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Is Leadership Scarce In Ventura? The Censure Farce Suggests Yes

The Move To Censure Turns To Tragedy

VREG has been silent for six months. City Hall decisions have been hard to reconcile and easy to criticize, so we have held off joining in on the fray. It is difficult not to write about what has been happening with our City government, but as we explain below it has all the makings of a modern Shakespearean tragedy.

New City Council

In December 2022, voters elected three new City Council Members, Jim Duran, Liz Campos and Bill McReynolds. We will reserve the temptation to comment on their talents or lack thereof. Still with these three joining the other four (voters elected Jeannette Sanchez-Palacios after she was appointed to fill a prior vacancy, Joe Schroder, Mike Johnson and Doug Halter), the longest tenure of any of them is just over two years.

The historical knowledge of this group is limited to their personal experience, with little regard for past governmental actions. Some declare a ‘lifelong’ familiarity with ‘all things Ventura,’ but overseeing city politics from an elected city council perspective is far different from being a citizen. The most significant gap is understanding the difference between being in a ‘board of director role,’ as an elected council member, versus being a ‘department head, manager or even a CEO of a company.’ The first lesson they need to learn and accept is that the city council only hires two people for advice on the everyday management of our city, the City Manager and the City Attorney.

As City Councilmembers, they are not HR directors and do not micro-manage staff, city departments or budgets. The role of a council member is to set policy, direct procedures and, in some cases, make laws when necessary.

Councilmembers Unclear On Roles

The greatest surprise is that the staff does not work for the City Council. Councilmembers must understand that the staff answers to their supervisors and, as is human nature, will not jeopardize their position, supervisor or job if it is avoidable. And, to make matters worse, the staff may have budgets and goals contradictory to the public and the elected officials.

The staff can access details and information the City Council needs to make decisions or set policies. Yet, the staff is not the only source of information available to the City Council. Our elected officials must be truthful and ask tough questions about budgets, expenses, staffing, project deadlines, and other options before making decisions. No staff member has ever told the Council, ’We can cut our budget and staff and provide better efficiency with less.’ Again, the role of a Councilmember is to set policy, direct procedures and, in some cases, make laws. The Council cannot do that properly without being provided with all the options unbiasedly.

This concept of questioning or challenging staff information has led to dysfunction at City Hall for the last six months.

By observation, the City of Ventura is a wasteland regarding leadership. Recent Councilmembers have needed to be more experienced in their leadership roles. There has not been a permanent City Manager for over six months. During that time, several department heads were placed on leave or terminated. Most recently, there has also been an attempt to censure an elected Councilmember. All this while the new Mayor says that the city is in great shape with a ‘deep bench’ of staff, and another Councilmember says this is the best group of Councilmembers ever.

To Censure or Admonish Another Council Member?

Censure was the question before the City Council during a 5-hour special meeting. Notably, the City Attorney, who makes a living defining words, told the Ventura County Star there was no real difference between these two actions.

We beg to differ and refer to Mr. Webster. To admonish is ‘to warn or reprimand someone firmly’ while censure is ‘to express severe disapproval, typically in a formal statement.’  Without taking sides in this debate, it finally came down to a Council member using the wrong ‘tone’ with a staff member in an effort to obtain the information he wanted to do his job as an elected official for the benefit of the community.

When we asked some individual Council Members about the outcome of the meeting, one expressed that they wanted to take away the specific committee assignments for which the accused Councilmember received a ‘meeting stipend.’ This reply sounds purely punitive and more like retribution. The investigation may have been an indictment of something wrong, but it was never a legal judgment and certainly not conclusive of any wrongdoing. Judging their peers is not the role of a Councilmember. All seven need training in what their roles are.

Plenty of Blame to Go Around

We do not need the details of the HR complaint to comment on the actions of the Councilmembers. We know that the Mayor, City Attorney and City Manager (interim) were present and either did not witness or did not see fit to deal with the purported infraction when it occurred. Even the current City Councilmembers, in a very diplomatic way, did not see fit to question, deflect or detour the questionable ‘exchange.’ The Council and staff focused on the complaint and Mr. Johnson, but somehow there was no further discussion about the fact that eight other members on the dais were present when the ‘offense’ allegedly occurred. Instead, this becomes a 5-hour discussion that looks more like a ‘gang attack’ on one council member. We make no excuses for what may or may not have occurred. Yet, if something did happen, everyone present needs to share in the guilt.

