Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "bill thomas"

City officials here today, gone tomorrow

2010-12-23T22:18:39Z

The past year was a big one for resignations, promotions and elections of Sacramento city officials. Twelve personnel changes took place at City Hall involving elected and appointed leaders and city staffers in 2010.

A major change was in the city manager position, which was replete with drama and press conferences.

When former City Manager Ray Kerridge resigned in March, the city was wrestling with a host of issues. The Sacramento County Grand Jury had released a report in January saying the city may have broken state law Proposition 218. Utilities fees from ratepayers must correspond to the costs of delivering the utilities services, the law states.

At the same time, the city was dealing with a sticky situation over building permits that a staffer in the Community Development Department gave to a housing developer. The feds had barred the city from giving out permits in that area.

On top of that headache, more concerns with the development department had cropped up, such as claims that the department didn’t collect developer fees and even accusations of “potential quid pro quo,” according to a Jan. 26 report from the offices of the city manager and city attorney.

There were controversies surrounding Kerridge’s decision to resign. Mayor Kevin Johnson said a negative attitude among other council members in part caused Kerridge to pack his bags. Johnson held a press conference in which he described Kerridge as a “great talent.” Councilman Robbie Waters voiced support for Kerridge at Johnson’s press conference. Kerridge was also popular among businesspeople, who said he created a customer-service environment at the development department.

When Kerridge left Sacramento City Hall, he said he intended to take a job in the private sector. But he was picked up by Roseville in May to be its next city manager.

Shortly before Kerridge resigned, former development department director Bill Thomas resigned. Thomas and Kerridge had worked together in both the cities of Portland and Sacramento.

Responding to Kerridge’s resignation, the City Council promoted Gus Vina, who was an assistant city manager, to be interim city manager in March.

Max Fernandez, the former head of code enforcement for the city, was promoted to be the director of the development department in early July. With Vina and Fernandez in charge, the development department is undergoing a remodel to tighten its procedures.

The city auditor’s office faced a year of changes, as well. The City Council hired Jorge Oseguera to be the new city auditor in March, after that spot had been vacant for almost one year.

Oseguera hired deputy auditor Gerald Silva in March, but Silva resigned in July. Silva resigned after The Sacramento Press asked him to comment on a sexual harassment dispute that involved him when he served as the city auditor of San Jose.

It wasn’t just the city manager and development director positions that were in upheaval in 2010 – a big shake-up also occurred on the City Council.

Council incumbents Ray Tretheway and Robbie Waters both lost to newcomers in June, while Councilwoman Lauren Hammond didn’t run for reelection.

New councilwoman Angelique Ashby took Ray Tretheway’s District 1 seat in June, but two runoffs were required for the District 5 and District 7 seats. The runoffs featured newbies in both cases – the incumbents had already lost in June.

Darrell Fong won his District 7 runoff battle against candidate Ryan Chin, while Jay Schenirer beat opponent Patrick Kennedy in the November runoff for District 5.

Photos of Tretheway, Vina and Fernandez by Kathleen Haley. Photo of Kerridge by Anthony Bento. Photo of Ashby by Brandon Darnell.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Fernandez explains changes at city's development department

2010-09-11T01:20:42Z

Policies. Procedures. Controls.

Max Fernandez uses those three words frequently to describe the overhaul he’s leading at the city’s Community Development Department (CDD).

Fernandez, the new director of the department, sat down with The Sacramento Press this week to discuss how he’s changing the culture and tightening rules at the department after it faced a host of recent crises with fees and building permits.

The CDD director job was a promotion for Fernandez, who was the former director of Code Enforcement. He started work at CDD in early July.

“A big change that we’ve had since I’ve been here is we’ve implemented all these policies and procedures,” Fernandez said. “That was a big issue that the city manager’s office and City Council wanted to see.”

Fernandez took over the director job from Bill Thomas, who had been on paid leave for months before he resigned in March. In 2009, when Thomas was in charge, building permits for development in a Natomas flood zone were approved by a CDD staffer. The flood zone was under the jurisdiction of Federal Emergency Management Agency rules, which the staffer disregarded, according to city officials.

Fees and planning rules are linked to other problems at the department. Claims that the the department violated city planning rules and did not collect fees from developers are being investigated in a third-party audit. The audit from Sjoberg Evashenk Consulting Inc. of Sacramento is expected to be released in the next few weeks, according to City Auditor Jorge Oseguera.

On top of these problems, the landscape of the Community Development Department changed dramatically earlier this summer. In a budget-cutting move, city officials altered Code Enforcement to become a division of CDD. Several other departments consolidated, as well.

