Reflecting on your career, what first drew you to local government, and what kept you there?
“People” is the thing that drew me into local government. I had always enjoyed being
around people and especially being in a position where I could positively impact other
people and make the world a better place. When I first got into government, I had my own perception about what I thought working for a city meant.
It was nothing like I had thought. It was fast-paced, strategic, transparent and it actually helped people. That’s the only reason I ever spent as much time in local government as I did. The more I got to help people, the broader my impact was and I was able to help thousands of people, possibly millions throughout the course of my career! It’s funny, I used t0 joke and say the job would be easy if it weren’t for people, the reality is the job wouldn’t be possible without people.
Which project or initiative are you the most proud of from your time as a city manager?
I’ve been very fortunate to have been a part of some amazing initiatives. I’m proud of everything I got done, even the smallest of things like implementing wifi in a municipal facility or building a brand new city hall. My most impactful project for me happened before I became a city manager and would have to be the creation of the Elk Grove Police Department. The city council authorized the creation of a locally controlled police department and transitioned away from Sacramento County Sheriffs Dept. We had 18 months to start a
department and I was a key principal on the team. There were basically four of us from the executive leadership team.
We built that department with our hands, from the ground up. Everything from boots, badges, policies and equipment to facilities – employees and more. Soup to nuts. And the services provided by that department to this day remains exceptional for residents and businesses. When I drive through that community today – I still have friends, so I go there often – it makes me incredibly proud to know that I had my fingers on the formation of that department. And the work they do is so important, people’s lives are literally better. Honestly, hundreds of thousands of people’s lives are better because of our work.
What did you find most fulfilling about the role of city manager? How did it evolve over time?
The most fulfilling role of the job never changed for me. It was always about helping people. You have to be away from everything and have time to reflect on the totality of your career to really appreciate all the lives you’ve impacted. All the residents, visitors, employees you’ve promoted and their families, people who I even negatively impacted like employees I’ve fired and their families, all the elected officials and more.
I loved being able to find solutions for complex problems that need to be solved. And to do that, you have to have be able to sustain good relationships, understand and listen to people. And while I was a city manager, I was all in!
I loved the job and worked long hours, I attended dinners, community events, galas, fairs and all that stuff. I was also a father, husband, brother, son, friend and I was involved in local community groups. I gave back to the profession by speaking at conferences, serving in leadership positions within our professional associations, I served as a mentor to give back and I would collaborate with anyone that would ask me to. What evolved was within me. I realized that I want to enjoy the fruits of the very thing I’m working to create for everyone else. I want to not worry about if the lights are staying on and do the things that bring me joy in my life. I want to go to a park or a beach and run my toes through the sand on a Wednesday afternoon. I want to ride my bike down that 11-mile bike trail meandering alongside the river. Those are the things I created, memories for people and it was time to create my own!
In order to be a good city manager, I believe you have to be all in. I feel like I left it all on the table and the profession is in good hands.
What leadership qualities do you believe were most critical to your success as a city manager?
The most important is effective communication skills. Its really important to be able to tell people exactly how things are and why certain decisions need to be made. We can disagree on the merits of decisions all day, but it’s important that people come from the same place and understand the same things. That’s really difficult to do because it’s a soft skill. In college I learned how to budget, how to do analysis and write, but having the ability to convey something to someone in a way that makes them feel like they understand will get you further than your budgeting skills.
Another quality is finance-related. It’s really important to connect the dots with how your decisions affect money. Sometimes very subtle decisions can have lasting financial effects that could have generational impacts. Things like retiree medical, land use decisions, even great things like building parks, or putting in streetscaped spaces that carry long-term maintenance costs.
How did you manage work-life balance as a city manager?
Not very well. I tried to be home early and spend time away from work. The reality is there were certain times when I knew I wasn’t going to have a balance. Particularly from January until we adopted the budget every year. The budget process ran behind the scenes and the city council didn’t see it so we always had to keep their projects moving forward and deal with the normal day-to-day service requests also. I remember it being a busy time of year.
I did spend a lot of time talking with my city council about work-life balance as my career was winding down. Balance was becoming increasingly important to me so me and the council talked about it. One outcome from those conversations was a sabbatical. I had been with the organization for 5 or 6 years and I had assembled a really good team, and the council and I had talked about work-life balance and how it was important for all of us.
I also began to lean on my team a lot more for the last few years of my career. It was not uncommon for me to take off on a Monday or a Friday and appoint my assistant as acting. It was great because I could see the teams buy-in to the culture we had created so they embraced the work-life balance concept too. But it wasn’t always that way and I’m not sure I did have good work-life balance for the first 20 years or so. I thought I did and I tried to, but now that I’m retired I can see how bad really I was at it.
How did you engage with the residents of your city/cities? Any memorable experiences?
I’ve always put a lot of emphasis on meeting a lot of people, at different places and as often as possible. It’s behind the scenes at cocktail parties where you hear about the background and history of issues and challenges. I’ve learned about failed projects, soured relationships between community members and organizations and more. By having relationships with people, I’m more equipped to solve problems that may arise in the future because I know the other perspective on an issue and we have trust between us that helps us have real conversations. Nothing stands out as being more memorable than the other. I’ve seen it all though! I’ve seen people hauled out of council chambers, I’ve seen residents screaming at each other in public meetings, I’ve seen the room filled with reporters because of community issues and more. I’ve always taken everything in stride and stayed in my lane during things like that. I think it’s important to remain a professional, so people can still have faith that their city manager is going to say the right thing, which may not always be what everyone wants to hear.
What were some of the most significant challenges you faced as a city manager in California?
