Major leadership changes for Berdoo
Here's an article that looks at high-level city offices that are set to be occupied by new people in a few months or so. The article strictly looks at city positions - City Manager, Police Chief, Code Enforcement Director, 4th Ward Council Member.
In the Economic Development Agency, director Emil Marzullo is serving as an interim leader, but this article doesn't look at the EDA. This reporter plans on paying some more attention to the EDA and its activities in the near future, so keep checking out SB Now.
Here's the article:
By Andrew Edwards
Staff Writer
SAN BERNARDINO - The city is in for some big changes.
Within a span of some months, San Bernardino will have a new city manager, a new police chief and a new council member representing the city's 4th Ward.
There could be even more changes in play for high-level city leaders. Code Enforcement Director Glenn Baude has been relieved of his duties since July and although the council has held several closed-door meetings to discuss his fate, nothing has been announced.
And of course, there's always a chance other city figures could retire, find a new job or end up stepping into some as-yet undiscovered hornet's nest.
At the very least, San Bernardino's next city manager will go to work in a city where politics are played like old-time football - three (or more) arguments and a cloud of dust.
The city's last City Manager, Fred Wilson, left office in early September to take a job as Huntington Beach's top administrator. Wilson worked for San Bernardino for more than two decades, spending a dozen years as the city's top staffer.
Lori Sassoon, formerly Wilson's assistant, is currently serving as acting city manager. The City Council has held interviews for an interim leader and a headhunting firm has been hired to find San Bernardino's next full-fledged City Manager.
Mayor Pat Morris said San Bernardino's next city manager will need to be someone who is experienced, knowledgeable, and "accustomed to a challenging policymaking atmosphere, which is what our city offers."
Such a political environment, the mayor added, will require a leader with strength and resiliency.
But San Bernardino's reputation for smashmouth politics won't make it hard to find a new City Manager, Morris offered.
"I don't think so, and we can't pretend to be anything other than what we are," he said.
In this regard, Morris and 7th Ward Councilwoman Wendy McCammack agreed.
"It depends on how much of a challenge any one given candidate wants to embark upon," she said when asked if San Bernardino's political environment will make it hard to find a new city manager.
McCammack and Morris don't often see things eye to eye. Of late, a prominent disagreement between her and the mayor has been on the question of whether the council should subpoena several city leaders to investigate the management of Operation Phoenix, an anti-crime program that Morris launched in 2006, his first year in office.
Phoenix was thrust into political turmoil in early July after community center manager Mike Miller was arrested on suspicion of child molestation. Miller is awaiting trial and his arrest opened the door to revelations of management troubles within the multi-agency Phoenix effort.
McCammack, along with 1st Ward Councilwoman Esther Estrada, has favored subpoenas as a means to compel staffers to provide information to the council about Phoenix. Morris has called the tactic unnecessary, and thus far, a majority of the council has rejected subpoenas.
In late July, Wilson placed Baude on administrative leave before it was revealed that Wilson was en route to Surf City. The council has discussed Baude's fate behind closed doors, but so far, no announcements have been made as to his future.
Baude is under a gag order, and his attorney, James Curtis, has said that Baude was placed on leave for talking to the media about Phoenix in the wake of the Miller scandal. Curtis could not be reached for comment on this article, and elected officials who were interviewed didn't want to speak to the issue.
Until July, Baude also served as Operation Phoenix director and San Bernardino's city manager is officially in charge of day-to-day supervision of the Phoenix collaboration and general city business. Police Chief Michael Billdt has also spent much of the past two years as a key member of the Phoenix effort and is scheduled to retire in March.
Many rank-and-file officers, however, would like Billdt to leave sooner. The city's police union has taken a vote of no confidence in Billdt and union president Rich Lawhead has called for Billdt to leave office ASAP.
Billdt and Morris, however, are close and neither have given any indication that the chief will surrender his stars before his planned retirement. Billdt has also expressed optimism that the impasse between himself and the rank-and-file can be overcome.
Whenever Billdt returns to private life, Derry and Third Ward Councilman Tobin Brinker said the city should hold off on hiring its next full-time police chief so San Bernardino officials can let the next city manager hire his or her own leadership team.
If Billdt leaves before March, McCammack said former Fontana and Rialto police chief Frank Scialdone "would be a perfect example of a great interim chief."
Scialdone is credited by many around The 909 with rescuing the Rialto Police Department from the brink of dissolution. He and Cal State San Bernardino criminologist Larry Gaines have talked with Billdt and Morris about the possibility of teaming up to provide an outsider's perspective on how to improve the San Bernardino Police Department.
Morris said the search for a new city manager could take about six months. With Billdt on schedule to leave the Police Department within that general timeframe, the mayor said city officials may decide to search for San Bernardino's next police chief before a new city manager is in office.
"That's a discussion that we'll engage in with the council," Morris said.
On the council itself, Derry is scheduled to leave for higher office in December when he claims a seat on the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors.
Derry has made a name for himself as one of the council's more conservative members. He has made law enforcement a priority and has been occasionally critical of Phoenix-related spending. However, he voted on Morris' side when the council took up the issue of subpoenas.
He said he expects an election for his successor will take place in March, which he suggests be accomplished by a mail-in ballot.
Oh Andrew! Did you have to use that tacky "909" thing?
On to the issue at hand - Morris should not be afforded a choice in picking the new Police Chief - his last choice sucked big-time and he lost his turn.
Baude was a good Code Enforcement Director and I think he should be allowed to come back. It is evident that Wilson was a lying, back-stabbing *** and it isn't fair that Morris and Morris are trying to throw him under the bus! (Oh what could Glenn tell us if he was able to sing?)
I don't live in Derry's area so I won't get to be in on the replacement but are there known candidates to replace him? (It's a wonder anybody runs for the city council since we don't compensate them properly!)
Andrew, I hear that one prominent San Bernardino native son, Fred Shorett, has established a campaign committee and filed a declaration of intent with the City Clerk in order to run for the Fourth Ward Council seat.
I actually have met Fred Shorett and thought that he would be a very great replacement for that seat. He seemed very genuine in his desire to do well for his district as well as the City.
Molly: That is exactly why the subpoenas should have been issued. The public deserves to know everything that currently is lacking transparency re: Baude, etc. And you are exactly right when you say it should NOT be Morris who makes the chief choice, but that is what the Charter requires. He suggests the candidate for City Manager, Police Chief and Fire Chief and councilmembers approve his suggestions. But you are also right in that we do not have to confirm his choice. But you need 4 councilmembers to vote against the Mayor's choice. Thanks for your insight. I wish more voters would see deeper into things so their votes might be a bit more informed but maybe with blogs like this, they can be.