The city manager’s office and City Council members have said they want the department’s permit processing and fee collection to be “very regimented and accountable,” Fernandez said.

In response to their wishes, Fernandez said he’s working to tighten the rules at CDD. “We’re putting systems and controls in to make sure that people are processing the paperwork and permits appropriately and consistently,” he said.

The new rule changes represent a “cultural change” at the department, he said. He explained how the culture has shifted: “I think (it’s) the culture of having a policy and procedure, having something written down in black and white, whether it’s fees or processing paperwork, or processing a permit, is down in writing and there’s a way to do it ... without a lot of ambiguity, with a real clear direction on how this needs to be done. It just makes everybody’s job easier.”

Fernandez also said the department will pay attention to the results of the upcoming audit. The department is “going to use the audit as a map to make sure that we’re on the right track, that we’re going in the right direction, that we’re making the changes that need to be made ... and that if anything is identified that we don’t know about, that we go ahead and effect these changes.”

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Max Fernandez promoted to lead Community Development Department

2010-07-10T04:14:49Z

Max Fernandez, former director of the city’s Code Enforcement Department, has been promoted to lead the Community Development Department.

In one of several recent consolidations of city departments, Code Enforcement became a division of Community Development.

Fernandez started his new post July 6.

A third-party firm is auditing the department. Auditors from Sjoberg Evashenk Consulting Inc. of Sacramento are analyzing numerous issues at the department, including claims that it broke the city's planning rules and did not gather fees from developers.

“Obviously, there have been issues” at the department, Fernandez said Friday.

The department is working on a plan to retrain its employees, he said. The plan also will cover “the cultural change” process, Fernandez said, and the logistics of moving Code into Community Development.

Interim City Manager Gus Vina has said the department needs to change its culture. The city’s slogan, “Get the Customer to Success,” was “somewhat misunderstood” by the development department, he said at a May 17 Neighborhood Advisory Group meeting.

Fernandez said the results of the audit, which may be completed in September, will be a key part of reshaping the department.

The audit will “give us some ideas on where we need to fix up things that were not going as well as we hoped,” he said.

Bill Thomas, previous director of Community Development, resigned from his post in March and had been on paid leave for months before that. During his watch, a staffer approved building permits in a Natomas flood zone last year. The city said the staffer broke federal rules.

David Kwong, who recently served as acting director of the Community Development Department, will stay with the department. He manages the department’s planning division.

Photo by Brandon Darnell.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Post-Kerridge: Will development department change?

2010-03-14T22:11:39Z

Sacramento’s business community has said repeatedly that former City Manager Ray Kerridge established a customer-service culture in the city’s development department. At the same time, the department is wracked with investigations into possible breaches of laws. Now that Kerridge has left the city — March 11 12 was his last day of work — how will the culture of the Community Development Department change?

New leadership and the findings from an audit are two upcoming developments that may change the department. The recent resignations of Kerridge and department director Bill Thomas have created job openings.

At this point, both positions are being held by interim officials. Gus Vina is interim city manager; David Kwong is acting director of the Community Development Department.

A third-party audit of the department is on the horizon. An outside auditor will follow up on issues from an earlier joint investigation by City Attorney Eileen Teichert’s office and the law firm Renee Sloan Holtzman Sakai.

The auditor will analyze several issues identified by the Teichert/Renee investigation. They include possible violations of the city’s planning rules and possible decisions to bypass, delay or lower fees.

A Jan. 21 report from the offices of the city attorney and the city manager on the Teichert/Renee investigation also listed “potential quid quo” in the department as an issue that should be studied in more depth.

The Teichert/Renee investigation centered on another highly controversial issue: the 35 permits that the department approved last year for construction in a Natomas flood zone. The Jan. 21 report said a department employee broke federal rules by distributing the permits.

The city placed former department director Thomas on paid leave in October. He resigned March 1.

A Customer-Friendly Culture

The department had a poor reputation among developers before Kerridge’s arrival in 2005, according to a March 28, 2008 Sacramento Business Journal article. In 2003, members of the local building industry said in a Business Journal survey Sacramento's building department was the most problematic of all similar city and county departments in the area. Five years later, the industry said in the survey that Sacramento's building department was the area's best.

Kerridge served as assistant city manager for development before being promoted in 2006 to city manager.

Despite the department’s crises, Sacramento developers have praised Kerridge for his work to establish a customer-focused culture.

Developer Mark Friedman was one of the members of the business community who invited Kerridge to leave his job with the city of Portland and come to work for Sacramento.

