Mayor Kevin McCarty took a bold step at his first full City Council meeting in December. He voted with five colleagues to fire City Manager Howard Chan.
We don’t know if McCarty led the revolt, or if the list of failures under Chan and former Mayor Darrell Steinberg prompted the council to remove the city’s chief operating officer. Councilmembers offered no explanations other than vague remarks about fresh starts.
There was only the final vote—6–3 against extending Chan’s contract for a ninth year. Rick Jennings, Lisa Kaplan and council newcomer Phil Pluckebaum voted to keep Chan. It would be nice to know the motives of all nine members. Their reasons would be instructive. But we got nothing.
During his mayoral campaign, McCarty said he supported Chan. But McCarty had good reasons to change his mind.
For starters, while serving in the state Assembly, McCarty authored funding for 40 “tiny houses” for homeless people in Sacramento. These homes have sat untouched and unused for years.
McCarty also secured state funds to help replace the swimming pool in Southside Park that serves low-income families in the neighborhood and nearby public housing.
The $500,000 provided by the Legislature for the swimming pool went unused for a year while potential contractors waited for the city to write a contract, consider bids and select a vendor.
Two summers passed without the pool reopening. I suggested a plan to transport Southside families to other pools with free passes. That idea was ignored.
The city manager’s officer never explained the pool delays—despite a promise from Steinberg that the pool would open last September.
As the new year began, the pool remained a hole in the ground after the city discovered pipes needing replacement. City staff under Chan apparently neglected to consider the consequences of deferred maintenance.
A third reason to deny extending Chan’s contract was the Rio City Café debacle I wrote about last summer. The restaurant was one of the few city tenants in Old Sacramento that paid rent in the pandemic.
The city has known for 10 years the restaurant’s riverfront deck needed repairs or replacement. Nothing happened until last spring when an inspector declared the deck unsafe. Rio City lost access to its best tables and 70% of its revenue.
Under Chan, the city had more than 20 employees working on economic development. Somehow, none of them could ensure a beloved destination and substantial employer on city property had a safe, operational facility.
Rio City closed last summer. Owners Mark and Stephanie Miller left town after a 10-year run. We lost a landmark and wonderful small business partner, all because the landlord—the city manager’s office—failed.
Another fiasco has been covered extensively in Inside’s pages. Last year the city prepared to open a $12 million bicycle and pedestrian bridge across Interstate 5 and Riverside Boulevard near Land Park.
The bridge links the Del Rio Trail and Sacramento River Parkway bike trails and serves as a monument to the city’s commitment to recreation, alternative transportation and accessibility.
But instead of opening ceremonies, city officials said the bridge featured inferior concrete and rebar. It must be torn down.
How did Chan’s public works team allow a bridge to be built across a major freeway with inadequate, unacceptable products? The city refuses to say, despite a legal duty to release relevant documents.
Now the mayor and City Council must move fast to find a new manager. No subordinates under Chan should be considered given the litany of breakdowns and failures.
Some administrators at City Hall may be capable of thriving under new leadership. But with nothing but excuses and embedded mediocrity, it will be hard to recruit a top-level manager. Given the city’s ongoing budget deficit, the council can’t pursue new initiatives.
I’d like to see McCarty and the City Council add a declaration to their dismissal of Chan: Business as usual is no longer acceptable.
To help keep track of the municipal fiascos, Inside Sacramento is creating a Civic Dashboard to track troubled projects. Look for this new feature in upcoming editions.
Cecily Hastings can be reached at publisher@insidepublications.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento.