Making the situation even more absurd was the City Attorney’s unilateral decision to hire an outside law firm for $75,000 to investigate the impropriety of one of his bosses.

Waiting for the Next Shoe to Drop

During the 5-hour discussion about censoring or admonishing Council Member Johnson, some members stood on three moral high ground standards:

  • ‘Zero tolerance’ for bullying.
  • Elected officials should hold themselves to a ‘higher standard’ of conduct than the ordinary citizen.
  • Even the ‘perception’ of disrespecting a staff member was severe enough to take action.

At this point, Councilmember, Liz Campos, stated publicly that her fellow Councilmembers disrespected and belittled her (2:25:08 to 2:28:28) in a closed session, with both the interim City Manager and City Attorney present.

Surprisingly, nobody commented on this statement. When will this investigation begin? Will the City Attorney contract another outside law firm to investigate Ms. Campos’ claims, and what will that cost the citizens?

And, given the three moral high ground standards set forth earlier in the meeting, there should have been four resignations from the four Councilmembers claiming that higher ground. Yet, there weren’t. If those four Councilmembers are to be true to their beliefs and to not be hypocritical, we expect four resignations when the investigation begins.

Editors Comments

We, as citizens, should be disappointed and embarrassed. The Shakespearean quote above is apropos.  It means goodness is bad, and badness is good.

Councilmembers and staff need to stop patting each other on the back for doing a good job when it is their job to perform their work and fulfill their assignments and quietly accept that a Councilmember might be verbally critical if they do not do their job.

What should the citizens of Ventura be entitled to expect? Hire a City Manager to manage our affairs and help the Council through decision-making. As for the City Attorney, he will always warn that the city can be ‘sued,’ but the possibility of a lawsuit cannot be the overriding reason for the Council to vote a certain way. The City Attorney’s job is to “advise” and help on legal matters.  A City Manager’s job is to help the council stay focused on their roles and priorities.

City Council’s priorities are budgets and safety. It is not to accept all staff reports and recommendations at face value. City Council’s job is to question, challenge and determine the best use of the citizens’ money.  It is not to be the cheerleader to all staff members or to accept every report and recommendation staff presents. The City Council is the last safeguard to protect the citizens against wasteful spending. Nobody recalls a time when the staff has reduced their budget or lowered their personnel count. While asking questions, one person’s inquiry may appear to be another person’s assertiveness or aggression. Answering Council’s questions is a large part of the staff’s job.

While other communities are trying to address housing, traffic, economic issues and crime, Ventura is squabbling and spending time pointing fingers and punishing each other.

You don’t like our tone? Is the message too harsh? Too bad. Get over it.

Tell The City Council To Focus On Their Job

Below you’ll find the photos of our current City Council. Click on any Councilmember’s photo and you’re email program will ready to write directly to that Councilmember.

Let them know what you’re thinking. Tell them what they’re doing right and what they could improve upon. No matter what you write, however, share your opinion. Participating in government makes things better because our city government is working for all of us.

Will hire the most influential job in Ventura Will hire the most influential job in Ventura
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How to hire better for the most influential job in Ventura

How To Make Better Hiring Decisions For The Most Influential Job In Ventura

Here we go again. Ventura is hiring its fifth City Manager since 2000.

The City Manager is the most influential job in Ventura’s city government. He controls millions of dollars and impacts Ventura for years to come. Unfortunately, he does this with little oversight from a part-time City Council.

Neither the City Manager nor the City Council has shown an ability to run the city in a fiscally responsible way. As a result, the Finance Department has provided the City Council with a projection that the City of Ventura will lose money over the next five years.

Four previous holders of the most influential job in Ventura.

For the fifth time since 2000, Ventura is hiring a new City Manager.

Poor Choices Lead To Financial Disaster

The City Council does a poor job of overseeing the City Manager. Former City Manager Rick Cole played financial games with the budget. He moved $7.5 million from the Public Liability Fund, Workers’ Compensation Fund, and Information Technology Fund to other areas in the budget. These moves made it appear as if the city’s budget was balanced. Unfortunately, the Council didn’t catch the manipulation or was unwilling to investigate further.