“I think (Kerridge) did a great job,” said Friedman, whose company, Fulcrum Property, owns Arden Fair Mall. “He streamlined the building department processes and made the organization more customer-friendly than it had been.”

Richard Rich, development director for Thomas Enterprises, Inc., expressed a similar sentiment in a Jan. 25 comment on The Sacramento Press. Thomas Enterprises is developing the downtown Railyards.

“This department isn’t perfect but its people, including Bill Thomas, deserve credit for creating a culture of public service,” Rich said.

Elected Leaders Praise Customer-Service Attitude Toward Development

Mayor Kevin Johnson and several City Council members also applauded Kerridge for his customer-service framework at a March 9 council meeting. Their comments indicate that there is political support to maintain the customer-service environment at the Community Development Department.

“And this whole notion of ‘getting the customer to success’ is something I think we’re all proud of,” Johnson told Kerridge at the March 9 meeting. “And that’s going to be with us, Ray, for many years to come.”

Some council members, though, are running for re-election. Depending on the results of their races, they may not have much time to make decisions affecting the department. The City Council incumbents running for re-election are Ray Tretheway, Steve Cohn and Robbie Waters.

Councilwoman Lauren Hammond is running for Assemblyman Dave Jones’ seat against fellow council member Kevin McCarty. Sacramento County Supervisor Roger Dickinson also is running for the seat. Hammond will leave the City Council.

McCarty’s seat is not up for re-election.

Hammond and Waters praised Kerridge for his work revamping the culture of the department. Waters said Kerridge “turned (the department) around” in a short period of time.

Councilwoman Bonnie Pannell commented that developers were Kerridge fans. “It’s obvious by the developers — who really want to keep you here — that you changed the way Sacramento does business.”

Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy spoke of Kerridge’s view of city growth. “You taught us how to look at this city as something that could grow and be something bigger,” she said. “And it can be, and it will be.”

Cohn said Kerridge led the customer-service culture change in city government, which is a forward-looking approach.

The errors that people may point out in Sacramento’s government “have been errors of trying to be proactive,” he added.

In his speech to the City Council, Kerridge said the business community has been “a great source of strength” for him.

Like Johnson, Kerridge thinks greatness is in store for Sacramento.

“Sacramento has a destiny,” Kerridge said. “Its destiny is to become a great American city.”

How Do Top City Staffers View the Department?

Interim City Manager Gus Vina will run the department for nine months to a year, at which time a city manager will be named.

Vina told The Sacramento Press last week that he is interested in the permanent city manager position.

He said his priority will be on “best practices and a culture that gets the job done.”

Assistant City Manager John Dangberg said in a March 12 interview that the department can simultaneously help builders and abide by laws.

“Our level of customer service for people who want to invest in our city is of paramount importance,” Dangberg said.

The city wants to ensure that it’s adhering to laws and that buildings are safe, he said.

Meanwhile, Vina said in a March 9 interview that the upcoming audit of the department will be key to the next steps for the department. “We definitely need to regroup,” he said. “We don’t want to go to a bureaucracy that ... doesn’t deliver for the customer. But if the audit says, by the way, you got a little too loose on policy ... we’ve got to bring that back to the middle.”

He said the city needs to examine the audit’s findings, then ask: “Do we need to change rules? Are they too loose? Are they too tight?"

Photo of Mayor Kevin Johnson and city council members by Anthony Bento.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Kerridge says goodbye to development commission, comments on Bill Thomas' resignation

2010-03-02T07:08:13Z

Members of the city’s Development Oversight Commission said goodbye Monday night to City Manager Ray Kerridge, who has resigned from his position and will leave the city March 12.

The commission examines development in Sacramento and presents its views to the City Council.

Kerridge said the DOC has shown “guidance and leadership,” and he added that he “could not have worked with a better group of people.”

DOC members praised Kerridge’s work to advance development in Sacramento. Kristina McBurney said Kerridge’s vision for the city was “amazing.”

Holger Fuerst said Kerridge was a facilitator with a “can-do attitude.”

***
Kerridge reacted Monday night to the news that Community Development Director Bill Thomas is resigning. Kerridge and Thomas worked together at the city of Portland before taking positions in Sacramento.

“He’s done a lot of good work for the city of Sacramento,” Kerridge told The Sacramento Press outside the DOC meeting.

In October, the city put Thomas on paid leave. Thomas was director of the department when a staffer approved building permits in a Natomas flood zone last year. The city has said the staffer broke federal rules.

