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 i

The Sacramento City Council is eyeing a proposed rule stating that city employees could be fired for leaking confidential information. What are city officials considering 'confidential' information? And what do the definitions mean? City Attorney Eileen Teichert has drafted language for the proposed rule. The City Council postponed a decision on the proposed rule Tuesday but is expected to take up the issue again at an upcoming meeting. Leaked information from City Hall has become big news lately. In October, the Sacramento Bee used a leaked memo to report that the Community Development Department's approval of 35 building permits in Natomas may have broken federal rules. The offices of

Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy is opposing a proposed rule stating that city employees could be fired for leaking confidential information. She said at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting the proposed rule would have a “chilling effect” on whistleblowers. The City Council delayed a decision on the proposal. The proposal Sheedy is opposing was drafted by City Attorney Eileen Teichert. It states that an “employee disclosing or causing to be disclosed confidential information to any unauthorized person may be subject to appropriate disciplinary action up to and including termination.” Councilman Robbie Waters wanted Teichert to address confidentiality in a rule. His views on the current propo

A Sacramento city councilwoman said Sacramento’s municipal government has “gone wrong.” A second councilwoman blamed high-level city staff. And a councilman suggested that the city consider setting up a whistleblower hotline. During an intense meeting Tuesday night, the Sacramento City Council grappled with an investigation involving the city’s community development department. Council members wrestled with findings from an investigation into the department’s approval last year of 35 permits in a Natomas flood zone. The investigation was carried out by City Attorney Eileen Teichert’s office and a third-party law firm, Renee Sloan Holtzman Sakai. In a recent report, the offices of the ci

An investigation into the city’s development department has brought to light several new issues, including “potential quid pro quo,” according to a new report from the offices of the city attorney and city manager. The city attorney’s office and Renee Sloan Holtzman Sakai, a third-party law firm, have been working together on an investigation into the development department’s approval of 35 building permits in a Natomas flood zone. The offices of the city manager and the city attorney acknowledge in a recent report that the city broke federal rules by authorizing the permits. The report lists new issues in the building division of the department such as “potential quid pro quo,” “demoli

 An investigation into the Sacramento development department’s approval of building permits in a flood zone will be considered by the City Council on Tuesday. City Attorney Eileen Teichert and a third party-law firm, Renee Sloan Holtzman Sakai, have been investigating the Community Development Department’s decision last year to greenlight 35 building permits in a Natomas area regulated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. At the Tuesday meeting, the city attorney’s office will make a presentation on the investigation. Teichert’s office acknowledged in a Dec. 15 letter to the FEMA office in Oakland that the city broke federal rules by authorizing the permits. Councilman Steve Cohn

Sandy Sheedy is ready for controversy. The Sacramento city councilwoman plans to focus on a set of contentious issues this year. Her top citywide goals for 2010 are to address the budget and respond to concerns involving the development department and utilities funds. The Sacramento Press is publishing a series on the 2010 goals of city council members. Links to stories on the goals of other council members are included at the bottom of this story. Sheedy represents District 2, which covers neighborhoods north of the American River such as Del Paso Heights, Strawberry Manor and North Sacramento. Unlike many of her council colleagues, she is not running for re-election or higher office.

The city needs to make headway on flood protection efforts in order for the federal government to lift a moratorium on building in Natomas, Mayor Kevin Johnson said Tuesday. The Federal Emergency Management Agency banned development in Natomas in 2008 because of the threat of flooding. Johnson said at his weekly press conference that flood protection will be one of his priorities in 2010. “We have to make progress so that (FEMA) will lift the moratorium,” Johnson said. New building in Natomas would generate dollars for the city’s general fund, he said. “If we want to grow revenue, we’ve got to find ways to have more economic development opportunities,” he said. Still, he noted that th

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 Direc

The city of Sacramento has admitted to federal regulators that its development department bypassed federal rules by greenlighting 35 building permits in a Natomas flood zone this year. At the same time, the city is asking the federal government if 25 of the homes can be completed. A third-party law firm, Renne Sloan Holtzman Sakai, and City Attorney Eileen Teichert's office are investigating the issue. The city has placed Bill Thomas, community development director, and department staffer Dan Waters on leave. Teichert said Friday she did not know when the investigation would be completed. In a Dec. 15 letter to Cynthia McKenzie, senior flood planner at the Federal Emergency Management A

A city permitting program that recently caused a stir at City Hall has been updated and will go into effect Wednesday. The City Council asked staff to continue to work on changes to the Facilities Permit Program Tuesday night. In the meantime, a new interim version of the program will be used. City Attorney Eileen Teichert said after Tuesday night’s City Council meeting that the interim version of the program aligns with city and state laws. A report from Teichert states that the FPP had caused problems with city and state laws. City code was violated because builders did not have to pay fees and receive a building permit before starting construction on FPP projects, Teichert’s report

The City Council will discuss Tuesday a new version of a permitting program that became part of the recent debate over the Nestlé’s company’s move to Sacramento. The city shuttered its Facilities Permit Program Oct. 27 to investigate whether the program breaks laws. City Attorney Eileen Teichert declared recently that the FPP was being used illegally because the city was not directing builders to obtain formal building permits before starting construction work, according to David Kwong, the city’s acting planning division director. The previous version of the FPP offered businesses -- those that worked with the city on an ongoing basis -- a way to receive quick approval for tenant improv

The Sacramento City Council’s audit committee will be busy for awhile. During a Tuesday night briefing on an investigation into the city’s approval of 35 building permits in a Natomas flood zone, City Attorney Eileen Teichert told the City Council there are more issues to address. She identified one of the issues as the Facilities Permit Program (FPP), but declined to specify the other issues. “During the course of these initial interviews and documentary review, additional issues have arisen,” Teichert told the City Council. The FPP became controversial in a recent debate over Nestlé’s move to set up a bottling plant in Sacramento. In three weeks, the city attorney’s office will delive

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 t

Several legal issues in the “strong mayor” initiative that were raised by Sacramento’s city attorney will likely not be addressed by the City Council. After listening to a Tuesday night presentation by City Attorney Eileen Teichert, councilmembers did not suggest taking any future actions to resolve the issues. Instead of taking action on the legal issues that were raised by Teichert, some councilmembers said they look forward to analyzing the Charter Review Committee’s upcoming recommendations on the strong mayor system of city government. The committee’s ideas may be placed on a future ballot for citizens to decide. The City Council had asked Teichert to prepare a report on the legal i

As the “strong mayor” issue rages on, the Sacramento City Council is also examining a significant proposal from voters to set up an independent budget analyst's office. The council asked city staffers Tuesday to prepare a workshop to explain how an office for the independent budget analyst could possibly be consolidated with the city’s internal auditor office. City Treasurer Russ Fehr wrote in an Aug. 25 report that the independent budget analyst would report to the City Council and offer suggestions for changes separate from the city’s budget office. The city is looking at an office of three full-time employees. About $500,000 would pay for the employees‘ salaries, equipment, supplies a

A committee tasked with examining the city government’s structure and functions is starting to address the contentious issue of whether Sacramento’s mayor should have more power. Sacramento’s 11-member Charter Review Committee, which began meeting last month, is studying the rules in the city’s charter. The charter is similar to a constitution, the city explains. One of the items on the committee’s list is the idea of changing city government to a “strong mayor” format that would give the mayor more responsibilities. The committee will contrast the "strong mayor" format with the city's existing "council-manager" system. JoAnn Fuller, a committee member and associate director for the gro