City may be without a staff leader for months
Faced with an assortment of issues, including an antiquated
water distribution system, failing businesses and a highway slated
to expand through the San Juan Valley, San Juan City Council
members unanimously voted to fire City Manager Jan McClintock May
20.
City may be without a staff leader for months
Faced with an assortment of issues, including an antiquated water distribution system, failing businesses and a highway slated to expand through the San Juan Valley, San Juan City Council members unanimously voted to fire City Manager Jan McClintock May 20.
The next step is to hire an interim city manager, said Ed Laverone, a San Juan council member. Council members would start interviews in late May or early June.
“If the council agrees,” Laverone said, “we can go through with a community process, trying to vet out what kind of city manager we want, what kind of candidate.”
Combining positions, such as hiring a city manager/city planner, would enable city council members to offer more money and attract higher quality candidates.
“I believe that we can get somebody either on or around the first of September,” Laverone said. “September we’ve got things going on.”
A city manager is more important in a small town, Laverone said.
Other than the fire chief, the city manager is the only department head that San Juan has, he said.
“The day-to-day operations of the city need to be managed,” Laverone said. “The city manager is empowered by the municipal code to make decisions. Approving any expenditures, authorizing any major work, hiring somebody.”
Without a city manager, it is unclear who is running the city.
“The inmates are running the asylum,” said Robert Paradice, a San Juan city council member.
There is no single reason that McClintock was fired, Laverone said.
“I’m sure each person had their reasons for voting for it,” Laverone said. “I’m sure mine was just lost confidence in her management style.”
Residents and business owners agree that San Juan has a lot of problems that the next city manager will have to face.
Brad Tremblay has run a business out of San Juan for eight years.
“Drive down the street,” Tremblay said. “You’ll see the issues. The infrastructure is falling apart.”
Residents are part of the problem, Tremblay said.
“They’re so polarized that they can’t get anything done,” Tremblay said.
San Juan has been like that for as long as he has been in town, Tremblay said.
Carlos Soliz is a 43-year resident.
“This town needs a facelift,” Soliz said. “We’ve got water lines bursting all the time. The water’s terrible around here. I wouldn’t drink it.”
The next city manager might be able to improve the water, Soliz said.
“Depending if they hire the city manager saying he’s going to fix it, then maybe we’ll get something out of it,” Soliz said.
Some business owners were optimistic.
Donna Hagins is the manager of Lazy H Studio.
“I don’t think we’ll be too wounded by her leaving,” Hagins said. “She wasn’t very supportive of the business community.”
Hagins said she hopes the next city manager will work with Mission staff and state park staff to promote San Juan.
Some residents of San Juan wanted the city manager fired, Paradice said.
“Normally, watch the town’s people,” Paradice said. “When they get out the pitchforks, it’s better to hang the city manager than the city council.”
Until city council members hire a new city manager, city council members have plenty of decisions to make. San Juan officials submitted a request for proposals for a new reservoir and water lines that would help update the city’s aging water distribution system. Bids are due back in August.
“We don’t necessarily need a permanent city manager when we open the bids,” Laverone said, “but I believe that we need a city manager when we start the construction.”
Officials do not know how they will fund the estimated $7.2 million project, McClintock said in early May.
San Juan officials lost a $3.8 million federal Economic Development Administration (EDA) grant that would have updated the city’s water distribution system, after working for more than a decade to obtain the grant.
Chuck Geiger, a former city council member, was not surprised that McClintock was fired.
“They’re taking a lot of flack about the loss of the EDA grant,” Geiger said, referring to city council members. “They’re trying to act like all the blame goes to her. So my question is, you do think she’s a scapegoat? Absolutely.”
The San Benito County Water District was originally named as a co-recipient of the grant.
“She’s a scapegoat for a council that refused to work with the water district,” Geiger said.
That is not why Laverone voted to fire McClintock.
“That would not have been my reason,” Laverone said. “I don’t know if anybody else took that into consideration.”
Asked if McClintock was a scapegoat, Priscilla Hill, a San Juan city council member, declined to comment.
