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towards a café that will be a training ground for youth.
Parks: does not have as much experience; parks are managed by public works in Stockton, one of the
greatest challenges was the need to strengthen the relationship; landscaping was contracted out, had
to engage with PW b/c there was no distinction between fields and just mowing the lawn, was
included in the contract selection, his sports staff was involved; he is often referred to as the parks
and rec director by citizens because he has the users; they have a soccer complex that was not in
good place, has been turned around since he began managing the relationship with PWs; golf course,
golf is declining, decision to lease out the golf course, turn the second property back to the city to
turn into a parkland 200 acres, he is part of the planning process
Community Engagement: believes Stockton has come a long way but needs to embrace community
engagement at a higher level and not just holding public meetings to say they did; has put models in
place to measure achieving good engagement, including the right stakeholders; we have the
resources and personnel to do what the community wants, some areas don't have the connection to
the departments, find the people who already have the connections and are the neighborhood
leaders and draw them in. Was going to set up a micro library at the senior center and his staff had
not done the due diligence, unbeknownst to him, Council was going to address it and there were
angry citizens so it was put off, he was at the second meeting and decided to take a listening
approach, faced the community and listened to the public comment, the issue was that they wanted
many things at the center that the library couldn't do but that other programs could address and they
needed to know that
5. Tell me about the riskiest or most difficult management decision you have made in recent years.
What was your thought process that led you to move forward? Would you do anything differently
today?
Two examples: 1 would have done something differently, the other went well. 1) was with the city
2­3 years, the City wanted to get out of the Golf business, he was supposed to come up with the
strategy, should have cautioned the Deputy CM more because of the community concerns; meeting
with citizens blew up and there was even an effort to recall the mayor, an inexperienced Council
member tried to have a town hall but wouldn't take any questions; the members of community were
upset about how it was all handled; he had limited control over the situation but knew he needed to
jump in and help correct, worked with Mayor on creating a citizen's advisory committee, information
sharing, included locals on the RFP panel so that residents would have a say, in a month agreement
going to Council; back on track now; lesson learned is to speak up with he thinks there is a real issue
and when things don't go well, no blame game, just fix it and there is always a way to solve the
problem. 2) Micro library program was a bit risky, was born out of there being a closed library the
citizens wanted to reopen, there was no money to reopen it; Council was pushing to reopen; there
was a community center that had a "reading room" that was a glorified closet; wanted to transform
that center into a space that included programming and computers, spent 5­6 months readying the
space, in 1 month had 12,000 visits, program skyrocketed, there is homework help and after school
story time, after the tax measure did reopen the library; the micro­library model took root and are
now opening the 3 .
rd
6. Please describe your experience in coordinating, tracking and reporting out on the implementation
of organizational goals, objectives, policies and procedures.
The City has some work to do in this area; the statistical reporting on libraries was pretty good but not
the rec side; has worked on creating process and making sure the definitions are in place; good at
measuring what they are doing and now moving towards outcomes, instituting more evaluative
elements for the public to give them a sense of how they are doing; focused on 3 grade reading
rd
level, tracking the programs that are in place, testing kindergarten readiness at story times, piloting a
program called Leana, parents get a device that the child wears and records the words child hears,
information is transmitted to data base that tracks child language development (partnership with a
university); metrics with the promise zone, all measuring the same things now, get the group numbers
which is more impactful; also working through library and rec strategic plan, library already had one,
he created the one for rec (themes he set and then his staff set the objectives and review process,
earning a reputation for excellence, building youth ladder, telling our story)
7. Please describe a project in which you played a major role in creating pathways for improvement
for those in your community.
Pre­Promise Zone example, South Stockton is an area of focus, worked with Mayor and South
Stockton committee to help improve outcomes for people of that area; the first few meetings was
thinking about his role as a leader and his awareness of how the City has perpetuated some of the
issues, went in to sit and listen, he was a new transplant, asked a lot of questions, understood the
landscape better; there had been violence in one of the neighborhoods, the meeting was coming up
for that neighborhood, it was his turn to facilitate, he kept in mind that his role was not to talk but to
ensure all the voices were heard; the meetings became coordinated with the promise zone work,
asset mapping with the community, locus of influences, and where the programming was happening,
set the stage for directing funding.
8. Please describe your experience in evaluating technology and operational procedure utilized in a
City department and your approach to implementing change, if needed.
Technology isn't going to solve all the problems, it's a tool, need the right tool and need to use it the
right way; the best technology reduces workload so people can focus on services, and increases
capacity in case you need to be leaner. Never had a public facing rec software program, members of
the public who's kids wanted to attend programs had to go to a center to sign them up, he felt that
was very inefficient; people are busy, both parents are working, kids are active in all kinds of
scheduled activities, how can we make the programs accessible and eliminate "one more thing to do";
also did the same thing in the library, had RF id technology; have to be aware that this is a culture
change for the staff and the public, public tends to adapt better; have to use basic change
management techniques, it's not easy but moves towards something that adds value.
9. Please describe the roles in which you have had a relationship elected officials, and what your role
was in those examples. Can you provide an example of when you have had to research a regulatory
item and present your findings to the Council, Board, or Mayor?
1) had to do significant City ordinance cleanup; served the arts commission, there were 24 people and
was unwieldy, had lost most of their funding, lots of people who wanted to do things that couldn't be
done; was messy; spent a year talking to the commission about tightening things up; researched other
arts commissions and rewrote the ordinance to reduce number of commissioners, developed strategy
with them; presented to Council, Commission was ok with the process and was successful in the end
2) Strong communities measure (M salestax), when measure was passed had to come up with a 16
year plan for expenditures, documented all the capital projects, operational costs, staffing, increases
in wages and retirement, etc. Did this in concert with the City's financial plan because of the
bankruptcy; was presented to Council for the first time a year ago, year 2 looked somewhat different
and had to present a second version that was less rosey; Council understood. has to be presented
every year before budget. What they did differently with budget this year is that they went to the
deputies and asked them to focus on demonstrated need; was able to get a clear understanding of
ongoing perceived needs and clarity on one time needs