Former City Manager Donna Landeros reallocated $9 million earmarked for the proposed Convention Center to various city programs. Unfortunately, no one can determine what happened to the money.

Former City Manager Mark Watkins acted as the chief cheerleader on Measure O. He touted the money was for city services. Yet, oversight for Measure O has disappeared as the citizens’ committee has several vacancies. Measure O money will ultimately go toward employees’ pensions, not city services.

Moreover, the City Council’s decision to hire Mr. Watkins cost the Ventura taxpayer’s money. When Mr. Watkins took the most influential job in Ventura, the Council chose to increase his salary and bonus to $242,059. That was a $52,718 increase over his predecessor, Mr. Cole. Former Councilmember Christy Weir claimed hiring Mr. Watkins would save the city more money than the rise in his salary. Unfortunately, the figures don’t bear that out over the four years he served in the role. And now, Mr. Watkins receives his retirement pension based on his highest salary of $242,059.

The City Council put Mr. McIntyre on paid administrative leave. At the same time, Ventura hired an independent auditing firm to review city credit card usage from the city’s executive team and other spending. On December 12, 2022, Mr. McIntyre resigned before the audit results became public. The City Council accepted his resignation and paid him $150,000 severance pay.

There Will Be Pressure To Hire Fast

There will be pressure to hire the most influential job in Ventura quickly

The Council will feel internal and external pressure to act quickly. They’ll want to fill the vacant position immediately to provide leadership at City Hall. In addition, citizens will demand someone to manage the Thomas Fire and COVID-19 recoveries. The search firm Ventura hired to help find someone for the position will add to the pressure, too. Ventura pays the search firm when the new City Manager accepts the job. Typically, the fee is three months of the City Manager’s starting salary. In this case, it’s $76,177.

A hasty decision now could lead to adverse consequences in the future. Therefore, the Council should be deliberate, bold and thoughtful when hiring. Likewise, they should think creatively and progressively as they make their selection.

Balancing these goals will take work, and the Council must resist succumbing to the pressure.

Qualities Ventura Needs In A City Manager

The challenges facing Ventura’s new City Manager have never been more significant. The city is recovering from back-to-back adversities and requires steady leadership. Here are some attributes that the City Council should demand of the new City Manager.

Fiscal Responsibility

The new City Manager will inherit a budget with declining revenue and the possibility of a recession in the general economy. Therefore, the new City Manager must thoroughly understand the city’s budget and financial figures. In addition, they must include an understanding of fiscal policies, procedures and controls. For example, Ventura is spending over $100,000 on auditors to investigate city credit card usage by City employees and executive spending. Taxpayers wouldn’t have to pay this if the city accounting staff and the current assistants and deputies in the City Manager’s office had done their job and had implemented proper controls at City Hall.

Accountability

Residents expect the most influential job in Ventura to be accountable. President Truman said, “The buck stops here.” In Ventura, the “buck stops” at the City Manager’s desk, which applies to all the City Manager’s subordinates. The top person is accountable for results, even if the underlings underperform.

Communication

The City Manager must be able to communicate with various groups. For example, they must be able to collaborate with city staff, labor unions, the City Council, the media and the community. Also, the City Manager needs to articulate the city’s plan to move ahead following the Thomas Fire and COVID-19. They must also communicate changes in department policy and practices.

Transparency

Transparency begins with knowing how the City Manager is performing. The city should use Standards of Performance (SOPs) to measure achievement. Currently, the City Manager doesn’t have SOPs listed on its website. The Council should prepare SOPs, and the city should post them for the public to review. What’s more, the City Manager’s accomplishments should be in the public record. Citizens deserve a yardstick to measure if the city meets the City Council’s directives.

Results Driven

The new City Manager should be goal oriented and a self-starter. Once the City Manager understands the Council’s direction, this individual cannot wait for an elected, part-time City Council to implement action.   The new person must be able to meet deadlines to produce measurable results on the projects the city commits to completing.  The new Council intends well, but they are part-time. They do not have the ability or tools to implement their policy decisions and then follow up to ensure others successfully implement them. Only the City Manager and his lieutenants can do that.

Delegation

Delegating responsibility will be crucial to the new City Manager. Yet, delegation doesn’t mean surrendering responsibility. On the contrary, the new City Manager must regularly inspect the assigned projects for results and, if necessary, take action for missed goals.