Photo by Anthony Bento.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

City attorney answers questions about investigation

2009-12-24T18:17:32Z

While local media outlets have reported on the third-party investigation of Sacramento’s development department, the details of the investigation are complex.

City Attorney Eileen Teichert shed light on the investigation’s details in a phone interview with The Sacramento Press last week.

The city, together with the third-party law firm Renne Sloan Holtzman Sakai, is investigating the Community Development Department’s approval this year of 35 building permits in a Natomas flood zone.

Teichert’s office acknowledges in a Dec. 15 letter to the Federal Emergency Management Agency that the city broke federal rules when it approved the permits.

The city has placed Community Development Director Bill Thomas and department staffer Dan Waters on administrative leave.

During last week’s interview, Teichert addressed why the city and the third-party firm are working together on the investigation. She also provided a response to the question of whether City Manager Ray Kerridge was being investigated on this issue.

Teichert said she does not have an estimate on when the investigation will be complete.

The Sacramento Press: As I understand it — and correct me if I’m wrong — but the investigation into the Natomas building permits is being carried out by the third-party firm [Renne Sloan Holtzman Sakai] and the city. Is the city partnering with the third-party firm?

City Attorney Eileen Teichert: Yes. Of course someone has to provide the interface between how the city operates and is organized, how to reach people, how to get documents and so on. Pursuant to the direction that we’ve received from the City Council, my office, along with the city manager’s office, is providing that coordination.

SP: Why is the city participating in the investigation if a third party was hired? Wouldn’t city participation then make the investigation less objective?

Teichert: Again, as I indicated, someone has to coordinate. My office had to serve as the conduit to hire the outside law firm. We’re the only ones pursuant to the charter authorized to retain outside counsel. So, that was why we did that.

And, in order to preserve attorney/client-privileged communication, those communications go through our office. And, we have to be able to ... obtain records and documents for [independent investigator Tim Yeung’s review] in order to be able to conduct [a] fair, objective investigation and interviews. Based upon his own opinion that he arrives at, as a result of reviewing records and meeting with witnesses without being influenced by staff ...

We agree it’s of the utmost importance that the investigation be conducted fairly and impartially.

SP: Was City Manager Ray Kerridge being investigated as part of the investigation into the Natomas building permits?

Teichert: We are not targeting any individual and I cannot comment on personnel matters. But again, we are using a fair and objective process and not starting into the investigation with any preconceived notions about who’s being targeted or what we expect to achieve.

SP: What is the status of Community Development Director Bill Thomas? Do you know if he’s coming back?

Teichert: The status of Bill Thomas is as it has been for the last number of weeks — that he is still on administrative leave.

Photo by David Watts Barton.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

City staff seek building code changes

2009-11-10T05:27:54Z

The Sacramento City Council soon may be asked to amend city code to legalize a longtime practice that helped bring about the suspension of the Facilities Permit Program.

In the next few weeks, city staff want to ask the council to allow FPP construction projects to start before building permits are issued — as long as a business has a written start-work authorization from the building division, said David Kwong, the city's Planning Division director.

Staff is working with the city attorney's office to learn if the practice and the building code amendment would be legal, Kwong said.

"What I'd like to do is vet that form with the city attorney's office, make some tweaks and take that to the council," said Kwong, who is also serving as head of the Community Development Department, which oversees the planning and building permits divisions.

The department's director, Bill Thomas, and department supervisor Dan Waters, son of Councilman Robbie Waters, are on paid leave while the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the city and an outside law firm hired by the city look into the department and home building permits approved for the Natomas flood zone despite a ban.

The FPP is intended to speed approval for tenant improvements or renovation of commercial and industrial buildings involving businesses that already have established relationships with the city, Kwong said. If the change were approved, the FPP could resume within about two months, he added.

The city suspended the FPP on Oct. 27 after questions about the program arose in relation to the Nestlé Waters North America water-bottling plant. A stop-work order had been posted on the plant's door Oct. 23 while Councilman Kevin McCarty and other city officials inquired into plant construction.

That's when city officials learned that Nestlé and contractors had begun the first phase of construction work without a formal building permit or start-work authorization. A building inspector who coordinates the FPP had given verbal approval only.

A Nestlé official said at the time that the company had complied with the city's building laws.

The city attorney's office, led by Eileen Teichert, determined the practice was not legal, and that allowing construction to start without a building permit violates city and state codes, Kwong said.

Teichert was out of town and not available to comment.

The use of start-work authorizations rather than building permits for some commercial construction predates the FPP in Sacramento.

"We found there was a common practice dating back to 1992 or 1995," Kwong said. "It seemed like an acceptable practice for 14 years, and they went forward with that."

