City Manager Dale Shaddox is taking an early retirement after
only a year on the job in Hollister
– an unwelcome development in a city that needs strict financial
guidance.
City Manager Dale Shaddox is taking an early retirement after only a year on the job in Hollister – an unwelcome development in a city that needs strict financial guidance.
Residents might not realize how important tedious city budgets are, or the impact those budgets have on their lives. But financial problems at city hall can mean fewer police officers on the streets, more potholes in the roads and a decline in other city services we take for granted.
Under Shaddox, the city was starting to repair the damage done by the stagnant local economy created by the building moratorium, falling tax revenue and mismanagement.
He did it by taking hard steps like:
– Telling the Hollister Independence Rally it can’t rely on free city security
– Discovering San Benito Foods owed the city $1.5 million – a staggering sum to lose track of in a town with a $35 million budget
– Recommending laying off 36 city employees and offering 38 others an early retirement package to save $2.5 million
Those are painful moves to take because they affect people’s livelihoods, their ability to put food on the table. Shaddox says the layoffs were particularly agonizing and contributed to his decision to leave. He hopes to save a couple jobs by retiring.
That’s a noble sentiment, but we also realize Shaddox is taking the retirement package. Shaddox, who earned $130,000 per year, will get $680 a month from the deal.
Still, it’s a loss for Hollister that he decided to go. Without Shaddox “we would have been a lot worse off,” Councilman Robert Scattini said Monday.
Shaddox’s announcement leaves the city in a lurch.
This year’s budget is not done. Council members are staring at a possible $4 million shortfall next year – with no city manager to crunch the numbers. Officials are overseeing the construction of a new sewer plant that will lead to a lifting of the building moratorium. And, the council may put tax measures before voters in November to help with the budget morass.
Those are the tough tasks facing a new city manager on the first day at work.
We encourage the City Council to get on the hiring process quickly. Someone needs to pick up where Shaddox left off right away.
But let’s mind the lessons we’ve learned.
Shaddox said he didn’t know the “breadth and severity of the many issues facing the City of Hollister” when he agreed to come aboard. That’s not right. A newcomer needs to know the extent of the tasks ahead to get the job done right. And, let’s get a contract that precludes the city manager from leaving too soon unless he’s fired.
Shaddox put Hollister on the path to fiscal health. Let’s find a strong, competent leader to take the next step.