What The City Council Must Avoid When Hiring A City Manager

Equally crucial to the qualities to look for in a new City Manager are the things the City Council must avoid when hiring that person.

Requiring Former Public Service

Nothing limits the candidate pool like requiring previous public service at the city, county or municipal level. Past City Managers had a bureaucratic background. Locking in on prior public service leads to a “status quo” in city government. Little new or original thinking will come from other public servants. If the city wants to change and improve, finding a person with a business management background would be more beneficial in the long run.

Negotiated Automatic Raises

One salary negotiating tool for a prospective City Manager is to ask for—and usually receive—a salary increase after a specified period. Mr. McIntyre negotiated such a deal, and the increase was unwarranted. Base all increases on meeting or exceeding predetermined measurable results. Tenure should not be a criterion.

Long-Term Severance Packages

Mr. McIntyre also negotiated a $300,000 severance package over twelve months if the City Council terminated him without cause. The severance was too much and will last for too long. Any negotiated severance packages should be at most six months.

Residency Requirements

Requiring a candidate to live in or close to Ventura limits opportunities. Local applicants may only be able to offer new ideas if they know a little history of what came before. It limits the ability to break from entrenched solutions and historical changes. Making needed changes requires fresh thinking that a local person may not have.

Unsuitable Compensation

Each successive City Manager has received higher salaries and benefits. Higher compensation hasn’t produced better outcomes from the City Manager, though.

The City Council should be critical when determining the salary for the new manager. The current compensation for Ventura’s City Manager may be too high. For example, outgoing City Manager McIntyre received $304,707 to manage a General Fund of $126 million and 600 employees. By contrast, Mike Pettit, Ventura County Assistant County Executive Officer, receives $322,355 to administer a $2.7 billion General Fund and 10,000 employees.

Only an extraordinary candidate with a proven track record would warrant a higher salary. Yet, while compensation expenses are an essential concern, now is not a time to “pinch pennies” for the right hire.

Editors’ Comments

Hiring the next City Manager is paramount. The City Manager is the most influential job in Ventura’s city government. The new manager will be responsible for healing Ventura from back-to-back adversities. Hiring the right candidate will affect Ventura for years to come. There can be no higher priority for the incoming City Council.

The Council should be slow, bold and thoughtful when hiring. They should select a replacement creatively by thinking outside the box. What they do now echoes in eternity.

Tell The City Council Not To Act In Haste When Hiring A City Manager

Below you’ll find the photos of our current City Council. Click on any Councilmember’s photo and you’re email program will ready to write directly to that Councilmember.

Let them know what you’re thinking. Tell them what they’re doing right and what they could improve upon. No matter what you write, however, share your opinion. Participating in government makes things better because our city government is working for all of us.

Will hire the most influential job in Ventura Will hire the most influential job in Ventura
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How To Connect To Your 2023 Ventura City Councilmembers

Our federalist system gives us many opportunities to participate in our democracy. Some forms of participation are more common than others. And some citizens participate more than others, but almost everyone has a voice in government.

Ventura is a small city. You should feel comfortable contacting any of the 2023 Ventura City Councilmembers to voice your opinion on any issue. The more active you are, the better the city becomes for all of us.

Meet Your 2023 Ventura City Councilmembers

We have a new Ventura City Council for 2023. We have three new 2023 Ventura City Councilmembers and four established members. Each of them has an email account with the city. Not everyone knows how to contact them, though.

We’ll give you the tools to contact any of the seven City Councilmembers. You’ll find most Councilmembers are responsive, particularly the newly elected ones. The new faces on this Council are Liz Campos, District 1, Bill McReynolds, District 5 and Jim Duran, District 6.

Jeannette Sanchez-Palacios is not new to the Council. She was appointed to District 4 in February 2020 when the elected Councilmember vacated his seat. This is Ms. Sanchez-Palacios’ first time being elected to the seat, though.

Governing By Districts

Our Councilmembers were elected by districts. While each Councilmember was elected by constituents in their district, they serve the entire city. You should feel free to contact any of the 2023 Ventura City Councilmembers regardless of the district in which you live.