The practice is used in other cities and was incorporated into the FPP when that program was brought to Sacramento from Portland about four years ago, said Kwong. "It's not something we invented," he said.

As planning division director for four and a half years, Kwong was not involved in building services until three weeks ago.

Sacramento City Manager Ray Kerridge, hired in 2004 as an assistant city manager in charge of development, brought Thomas with him from Portland after developers criticized Sacramento's development application and building permit processes as laborious and confusing.

The two have developed programs to speed the application process and encourage development in Sacramento.

Kerridge began his career in Portland as a building inspector in 1979. After becoming manager of commercial inspections, he developed Portland's Facilities Permit Program and the Commercial Combination Inspection Program.

Portland's FPP was designed to match one building inspection team with a building or group of buildings. That team would do all plan review, permitting and inspections of interior tenant improvements to speed improvements or renovations. Phoenix was the only other city in the country known to have a similar program when Portland's began in 1998.

In Sacramento, an inspection team may be replaced by one building inspector certified in several areas, Kwong said.

According to the city of Sacramento's website, "The FPP facilitates a rapid approval process for tenant alterations and improvements of commercial and industrial facilities, (including) minor tenant improvements, including maintenance, repair and minor alterations; and major interior tenant improvements and remodels. This includes tenant improvements to new and existing structures.

"The FPP is available to owners of commercial and industrial buildings, building management companies, and/or their tenants. The program best serves customers who have on-going interior tenant improvements and where facility maintenance, upgrade and renovation is frequent. A good example is a large shopping center with multiple tenants."

As a newcomer to Sacramento, Nestlé would not fit the program. However, Buzz Oates Real Estate Co., which is leasing the warehouse to Nestlé, or Panattoni Construction, which is overseeing the work, would fit the program as established customers, Kwong said.

Nestlé is the building permit applicant. Panattoni received a start-work authorization for the plant renovation's second phase on Oct. 7.

This is the first time the City Council has been asked to weigh in on the FPP.

State building codes must be reviewed to see if FPP practices would be in violation, or to align new city code with the state. City staff also will look for precedents in other cities and counties that use the start-work authorization form, Kwong said.

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Sacramento Preservation Roundtable at Shady Lady Saloon, 14th & R Street

2009-03-13T20:08:13Z

The Spring Sacramento Preservation Roundtable will be held this Saturday, March 14, 9:00 AM

Held at The Shady Lady Saloon - 1409 R Street
A tour of the building following.
Discussion on "Minimum Maintenance of Historic Properties" & Neighborhood involvement.

Presentation by the Development Oversight Commission about the DOC's deregulation proposal and the elimination of the Design Review Commission

CADA (Capitol Area Development Authority) will present the latest projects & plans for the 18th & N / O Street Area

Juice, rolls, coffee, $5 Donation, students w/valid ID attend free

Sponsored by CADA, D&S Development &SOCA

http://www.sacoldcity.org

Date: Saturday, March 14, 2009
Time: 9:00am-12:00pm
------------------------------------------------

Forwarded by Panama Bartholomy of the City of Sacramento Planning Commission:

The City, and potentially members of the Development Oversight Commission (DOC), are expected to present to the Preservation Roundtable on Saturday March 14 (http://sacoldcity.org/WebCalendar/view_entry.php?id=17&date=20090314) the DOC's proposal to eliminate the Design Review Commission, move the majority of planning decisions to the staff level and overhaul the membership of the planning commission so that it contains only two non-development community members.

Please come out to the event to see if the City or DOC has prepared the requested analysis that identifies what problems the DOC’s recommendations are attempting to fix, what the costs and assumed benefits of the changes will be and how the City will preserve neighborhood input in development oversight.

This presentation is not posted on the City website and there are no other identified presentations to be found on any City website before the rumored late-April City Council workshop on this issue. This may be one of your last chances to provide input into this incredibly important proposal to overhaul the City’s development oversight public input process. Please come out an let your voice be heard to call for an elegant development review process that is efficient for our developers and City staff, inclusive of our neighborhood concerns and will enable us to continue to strive to be the most livable City in America.

The meeting will be held in the New Shady Lady Saloon at the corner of 14th and R Streets, 9:00 AM, Saturday, March 14.

The meeting will include a presentation from Capitol Area Development Authority (CADA) on the latest projects & plans for the 18th & N / O Street Area and a tour of the new Shady Lady Saloon.

Please note that there is a $5 donation requested by the Preservation Roundtable to cover the costs of food and beverages.