Simi Valley Officials’ Raises Found to Have Violated State Law : Government: Pay and benefit increases for the city manager and the city attorney were approved behind closed doors.

The Simi Valley City Council approved about $8,100 in pay and benefit increases for the city manager and city attorney on Monday, only to discover Tuesday that the raises are illegal because they were approved without public notice and behind closed doors.

Prompted by questions from The Times, City Atty. John Torrance acknowledged that the council acted improperly, on his advice, to grant pay raises to himself and City Manager Lin Koester.

“I made a mistake,” Torrance said. “I gave the council bad advice, and I accept full responsibility. The council acted solely on my advice.”

Torrance notified council members late Tuesday that the pay hikes, which would have become effective after final approval next Monday, are void. He said the increases, to be legal, must be posted on a council agenda and decided during a public meeting.

The council agreed to the raises in a 1 1/2-hour closed session before its weekly meeting Monday night. Mayor Greg Stratton then publicly announced the raises, saying Koester would receive a 2.5% increase and Torrance would get 3.5%.

On Tuesday, city Assistant Personnel Administrator Nona Young said the percentage increases applied only to the officials’ base salaries. Such increases would amount to about $3,000 for Koester and nearly $3,800 for Torrance.

But Young later acknowledged that some of the officials’ non-salary benefits would also be hiked by the same percentages.

The raises would have boosted Koester’s total compensation by about $3,600 to $187,200 and increased Torrance’s about $4,500 to $148,500, officials said.

Koester and Torrance are already the highest-paid city manager and city attorney in Ventura County.

Late Tuesday, after The Times questioned the legality of the raises, Torrance said he had mistakenly advised the council that it could grant pay raises in a closed session. He said he was unaware of an updated version of the state open meeting law.

“I missed it,” Torrance said. “It’s as simple as that.”

The law reads: “Closed sessions . . . shall not include discussion or action on proposed compensation except for a reduction of compensation that results in the imposition of discipline.”

To correct the error, the council will reconsider the raises in an open session at its next meeting, Torrance said.

Council members were circumspect after Torrance told them of his error Tuesday afternoon.

Stratton said Torrance’s advice was “an embarrassment to the city,” but that it could be forgiven.

“They slipped in one more wrinkle and he just missed it,” Stratton said. “Nobody likes to get bad advice. But John’s batting average is pretty good, so I don’t think we’re going to hold it against him too much.”

Councilwoman Sandi Webb said the error was not significant.

“In the grand scheme of things, I think this is a rather minor blooper,” Webb said. “Thank God it’s not a screw-up like (the investment problems) in Orange County.”