Click On A 2023 Ventura City Councilmembers’ Photo To Email

Below you’ll find the photos of our current City Council. Click on any Councilmember’s photo and you’re email program will ready to write directly to that Councilmember.

Let them know what you’re thinking. Tell them what they’re doing right and what they could improve upon. No matter what you write, however, share your opinion. Participating in government makes things better because our city government is working for all of us.

2023 Ventura City Councilmembers District 1 2023 Ventura City Councilmembers District 2
2023 Ventura City Councilmembers 2023 Ventura City Councimembers District 4
2023 Ventura City Councilmembers District 5 2023 Ventura City Councilmembers District 6
2023 Ventura City Counciulmembers District 7

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All You Need To Know About Local Campaign Issues 2022

Vote On Campaign Issues 2020 By Mail

From the start, VREG does not endorse candidates. Instead, our goal is to keep you informed and to educate you wherever possible. As part of that commitment, we want to outline the critical campaign issues facing City Council candidates in 2022.

If you live in Districts 1, 4, 5 or 6, you have a critical decision to make in this election. Your choice for City Councilmember will shape Ventura’s future for decades. How the candidates address the current campaign and the issues that confront our community today should guide your selection.

Meet Your 2022 City Council Candidates

First, familiarize yourself with the candidates. Campaigning has changed in the COVID-19 environment, so you may not be able to meet your candidates in person.

Incumbent Councilmembers Mayor Sofia Rubalcava and Jim Friedman have chosen not to run for another term. That means Districts 1 and 5 will have new representation. Voters in those districts should try to meet their candidates.

Three contenders have emerged to challenge incumbent Councilmember Lori Brown in District 6.

District 1

District 1 candidates top campaign issues

District 4

District 4 candidates top campaign issues

District 5

District 5 candidates top campaign issues

District 6

District 6 candidates top campaign issues

Ventura’s Key Campaign Issues In 2022

What campaign issues do you want your candidate to address? Your answer may depend on the district you live in but, regardless of your district, there are some citywide issues every candidate must address.

Water Is Among The Top Campaign Issues

Water and wastewater treatment will be among the costliest issues the City Council and, ultimately, you will face in the next four years. Ventura Water is asking the Council for over $259 million to complete VenturaWaterPure, making it as expensive to the city as public safety.

Ventura Water convinced the City Council to raise water and wastewater rates by 43% to pay for the project. They claimed the benefits would be another reliable water source by 2025 and, by doing so, we would comply with the Wishtoyo Consent Decree of 2012. Their message was that “your wastewater” would be the “reliable water source.”

Since the Council agreed to the rate increase, the project has had several significant changes.  First, the city relieved the supervisorial duties over VenturaWaterPure from then-Ventura Water General Manager Susan Rungren and turned them over to Linda Sumansky inside the City Manager’s office. While the change sounds trivial, it isn’t. Placing VenturaWaterPure under the oversight of the City Manager’s office takes water and wastewater decisions away from trained engineers and water employees and turns them over to politicians.

Despite losing oversight of WaterPure, Ms. Rungren kept the same salary as she had when she was solely in charge of the project. She has since retired at that elevated salary level, adding to the city’s unfunded pension obligation.

Second, Ventura Water reduced the scope of VenturaWaterPure significantly. Ventura Water will no longer build a state-of-the-art water treatment plant by 2025 to provide the reliable water it promised. Instead, they will treat the wastewater and dump it into the ocean. As a result, what’s known as the Ocean Outfall will be completed by 2025 to fulfill the 2012 Consent Decree. The advanced water treatment plant will be completed by 2030 if all goes according to the revised plans.

Third, the Water Commission approved none of the changes to the plan for VenturaWaterPure. Ventura Water is taking the changes to the City Council, circumventing the Water Commission’s input.

VREG pushed for a Water Commission to review and evaluate Ventura Water’s plans before taking them to the City Council. Commissioners should be people with more expertise in water matters than the City Councilmembers. The Council intended to pass water issues by the Commission before they went to the City Council when it formed the Commission. When it comes to VenturaWaterPure, however, Ventura Water appears to be bypassing that established procedure.

The last Water Commission meeting was May 24, 2022, with their next meeting scheduled for Sept. 27, 2022. It’s hard to say that the Commission is well-informed when it hasn’t met for over 120 days. To make matters worse, when they meet, Ventura Water uses the Brown Act to limit and control the agenda, so the Water Commission cannot get data, discuss details or have timely information.

