OB Rag Staff Report
Jack McGrory has seen a lot happen in San Diego over the past 50 years, and he knows a lot about how the city has evolved. In his 24 years at City Hall, where he rose from a trainee in 1973 to City Manager between 1991 and 1997, McGrory had a singular role in helping shape our city government.
At a June 20 dialogue hosted by the San Diego Community Coalition and Neighbors for a Better San Diego, McGrory answered questions about City Hall’s perilous state with astonishing candor.
In this Part I of a report on the forum [link], McGrory discussed how a lack of professionalism at City Hall has led to financial instability and public distrust.
Today, in Part II, he describes how concentrating political power in the executive branch has tipped the city into chaos.
On “strong mayor” government: When we went to district elections in 1988, the downtown business interests got pissed off. They thought: The neighborhoods will control the City Council, so how will we protect our interests? The next move was to go to a strong mayor, which happened in 2004. In a strong mayor government, you lose a professional corps of administrators who know how to do trash, water, and sewage. They know how to deliver services. It’s like running a business. Now look. I’ve had three goddamn trash cans in six months.
In the public sector, some employees are in a civil service classification that gives them protection, and some are “unclassified” – they are not protected, and they operate at a higher level. When I was city manager, I had about 25 unclassified employees. That number today is 432.
On strong mayor vs city manager: In the private sector, you have a board of directors and a chair of the board. They give directions to the CEO, and the CEO runs the company by following the board’s directions. That’s how a city manager works. When you go to a strong mayor, the chair of the board is also the CEO. And now there’s a strong political influence in how things are run. So now you’re hiring 432 political people who don’t know shit from Shinola because they’ve never been trained. You ask them: How did you get this job? What is your background? Do you know the metrics for trash collection routes or the sewer system? That’s a recipe for failure, and that’s what you’re seeing. On ineffective administration: There are odd things happening in the utilities. I think 80 to 90 percent of infrastructure money goes to water and sewer only because we pay water and sewer bills. I’ve seen a lack of management there.
As one example, they were going to build a 25-million-gallon reservoir near Mount Soledad. It would have had four times the capacity of the existing reservoir. They were going to close a public park for five years. I asked, “Why are you doing that in La Jolla? La Jolla is built out. They were using old assumptions about water usage that predated conservation efforts. So they dumped the project.
There’s a lack of management in a lot of these areas, and we need to hold our elected officials responsible for that. Maybe a structure where a chief operating officer reports to the Council would be a step in the right direction. It is definitely in the best interests of the City Council to have a city manager. They have no control over the Mayor, and the Mayor is executing all this stuff. The City Manager would have to be responsible for getting things done in the Councilmembers’ districts. That’s the only way they would survive.
On the city’s Chief Operating Officer: I like Todd; I was on his campaign finance committee. When he became mayor, I told him to find the best chief operating officer in the country. And he hired a third-tier manager in a water utility department in Houston. And he put that guy in an untenable situation because he didn’t have the broad experience he needed. I think for a politician, it may be a threatening thing to hire a high-powered city manager from a big city. And that’s a problem.
On community planning groups: Planning groups came of age in the ‘80s, and the number and organization of them is pretty advanced for a city. It’s a very good infrastructure for community input. You’ve got to convince the Mayor and the Council that planning groups play an important role. In my day, all projects went through the community planning groups, and on my City Manager report, projects had to have planning group recommendations. It’s unfortunate that doesn’t happen.
On public anger: For the first time, I’m seeing incumbents being seriously challenged. There’s a high level of anger: What has happened to us? What is going on in terms of our quality of life? It starts when you drive the streets. I wonder what streets the Mayor and the Councilmembers drive on.
Editor’s note: Since McGrory left City Hall in 1997, he has had a remarkable post-government career: COO of the San Diego Padres, trustee of California State University, CEO of an investment company, philanthropist, and chief adviser on La Jolla’s bid for independence. But it was clear at the forum that he still cares deeply about the city he once managed.
Great article! Appreciate this information!
OK Jack. Still saying the right things for the most part. Can we have a Part 3 solely devoted to the pension crisis which began around 1996. Perhaps talk about the ‘Manager’s Proposal’? I expect more astonishing candor!