of advisory boards overall. It’s not a tradition that we’re going to continue.”

City Commissioner Nicole Murray-Ramirez said a GLBT advisory board is necessary, especially under a different administration in the future.

“I get concerned, and I think many of us do, because we don’t know who the future mayors are going to be,” Murray-Ramirez said. “You’ll give an out to a mayor who could be not so supportive to us.”

During a mayoral forum at The Center last year, candidates were asked about keeping a GLBT advisory board if they were to be elected. Councilmember Donna Frye and Sanders both said they would. At the time, Sanders also said he thought it was important to have GLBT representation in top and middle management, on various committees and on boards throughout city government.

“Jerry wants to continue to evaluate the need for all of the advisory boards,” Sainz told the Gay & Lesbian Times in a follow-up interview. “So we’re not going to say no [to creating advisory boards].” Sainz noted that former Mayor Dick Murphy had more than a dozen advisory boards, and said there are costs, staff time and other resources associated with maintaining them. He said Sanders wants more time to evaluate those costs before implementing any boards.