Politicians Control WaterPure, Not Trained Professionals

Any discussion about water in Ventura should be about the cost of producing and delivering water to the citizens of Ventura. And that cost is rising. Ventura Water presented to a VenturaWaterPure Ad Hoc committee in August 2022. Ventura Water stated the planned expenditures would increase another $76 million, bringing the entire project to over $373 million. There needs to be more than the 43% water rate increase approved two years ago to cover the higher costs. Ventura Water will request another rate increase, most likely.

Find out from your candidates where they stand on VenturaWaterPure. How much do your candidates understand the litigation the city is involved in over water issues? Do they know what alternatives exist to the Wishtoyo Consent Decree of 2012? Do they know about the Ventura River litigation and the cross-complaint Ventura filed against 10,000 property owners along the river to determine water rights on the river?

Homelessness and Vagrancy Are Important Campaign Issues

Homelessness increased by a staggering 34% between 2020 and 2022. The city’s homeless count is 713 people. Only Oxnard, with a population twice the size of Ventura, has more.

Ventura’s homeless shelter is operating, although Covid-19 procedures reduced its capacity.  It costs the city $712,000 annually to house 55 of its 713 homeless. Last year, the city spent the same amount to house 27 homeless people.

Shouldn’t the Council and Ventura’s citizens know how much homeless services cost and how they get allocated? What should Ventura do for those not housed in the shelter? Some of the remaining homeless are vagrants. They choose to live the lifestyle and panhandle. How do candidates plan to combat vagrancy, so Ventura is more welcoming?

Public Employee Pensions Is The Toughest Campaign Issues

Employee Pensions Ranks First Of Campaign Issues 2020

Ask the candidates running in your district if they will work with the city’s unions to reform public employee pensions. The last time the City Council modified pensions was 2010, and those changes were modest.

The city staff believes pensions will level out in six or seven years. Yet, the bill came from CalPERS for this year’s contribution to the unfunded pension liability, and it was staggering. Ventura will pay $19.9M to CalPERS. Can Ventura last that long amid its other financial burdens? The city still hasn’t recovered from the Thomas Fire. The COVID-19 pandemic shuttered businesses for months, robbing the city of sales tax revenue. The new Amazon warehouse in Oxnard will further reduce Ventura’s sales tax revenue by between $700,000-$1,200,000.

Campaign Finances

The elections in 2020 were the costliest in history. Since district elections began, candidates have been spending more each election cycle.

The rising expenditures seem odd. By moving to districts, each candidate needs to reach a smaller number of potential voters (15,000 instead of the entire city). City officials intended district voting to help candidates spend less to be elected. Rather, district voting has had the opposite effect.

Voter turnout was high for the 2020 election. Presidential election years always bring out more voters. That was the case for the 2020 presidential election, a contested battle. Being an off-year election, the voter turnout in 2022 will be like the turnout in 2018.

We will track the candidates’ campaign finance reports to report this year’s totals.

Growth Is Always Among The Key Campaign Issues

Growth means different things to different people. Yet, it’s inescapable that Ventura needs to grow.

Ask if your candidates acknowledge that growth, jobs and water availability are inseparable. They also need to recognize and respect the opposition to building more houses with greater density and height throughout the community. Forward progress on growth means accommodating, integrating and compromising.

Editor’s Comments

Voting works best when people take the time to learn about campaign issues. We urge you to get involved. Educate yourself on the candidates’ positions on the campaign issues for 2022. We’ve provided a framework to ask pertinent questions. Use ours or develop your own but find out where the candidates stand.

Don’t succumb to the political feel-good clichés candidates use to attract your vote. Candidates always discuss growth and public safety while campaigning. Look beyond that. These are not the pressing campaign issues in 2022. The most demanding issues are water, labor contracts, long-term planning and service reductions. These problems with budgets, growth and water have happened over the last fifteen years. Ask yourself, “Do these candidates have the capabilities to solve these problems?”

Once elected, it’s vital to review the new Councilmembers’ performance. Elected representatives gloss over accountability and transparency while in office. They only give them “lip service” during election time. In the past, Councilmembers knew voters would forget their campaign promises over the next four years. It’s up to each of us to make sure that our elected officials do what they promised to do.

