SJB officials likely take taxpayer-funded trip but don’t think
it’s public’s business
After just six months on the job, San Juan Bautista’s city
manager, Jennifer Coile, offered a letter of resignation to Mayor
Dan Reed and the city council members Tuesday. Coile circulated the
letter at the beginning of what would become a contentious council
meeting that left citizens wondering about a trip to Seattle.
As city manager, Coile worked on moving the San Juan Bautista
Water System Improvement Project forward. The multi-million dollar
project has been in the works since 1998 and relies heavily on a
$3.8 million grant from the Economic Development Administration.
The public works grant would allow the city to create a water
treatment facility, a new water reservoir and the reconstruction of
sidewalks, gutters and storm sewers along Fourth Street in San
Juan.
SJB officials likely take taxpayer-funded trip but don’t think it’s public’s business
After just six months on the job, San Juan Bautista’s city manager, Jennifer Coile, offered a letter of resignation to Mayor Dan Reed and the city council members Tuesday. Coile circulated the letter at the beginning of what would become a contentious council meeting that left citizens wondering about a trip to Seattle.
As city manager, Coile worked on moving the San Juan Bautista Water System Improvement Project forward. The multi-million dollar project has been in the works since 1998 and relies heavily on a $3.8 million grant from the Economic Development Administration. The public works grant would allow the city to create a water treatment facility, a new water reservoir and the reconstruction of sidewalks, gutters and storm sewers along Fourth Street in San Juan.
At Tuesday’s meeting, councilman Chuck Geiger asked paid consultant and project manager Mark Davis if a trip had been made to Seattle, Wash. to meet with the EDA.
“I am not prepared to discuss that,” Davis said.
As Geiger repeated his question, Davis refused to give a straight yes-or-no answer as to whether a trip had been made.
“We are continuing communication with the EDA as appropriate,” Coile said, without commenting on the alleged trip.
Geiger then asked his fellow council members if a trip had been made and they all declined to comment.
Later in the meeting, long-time San Juan resident Becky McGovern spoke on the council’s behavior.
“Every action of a contracted consultant is the city council’s business and right to question,” McGovern said. “Even though the Bushite’s use the ploy of only telling what they choose, this is still a democratic town and secrecy is not our norm. To fail to answer a simple question, ‘Did you go to Seattle?’ is ridiculous and it is not our method of government.”
Coile’s letter of resignation comes as many question the status of the EDA grant and the future of the water improvement project. The city manager cited “a significant and sudden change in my family’s health status” as the reason for stepping down from her position.
“I came to the decision just a few days ago,” she said. “The city deserves to have a full-time manager and I can’t offer that, for I don’t know how long.”
She made her decision after a doctor in Salinas who is treating her husband in the intensive care unit said he would need careful monitoring for four to six months for an unnamed illness.
Coile took over the position of city manager July 1 after former city manager Larry Cain was ousted by the city council last spring for lack of communication between himself and the politicians.
“She has good organizational skills. That’s what I liked about her,” Geiger said. “Her training, whatever you want to call it, to address the issues in terms of policy, is very good.”
In her six-month tenure, Coile worked with the city council, staff and contractors to create communications between the city and its citizens. She created a city newsletter, added a “News and Press” section to the city’s Website and expanded the “Arts and Leisure” section of the site.
“A lot of people are doing great work and didn’t necessarily know what others were doing,” Coile said.
She emphasized that everything she accomplished was in partnership with staff, council members and community groups.
“I am not a figurehead who tends to take all the credit for everything,” she said. “We had open workshops such as the one on street fairs and festivals.”
While she allowed everyone to offer their opinion, one council member said Coile failed to take a strong enough role as city manager.
“Her weakness was the confrontations. She was uncomfortable and didn’t have the ability to deal with confrontations with individuals,” Geiger said. “We’ve got to come in with a city manager that has very good management skills. That’s something that I felt was a weakness and was a serious problem.”
