Sacramento City Council members had their hands full this year – from balancing the budget to redrawing district lines to a citizen uprising that found its way to the doors of City Hall. Here’s the city government year in review. CITY MANAGER DRAMA The year started off with interim city manager Gus Vina not being promoted to the open city manager spot. Vina replaced previous city manager Ray Kerrige when Kerrige resigned in February 2010. Vina resigned two months later – just a few weeks before the budget was due to the City Council. He later became the city manager of Encinitas. The City Council was criticized for making decisions about the city manager position in closed sessions bef

The search for a new city manager – which began nearly five months ago when Gus Vina resigned as interim city manager – may be coming to an end this week. John Shirey, current executive director of the California Redevelopment Association, was recently named as a front-runner for the position, and now it appears that a finalized contract between Shirey and the city is in the works. The City Council will be discussing the city manager position in a closed session Tuesday afternoon, however, city spokeswoman Amy Williams said that they do not anticipate any sort of announcement after that session. “The city is currently negotiating with the preferred candidate,” Williams said. However, “n

Former Sacramento interim city manager Gus Vina is headed for the coast. Vina, who resigned from his post in Sacramento in March, will start a new job on July 1 as the city manager of Encinitas in San Diego County. The Encinitas City Council announced Monday that it chose Vina, 50, for the job. The city of roughly 60,000 is known for its beaches, surfing and flower-growing operations. “I’m excited to be able to continue at the city manager level,” Vina said Tuesday, adding that the Southern California city will be a “completely different environment.” The Encinitas City Council is not facing any budget troubles, Vina said. By contrast, the Sacramento City Council is grappling with a $3

Layoffs of about 100 police officers and nearly 50 Fire Department staffers are listed as possible budget cuts in the city’s proposed 2011/2012 budget, scheduled to be released Friday. The city released a summary of the budget recommendations from Interim City Manager Bill Edgar and Interim Deputy City Manager Betty Masuoka late Thursday afternoon. The budget was largely put together by previous Interim City Manager Gus Vina, who resigned last month.  The city manager’s office recommends that police officer cuts should be made in the department’s special units. The summary said that 167 full-time employees would be cut in the police department. Of the 167 employees, 98 are sworn police o

Much has been written about Gus Vina in the press over the past 14 months. After becoming Sacramento’s interim city manager, Vina faced a multitude challenges on various fronts. Budgets shortfalls, permit controversies, and varying levels of support from the City Council were just some of the hurdles Vina had to bear. In the end, Vina tendered his resignation, effective today. I met with him late Wednesday afternoon as he finished cleaning out his office to talk about his time as interim city manager, his plans going forward and the possible future of Sacramento. Here’s what we spoke about: Isaac Gonzalez: You took the position of interim city manager after Ray Kerridge resigned in Febru

A number of recent City Council meetings relating to Interim City Manager Gus Vina, including the council’s January vote against his promotion, have been closed to the public. An attorney and open government advocate commented on the Brown Act Friday, saying he opposes “closed session” meetings on hiring and firing matters affecting the city manager. Terry Francke, an attorney for the nonprofit open government group Californians Aware said city manager hiring and firing decisions should be made public. Central to the issue of closed meetings is the way city officials interpret the Brown Act, a state law intended to make government meetings open to the public at the local level. The City

And you thought Sacramento's governmental dysfunction couldn't get any worse.  Interim City Manager Gus Vina, who stepped in when the previous city manager got fed up with the City Council and quit just a year ago, announced his resignation Friday morning. Vina quit without another job lined up – that’s how bad his work situation was. And you can hardly blame him: He got a vote of no confidence nearly two months ago, when a majority of the city council – Sheedy, McCarty, Pannell, Fong and Fong – said that they wanted to do a national search for a better candidate. Vina wasn’t good enough for them.  Apparently, even in tight times, they have no problem spending the roughly $30,000, and t

The clock is ticking for the Sacramento City Council. Sacramento Interim City Manager Gus Vina’s resignation on Friday morning means that the City Council must take immediate actions that will impact the city budget and labor negotiations with municipal unions.  Council members must find a new top city official one month before the city’s proposed budget is due. Vina’s resignation also means that the city’s labor unions will take up budget negotiations with a new city leader. “We don’t have time to grieve,” City Councilman Steve Cohn said in an interview Friday. Cohn was one of four council members who supported Vina’s earlier effort to become Sacramento’s next permanent city manager.

Interim City Manager Gus Vina’s resignation comes just weeks before the city must propose a budget for the next fiscal year. In Sacramento’s city government, the city manager prepares a proposed budget and the City Council makes final budget decisions. Vina told the Sacramento Press on Friday afternoon that the proposed budget will be on time even though he is leaving April 8. “We are very close to finishing the proposed budget,” Vina said. “It will be ready to meet the May 1 deadline … I committed to council that I would get the budget done and I will.” He said he was leaving because he was not supported by the full City Council. “I need to move on and pursue other opportunities becaus

During the debate on a “strong mayor” system of government, each side battled over which form of government allowed for the greatest accountability to the public, democratic ideals in decision making and open debate of policy. After a fateful 5-4 vote not to promote Gus Vina to full-time city manager and his subsequent resignation, I know that the council system we currently have is seriously broken. Why? Not because of the vote itself or Vina’s decision. But because the debate and vote were conducted behind closed doors in a closed session. I have no idea why the council decided not to promote Vina. Council members refuse to talk with our reporters about the decision. Wait, what? Yes, y