We respect anyone who steps up to run for office. Furthermore, we recognize it is difficult to subject yourself and your family to public scrutiny. So, regardless of the election outcome, we applaud everyone who threw their hat in the ring.

Tell the Council What You Believe Are the Real Problems Facing Ventura

Below you’ll find the photos of our current City Council. Click on any Councilmember’s photo and you’ll open your email program ready to write directly to that Councilmember.

Didn't receive money from the Ventura Fire Department Received contributions from the Ventura Fire Department
Mike Johnson received no money from the Ventura Fire Department Jeannette Sanchez-Palacios received no money from the Ventura Fire Department
Jim Friedman received contributions from the Ventura Fire Department Lorrie Brown is a Ventura Fire Department apologist
Joe Schroeder received no money from the Ventura Fire Department

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Ventura’s 2021 State-of-the-City Address Lacked Visionary Leadership

Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results not attributes.

Peter Drucker

 

2021 State-of-the-City Address gets an F

Ventura Mayor Sofia Rubalcava presented the 2021 State-of-the-City Address (SOTC) in June. Unfortunately, over time, the City Council has lost sight of the purpose of a State of the City address. The speech should aim to praise accomplishments when deserved but not ignore major problems where improvement is needed.

For Mayor Rubalcava, who has only been in public office for three years, her address avoided the topics of the challenges, did not give a sense of vision for the future, or reset the city’s goals as her recent predecessors attempted to do in their speeches.

To many Venturans, a State of the City is a formality—a feel-good report—to make everyone comfortable and have pride in their ‘fair city.’ To others, it is an opportunity to celebrate accomplishments, reset goals and provide a vision for Ventura’s future. However, what the residents need is a candid assessment of how the city will combat its challenges.

What Was Missing in This Year’s State-of-the-City Address

The mayor’s address didn’t mention the city’s critical issues. For example, Ventura has a precarious financial situation, as ranked in the State Auditor’s Report. Mayor Rubalcava ignored it. In addition, she never communicated any vision for how the city could be doing better with the Thomas Fire rebuild, the burden of pensions on the Ventura, the needed street repairs, the growing homelessness on city streets, or economic development. What a missed opportunity.

What We’ve Heard Before

Mayor Rubalcava began by saying, “The city is re-imagining the delivery of city services.” Regrettably, the only thing she discussed was implementing the Matrix Report, something her predecessor, Mayor LaVere, mentioned in last year’s address. Madam Mayor explained the backlogs and gaps in service but glossed over how much of the Matrix Report the city has implemented. Staff reports indicated that the city staff planned to implement 50% of the Matrix Report by June 30, 2021, but they did not meet that goal.

Main Street Moves Program Was Part of the 2021 State-of-the-City AddressIn 2020, the city implanted a program named Main Street Moves to allow businesses hurt by the pandemic shutdown to serve limited customers outdoors. Forty-seven businesses applied for outside operating permits under the program. Mayor Rubalcava gave an update on business operating permits. By June 2021, the number of companies requesting outside operating permits was 51. Most of the credit for those accomplishments belongs to those implementing them in the prior year.

Mayor Rubalcava lauded The Trade Desk’s multi-million-dollar remodeling of the fourth and fifth floors of 505 Poli—improvements completed in 2020 during Mayor LaVere’s term and mentioned in his 2020 address. Yet, the tenant improvements were not a city accomplishment. The city only leased space to The Trade Desk. The Trade Desk made the needed changes to suit their needs. Mentioning leasing the fourth and fifth floors of 505 Poli attempts to gloss over the Brooks Institute debacle. Leasing the space to the photography school revealed poor management by the Council and the City Manager’s office. A poor decision six years ago cost the community hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The lack of new information is unfortunate because the casual observer believes that the city accomplished very little in 2020-2021.

A Major Undertaking Mentioned in the 2021 State-of-the-City Address

One key point the mayor did make was that the 2021 General Plan update is underway. The updated plan will replace the 2005 General Plan that the city has been using. A 22-member committee is selected and ready to begin work recalibrating the city’s vision for the next 15 years.

Staking Our Vision on a New General Plan

The 2005 General Plan said, “…today in Ventura, as all across America, there is concern about the health of our democracy.

