I’ll begin with a little background: I began as a student engineer with the city of San Diego in June 1979 and retired as city manager of Chula Vista in June 2020 after a career of more than forty years in local government. I can roughly describe my career in thirds. The first third was focused on traffic engineering and transportation planning. The second portion began my journey into city management with department management roles in development services and city planning. And, the final third consisted of upper management roles with the city of Santee and the city of Chula Vista. Even with these more generalist positions, a large portion of my efforts tended to be within the realms of land use and transportation. This past year, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to serve a six month assignment as interim city manager for the city of Santee. It was a truly rewarding experience and reignited the passion I have had over my decades of local government service.
Reflecting on your career, what first drew you to local government, and what kept you there?
My father worked as an engineer in local government and my mother was an elementary school teacher, so it may be that my passion for public service was homegrown. From my beginnings as a student engineer through my time as city
manager, I have always held positions where I felt I could positively serve our community in a meaningful way. And I was very fortunate to work with peers, supervisors and managers that supported creativity and collaboration and embraced innovation in our cities. I guess that once I had my foot in the door, I never really had any reason or desire to look back.
Which project or initiative are you the most proud of from your time as a city manager?
It’s hard to select a particular project or initiative that I’m most proud of during my time as city manager. I’ll choose the most visible effort that led to the recent opening of the Gaylord Pacific on the Chula Vista Bayfront. During my tenure with Chula Vista, we worked in close partnership with the Port of San Diego on the development and approval of the Chula Vista Bayfront Master Plan. The Bayfront, at over 530 acres, was the largest shovel ready waterfront planned development on the west coast. Upon approval of the master plan, the Port and City worked together in attracting a developer for the resort hotel and convention center, negotiating development agreements and obtaining a coastal development permit from the California Coastal Commission in June 2019.
Projects of the magnitude of the Chula Vista Bayfront are typically met with some significant level of opposition. However, there was virtually no opposition to the Bayfront Master Plan or the Gaylord project at the Coastal Commission hearings. This success was the result of high levels of teamwork, cooperation and collaboration between the City, the Port, our community, environmental stakeholders and our public and private partners.
What did you find most fulfilling about the role of city manager? How did it evolve over time?
In the two cities where I was fortunate to serve as city manager, the most fulfilling part of the position was the opportunity to work so closely and collaboratively with the mayors and city councils. While I worked with city councils throughout my managerial roles, the difference in those relationships versus serving as a city manager is enormous. In today’s times, it seems that democracy works best at the local level. Working with elected leaders to take their vision and direction to policy and practice is so very fulfilling. And at the local level, there is so much more opportunity to co-produce directly with the community in that effort.
What leadership qualities do you believe were most critical to your success as a city manager?
I’ll start with the obvious, communication skills. The ability to clearly communicate in a manner that can be understood by both professionals and laypersons is critical to success. Learn how to work with your team on developing a vision and then articulating that vision in a manner that brings on enthusiasm and further buy-in.
I have always believed in managing bottom-up rather than top-down. Our successes are greatest when the entire organization has the resources and responsibility/authority to deliver services in the most efficient and effective manner. Creativity and innovation should be embraced with the knowledge that sometimes we will fall flat, but more often we will soar. It’s important for a manager to accept responsibility for mistakes and to be sure to not leave others out of the celebration of success.
Also, in closing, have a good sense of humor. And show calm and confidence in times of organizational anxiety.
How did you manage work-life balance as a city manager?
As a city manager, work and life tend to bleed into each other and it can be difficult to find a balance or even know where one should be. I think it’s very important when you’re in such challenging roles to have someone you can talk to about the worries and joys of the day. For me, I’ve been fortunate for that someone to be my wife, Betsy. She’s a great listener and asks the right questions to get me thinking about situations from various angles. For others, it may not be a partner, but I believe it’s important to have a trusted someone that you can talk to frequently about “things”.
Also, seeing friends and family for food and fun goes a long way towards achieving a level of balance.
How did you engage with the residents of your city/cities? Any memorable experiences?
I have been a long-time champion of community engagement and co-production starting back in the early-1990’s with the development of the City of San Diego Neighborhood Traffic Safety Program. While city manager in Chula Vista, I was proud of the work we were doing to address community concerns in one of our neighborhoods. Much of the effort was based on learnings from the Kettering Foundation. The effort was well described in an article written by Carla Kimbrough for the National Civic Review (reference follows).
Carla J. Kimbrough (2018). Partnerships with Community Organizers: Residents, City Officials Solving Problems Together. National Civic Review/ Vol. 107, issue 2
What were some of the most significant challenges you faced as a city manager in California?
Certainly, the on-going loss of local authority especially in the area of land use/housing over the past two decades. Also, the elimination of redevelopment agencies has been painful particularly as it resulted in the loss of a major funding source for affordable housing amidst the State’s strong arm push to address the housing crisis.
What emerging trends or challenges do you think current city managers should be prepared for?
I think we should be anticipating the continuing loss of local control by actions at the regional, state and federal levels. City managers would be well served by being highly informed on those actions and their potential impacts to their cities.
City managers all strive to ensure their cities are prepared to support the community in times of emergencies or community tension. A couple of those areas where there is a current heightened need for preparedness include civic unrest in your or surrounding communities (public safety preparedness, communications and inter-jurisdictional
coordination planning) and wildfire risk (land use planning, emergency preparedness, open space management and maintenance needed to reduce fire risk).
Looking back, what do you wish you had known when you first became a city manager?
It’s not so much what I wish I had known when I became a city manager, but rather what I wish I knew going through the process for city manager selection. I don’t know if others have felt the same way, but when I wasn’t successful in a recruitment, I would be self-critical and try to figure out what I had done wrong. I now realize I was being too hard on myself.
The hiring process typically begins with a professional recruiter. The recruitment team does a very diligent effort to identify a group of individuals that meet the Council’s identified qualifications and attributes of an ideal candidate. The creation of that list is very objective and by and large every person on that list is highly qualified to be a city manager. The Council’s choosing of interview candidates and city manager selection becomes more subjective and is highly driven by a perspective of “fit” with the organization. Today I realize that one should be proud of their accomplishments if they
are under consideration for selection as a city manager and not be discouraged if they aren’t selected.
What advice would you give to someone entering the city management profession today?
I don’t have a lot of good general advice to give. I find that such advice needs to be personal and that everyone’s experience and needs as a city manager are going to be different. I guess a couple of general thoughts would include to be sure to love what you’re doing, and, to lean into your discomfort and do the right thing (carefully).
What are some accomplishments from retirement you’re most proud of?
Finally an easy question. Retirement accomplishments I’m proud of include honing my cooking skills, building up my music collection, starting to catch up on my reading of literature and traveling all over with Betsy. I’m also proud of the efforts we accomplished during my six month step away from retirement this past year with my assignment as interim city manager with Santee.
