Cal City News

WILL CALIFORNIA CITY EVER COME UP TO THE NEW-WORLD?
Guest editorial by: Lou Peralta

The city continues to operate as it has for the past fifty years. It has a standard protocol and no matter who is elected to the City Council, as Mayor, or selected as City Manager, it is all the same-old, same-old look. Let’s not make too many waves.
Nobody wants to think outside the box and confront the system. Nobody wants to try new things even if it means addressing new and often nearly impossible challenges. Absolutely nobody is willing to take a risk while holding office because of fears of either being sued, not being reelected or possibly impeached. As a result, the City of California City remains stagnant, depressed, and mostly in “Limbo” as so many other cities find themselves. Sadly, “CYA” is the optimum position taken by most elected officials and appointed city workers.
Soon, our current City Manager, Linda Lunsford, will be leaving office and a new City Manager will have to be appointed. At this time, it appears that this is going to be the most critical position in the City in many years, because the City Manager is the workhorse for the city. That person is given every responsibility to run the city well and make it prosper. The City Manager not only has to set the tone for the City but it also has to follow the criteria set by the City Council. That is a tough task to follow and to balance. Let me tell you why.
If the City Council is ultra conservative, willing to sit back and not ruffle too many feathers, or not allow to murk up the waters, everyone is happy and reelection is certainly possible. So the City Manager has to work within those limitations. Anytime a City Manager decides to try something different, he/she must be aware that someone in the City Council is going to blow up, chastise the efforts or worst yet attempt to tie the hands of the manager. It is a sad and very negative position to be in. You really can’t blame the city manager for not accomplishing everything that was her objective. Ms. Lunsford has done a marvelous job under the constraints imposed.
So this next round of appointing a new City Manager will either be the same-old-same-old or the City Council must decide (after realizing that this attitude has not worked or served well the citizens for the last twenty-five, thirty-years), to give more of a free hand to the City Manager--to be creative, more active and allow that person to attempt to work outside the box, yet staying within the law, in order to finally make this city prosper. Therein lays the conundrum.
So here’s what I suggest the Council must consider when choosing our new City Manager:

The new City Manager MUST live in California City. Period!
That person has to be acutely familiar with the everyday rhythm of the city. She/he must hear every voice in this city and must have the feel for what this city is all about and what makes it tick.
The pulse of the city is also important and as a result the new City Manager must have complete knowledge where the city is, where it has been and where it must go!
The City Manager must have experience working with people. The manager has to have a good business sense and must have experience in business. No, I don’t mean reading about business, but being part of running a business. That person must be proficient in meeting payroll, obtaining loans, hiring and firing people, running a successful office, knowing how to balance a checking account, be clever to delegate, clever to negotiate, be proficient to instill in people the desire to work hard for the greater cause and have the charisma to lead, where others won’t go.
The new manager must also have vast experience dealing outside the city. Knowing how to bring business into our city, knowing who to call or visit, shrewd on how to advertise this city outside its confines, and make sure that when someone is interested in California City, every single idea, every proposal, or wild venture will be met with an open mind and the decision must be made in a pragmatic and realistic manner, not only determined to be good for the city but also for the proposed business(es).
That person must be experienced in dealing with contracts that not only fully protects the city with very simple, yet solid conditions, but it also does not tie the hands of the entrepreneur or venture capitalist. No contract is ever a good contract if it is lopsided. Both parties must feel that they have gained.
What the city does not need is a person who has for the most part, worked for the City, County, and State or for the Government. If that person has never had the experience to have to make money (because there’s no monthly check coming), so that his/her bills get paid, or has never had to meet payroll, replace the air-conditioning system when there was no money to pay for it, help an employee with serious medical problems, even if it meant taking money out of your own pocket, go into hock just to buy more inventory for the Christmas Season, then that person is not qualified to be the City Manager of California City, at this time and place.
The City is nearly, if not already broke. We are living from grant to grant, from special taxes to special taxes, from whatever the County or the State is willing to give us. At the present time, neither the County nor the State is in the mood to offer much. So we have real problems.
As far as I know, we have no plans in the works on how to bring in new money next month.
This City has to decide that it should not depend or be totally subjective to the County, State or Federal Government for money, although the new City Manager must continue to seek grants. Instead, the city has to decide to go out and find its own money and bring it in. To do that, the City Manager will have to be creative, perhaps a risk-taker, be sufficiently knowledgeable on how to attract people to this city because it has something to sell, and then maintain that effort every day, every week, every month and every year.
The greatest attribute of the new City Manager is the commitment that he/she is unswerving NOT to solely depend on the County or State for its survival but that the City will have established ways to bring in new wealth to this city, so that it can survive without being in the dole of others. That’s a tall order.

Therefore, the City Council, the Mayor and those in charge of selecting a new City Manager have a daunting task before them: Do they wish to continue in the malaise it has been in for years or select a City Manager who will venture to the outer limits, and try new things, try creative things, assign new positions, change attitudes, make this city whole again and everyone who works for the City be proud to know that they are doing their part in making this great city of ours the success it deserves.
Everyone who works for our city is a gem if that person is convinced that they are an important cog on the wheels of the city. They are the ambassadors of our city.

In the interest of full disclosure, I have applied for the position of City Manager.