“Over those years, the ability to build consensus about future development has been undermined by sharply polarized divisions, showdowns at the ballot box, and often rancorous public hearings. The complaint often recurs that planning decisions are made without adequate notice or consideration of the views of those affected. Many citizens criticize the City decision-making process as convoluted and counterproductive.”

No one would blame you for thinking our city leaders expressed that vision in 2021, but they didn’t. Yet, the statement was the preamble to Ventura’s 2005 General Plan. The planners faced these conditions in 2005. Not much has changed. In fact, it’s worse.

Sixteen years later, we’re updating the General Plan because the state dictates we do it, yet the same problems persist. What’s more, we have new issues to address, such as recovering from the Thomas Fire and the COVID-19 Pandemic, shaky city finances, repairing our aging infrastructure, water, street repair, economic development and homelessness. Significant challenges, such as these, require visionary leadership.

Unrealistic To Plan 15 Years into the Future

2021 State-of-the-City Address emphasized the long-range General PlanLong-range planning like this is a fool’s errand. Nobody can look in the future to see what Ventura will need, let alone look 10-15 years in the future. It’s harder still for a 22-person committee. What committee could have predicted the Thomas Fire, the pandemic, Anthony Mele’s murder, and the business shut?

Even though long-range planning is nearly impossible, California instructs Ventura to update its General Plan periodically.

One Final Thought on The 2021 State-of-the-City Address: Majoring In Minors

Too much time in the 2021 State-of-the-City Address was spent on Hate CrimesMayor Rubalcava spent a good portion of her address describing Ventura Police and Hate Crimes. Several things about that were troublesome. First and foremost, she spent all that time talking about four instances in 2020. While hate crimes have received a great deal of national publicity, four out of 6,500 crimes locally in 2020 is a minuscule number of cases to be singled out and dramatized.

Second, when one goes to the Ventura Police site, something there is listed as a “Hate Incident.” It’s a non-crime where someone is demeaned or perceives someone demeans them. Dealing with perception appears to be an unenforceable situation for the police. Furthermore, if the police base the Hate Incident on perceived hate, who is the arbiter of that? Where does free speech end and the hate incident begin? Yet, this seems to be a feckless attempt at posturing to make Ventura appear that it’s in line with the national zeitgeist. Unnecessary, and it detracts from policing the other severe crimes in the city.

Who on the City Council or in the police force considered the costs of implementing the new program? It’s hard to imagine the added bureaucracy and reporting will outweigh the benefit of enforcing the hate incidents.

With so much attention focused on a few hate crimes, it diverted City Council attention from other critical issues like water, pensions, Ventura Fire Department, the fissure between management and staff at City Hall and the homeless.

Editors Comments

Where's the leadership in the 2021 State-of-the-City Address?An opportunity exists for the City Council to demonstrate genuine leadership.  The results of the last two elections have delivered an unprecedented turnover of all the Councilmembers quickly.  The voters expressed their desire for new leaders. Can these new members do something different from the past Councils?

Currently, any direction the city has seems to be haphazard. We see examples of a lack of leadership in a variety of places. Whether it’s a “phone-it-in” State-of-the-City Address, an anemic refreshing of the General Plan, or fretting over a negligible number of hate crimes, it shows the city leaders bounce from one topic to another without regard to the city’s long-term well-being. Voters should not accept this anymore.

Mayor Neal Andrews got it right in his 2018 State-of-the-City Address when he said, “We [Ventura] are no longer a quaint little beach town. We’re among the top 10% of the largest cities in California.” He recognized a truth many of us have known for years. Ventura has urban issues, and we can’t solve urban problems with provincial solutions. We need fresh thinking.

Tell the Council to Tackle the Real Problems that Need Addressing In the General Plan.

Below you’ll find the photos of our current City Council. Click on any Councilmember’s photo and you’ll open your email program ready to write directly to that Councilmember.

Didn't receive money from the Ventura Fire Department Received contributions from the Ventura Fire Department
Mike Johnson received no money from the Ventura Fire Department Jeannette Sanchez-Palacios received no money from the Ventura Fire Department
Jim Friedman received contributions from the Ventura Fire Department Lorrie Brown is a Ventura Fire Department apologist
Joe Schroeder received no money from the Ventura Fire Department

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