Some of the hardest challenges I have faced have been interpersonal issues. When you get more than two people together that don’t like or trust one other problem-solving becomes nearly impossible. It’s not because there can’t be resolution around the issue, it’s because the lack of communication, understanding – and often times revenge – clouds the resolution. Now those are hard issues, but for me the most significant issue has to be water.
Water drives everything in this state. It drives the very existence of people in certain parts of California. The Central Valley, L.A. and San Diego regions (and inland) would look very differently without the state water project and California aqueduct. Water is fraught with layers of federal, state, county and local laws. The complexity of pre-1914 water rights, underlying water rights, groundwater management and the impacts of recycled water – and how that impacts current and future water rights – is mind numbing. Next, add in dozens of layers of politics on top of everything and the complexity exponentially expands.
In my opinion water is the single-most significant challenge facing this state. Solving it will require sacrifices on every level, from the farm to the tap and I’m not sure there is an appropriate legislation structure in California around water that enables solutions. Rather, California ends up reacting to a variety of man-made and natural emergencies.
What emerging trends or challenges do you think current city managers should be prepared for?
There are two trends and challenges that I think have the greatest impact on our profession that city manager’s should be prepared for. One challenge is here today and the other is right on its heels. Today, the world is much more polarized than it used to be. Gone are the days of reaching consensus on every issue in a few meetings and developing sound policy. More often than not, around the world today people want what they want and they want it now. The end result is policy whiplash where governments put in legislation for today only for the other side to take control of legislative halls in subsequent elections where they will quickly undo prior legislation resulting in the policy pendulum swing broader and more frequently.
It’s important for city manager’s to navigate those deep political swings in ways we traditionally haven’t. We used to believe in staying in the background and below the fray while carefully advocating and shaping policy dialogue among elected officials. Doing that in a more polarized environment becomes tenuous but it is still necessary.
The challenge that is quietly bubbling around relates to the city management profession as a whole. If you step away and look very broadly at what’s happening in government, take a look at how people are changing. People are reshaping every level of government. People are being installed that support the mission and vision of today’s ideology, no matter what that ideology may be. Citizens want to get behind people that believe in what they believe in. Not some bureaucrat that doesn’t associate with, look like them, talk like them, or in some cases, come from their town. What does that mean for city managers? Often times it means their job!
When turnover occurs and people lose faith in city managers, the next question from the public will inevitably be, why do we need a city manager? City Management has been around since the early days of the 20th century, but the profession really began to take off and expand in the 1970s. If you think about it, as a profession, we are only in our 2nd generation of city management. The challenge for managers of today and tomorrow will be to keep the city management profession relevant, in an ever-changing, increasing polarizing environment.
Looking back, what do you wish you had known when you first became a city manager?
I feel like I went into my first city manager position very well equipped to deal with all the issues and challenges a city could face. I was blessed to have worked with great leaders who recognized my strengths and put me in a variety of positions in organizations. I worked in Parks and Recreation, Information Technology, Finance, Community Development, Administrative Services departments, I formed locally controlled Police departments from the ground up and even spent a short stint as a Fire Chief for a jointly controlled fire department in Northern California. I really felt ready for my first city manager position.
What I wish I had known was that those skills were less valuable when I actually got into the position. Having that knowledge was an important foundation to my background and certainly boded well in the interview process, but at the end of the day all of those experiences played a very minor role in my success as a city manager. I spent most of my day developing vision, helping the organization stay focused and being attentive to council members.
In the long run how the council acted in the public eye and behind closed doors was more important than my ability to respond to citizen requests. Managing expectations, helping council members understand and work within the council-manager form of government and navigating interpersonal relationships was the most important aspect of my job and something I had never encountered (at the city council level) before. Sure I worked with staff on relationships and practiced all the good aspects of management throughout my career, but having to tell one of your bosses “no” in way that they understood why I was telling them no was incredibly challenging.
I had spent years training employees on systems, procedures, processes and more, but having to train multiple bosses on how government works and how they can be effective in their position is something I never learned in any of the positions I had served in. I got a sense of that challenge during the time I served as an assistant city manager, but nothing to the degree of what a city manager faces. This is a never-ending effort, that begins on day one as a city manager.
What advice would you give to someone entering the city management profession today?
I recognize that every city and county is different. Someone could be walking into a very stable organization that has a deep history of political and organizational continuity. Others will be called upon to serve in tumultuous organizations that are demanding and
expecting change. It’s really important to know what your expectations are and make sure they suit skills you can provide.
The most important thing I would offer is to take the time to learn. Sit back for 6 or 9 months and take in all the nuances of the organization. City managers are not hired because of the things they’ve learned, they are hired because of the things they have done and will get done. When addressing issues, it’s really important to know where the push points are in an organization and in a community.
I have seen – and been guilty of – trying to do too much in the early days of serving as a city manager. More often than not, you see pieces of things being done, but getting projects to completion is the hard part. Taking the time to understand who the players are, what your teams’ strengths are, and what your team needs for resources will set you up for success in the long run.
What are some accomplishments from retirement you’re most proud of?
Being retired has been among the most transformative times in my life I have re-imagined the way I approach work, the way I approach family and how I choose to live each day. For example, I used to wake up and really focus on two tasks that I need to get accomplished for the day. That was important because more often than not, as a city manager I ended doing things that other people needed. Residents, staff, attorneys and council members could all upend my day and that was frequently the case so I would always start each day impassioned to get at least two things done that I needed to get done. I was successful about 80% of the time.
Since I’ve retired, now when I wake up each morning I have goals, things I would like to get done on that day. If I get it done, then mission accomplished. If I don’t get it done, it just pushes to the next day. That is incredibly liberating. This leaves room for me do other things that I want to do, not that I must do. Having that flexibility in my life every day is something I have never experienced and makes my approach to each day much easier.