The city’s search for a new city manager has been delayed for weeks, according to the consultant leading the search. The exact reasons for the delay are unclear, but a discussion at Tuesday’s City Council meeting indicated that the delay involves miscommunication between the City Council, City Attorney Eileen Teichert, city Human Resources Manager Geri Hamby and the consultant, Stuart Satow, an executive recruiter for CPS Human Resource Services. Council members had been scheduled to tell Satow their opinions on city manager characteristics Feb. 22, but decided then that they didn’t want to have that discussion at that meeting. Satow said Tuesday that he has not yet received direction f

Sacramento Police Chief Rick Braziel received support from the City Council Tuesday on a plan to bring back three or four job openings that have been eliminated in the department as part of budget cuts. Braziel told the council and Interim City Manager Gus Vina that he must reopen some key positions because nine of the department’s top 11 officials, ranked captain and higher, will be eligible to retire within three years. The city is facing a $35 million - 40 million budget gap for the 2011/2012 fiscal year. Braziel said he would be able to open the positions without asking the city for additional money. “It’s not the right time, but we have to do it,” Braziel said. “We don’t have a cho

The City Council is allowing the city manager’s office to explore new ways of closing the city’s $35 million - 40 million budget gap, including employee pay cuts and benefit rate hikes. The strategies include a 5-10 percent pay cut for all city employees. The City Council unanimously decided on Tuesday to allow city staff to consider a range of ideas for closing the budget shortfall. Councilman Steve Cohn said that examining several options for budget cuts does not mean that he supports them. “I’m fine with looking at a whole potpourri of different ideas,” Cohn said. “I don’t want that to be mistook for supporting any particular strategy at this point.” The city would need to reach an

A city staff proposal to eventually stop loose-in-the-street green waste pickup and move to container pickup will not work for all city residents, Interim City Manager Gus Vina said in an interview Thursday. In tree-laden areas such as Midtown, a container is not adequate to hold all of the fallen leaves, Vina said, explaining why he pulled the green waste issue from the City Council’s agenda on Tuesday. “I want to make sure I’ve challenged staff enough on creativity and the solutions that are possible,” Vina said. The plan that Vina delayed would have encouraged moving away from loose-in-the street pickup and raised rates for residents who continue that method of pickup. Assistant City

The leader of a new effort to unionize city employees took issue with Interim City Manager Gus Vina’s recent decision to raise three managers’ salaries and lower the salary of a fourth manager. Dee Contreras, the former labor relations director for the city, is spearheading a campaign to unionize 677 city workers, including top managers and administrative staff. She retired in December but is once again involved in local labor issues – this time on the other side. Contreras said in an interview with The Sacramento Press on Wednesday that she will serve as the staffer for the emerging group, which is known as the Sacramento City Exempt Employees Association. “I will be working for them a

Interim City Manager Gus Vina received mixed signals from the City Council Tuesday night as it unanimously voted to extend his interim status until the end of June and to hire a recruiting firm in a national search for the permanent position. City Council members agreed to pay up to $27,650 to the recruiting firm. Meanwhile, Interim City Manager Gus Vina confirmed in a text message to The Sacramento Press on Tuesday night that he will compete for the permanent city manager position in the national search. The council decided in a split vote not to promote him last month. At Tuesday’s council meeting, the city’s elected officials chose to hire Sacramento-based CPS Human Resource Services

The city will conduct a national search for a new city manager in response to the City Council’s Jan. 25 decision against promoting Interim City Manager Gus Vina. Recruiting fees could cost the city as much as $35,400, according to Sacramento’s Human Resources Department. An executive recruiting firm will be hired to conduct the search. The range in fees is estimated between $27,650 and $35,400. One of two recruiting firms may be chosen by the City Council on Tuesday night. The two Sacramento-based recruiting firms are Wilcox Miller Nelson and CPS Human Resource Services. The Human Resources Department’s report on the city manager search, which will be presented at the Feb. 8 City Coun

Addressing an estimated $35 million-$40 million budget gap for the 2011-2012 fiscal year, Interim City Manager Gus Vina hosted a special workshop on economic recovery for the City Council. He presented a variety of plans to bring in more revenue, including enhancing the city’s parks with tourist attractions, providing incentives to businesses and creating a mix of opportunities in the city’s job market. Vina urged City Council members to move quickly on the economic recovery plan so the city can begin to see results. “I don’t expect the benefits in 2012 and 2013 to be huge, but it will be a good beginning,” he said. He told council members that unemployment in 2011 is expected to remai

The City Council voted 5-4 Tuesday night against promoting Interim City Manager Gus Vina to the permanent city manager position. Council members Sandy Sheedy, Rob Fong, Kevin McCarty, Darrell Fong and Bonnie Pannell voted to conduct a national search for a new city manager. Mayor Kevin Johnson briefed reporters after he and the members of the City Council held a private meeting about Vina’s job status. Johnson said the council feels that Vina did a “great job” as interim city manager. However, he said the City Council voted to conduct a national search for a city manager candidate. Johnson said he hopes that Vina will apply for the job as part of the national search. Vina was not imme

The Sacramento City Council will gather Tuesday afternoon to brainstorm ways City Hall can help the city’s financial recovery. Joann Cummins, district director for City Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy, said Interim City Manager Gus Vina has worked on the economic recovery plan that will be outlined at Tuesday’s workshop. “It’s basically a blueprint for getting Sacramento on the road to recovery,” Cummins said. Council members will gather for the economic recovery workshop at 2 p.m. at the Sacramento Library Galleria, located at 828 I St. The meeting is open to the public. City spokeswoman Linda Tucker said Vina’s economic recovery plan includes goals for economic recovery and prosperity; han