The answer to the question of public participation in the selection of a City Manager may best be answered in Aesop’s Fables, the world’s best-known collection of morality tales: Be careful what you wish for, lest it come true!
We elect a city council to represent us. Recently, one member was re-elected, and a new council member joined the other three. Every two years, other members stand before the voters to test their job approval rating. Our city council is the touchstone of representative government. Their most important duty is to appoint a city manager.
In a council-manager government, an elected city council serves as the city’s primary legislative body and appoints a chief executive officer called a city manager to oversee day-to-day municipal operations, to draft a budget and to implement and enforce the council’s policy and legislative initiatives. The council also has the responsibility of terminating the City Manager, who serves at the pleasure of the council.
Laguna Beach can ill afford to waste the time and money on a “national” search for a replacement to John Pietig. We are in the midst of a worldwide pandemic, an economic downturn, rising commercial vacancies, key personnel changes at city hall not to mention a budget crisis from sinking revenues.
Now is the time to look within not without. The second-in-command, Shohreh Dupuis is not only a natural choice but the right choice. She has proven herself to be effective, knowledgeable and dedicated.
Just look to Forest Avenue as an example of her leadership. When the restaurants and stores were in crisis and council directed her to come up with a plan to close Forest Avenue to cars and make it a retail experience, she got busy and made it happen in record time.
Two more factors play into the equation: first, she wants the job. Enthusiasm goes a long way in motivating a problem-solving executive. Secondly, she lives here. Having roots in the community and a home here are important, she understands the community, quirks and all. Another plus is that residents won’t be on the hook for an expensive relocation package from an out-of-town choice.
When I was mayor of Irvine, we too had to choose a new city manager. After an exhaustive and expensive search, the most qualified candidate was our assistant city manager. This is most often the hiring practice in most Orange County cities, followed by “stealing” a qualified candidate from another local city as Anaheim did to Buena Park.
Just be mindful that someone as qualified as Dupuis will not stay on as an assistant. Her own words bear this out. You have a very attractive city manager position vacant in Irvine, which pays a lot more than Laguna Beach. You can be sure they are watching and waiting to see what happens here.
So, proceed with your search. Find the best candidate possible and if that search proves the answer is right here at home, the most qualified person is our very own assistant city manager, be satisfied that you have done your duty and the right choice was made.
Sally Anne Sheridan, Laguna Beach
Ms. Sheridan, thank you for your input. The City of Irvine has had its city government and leadership issues for sure. You are certainly entitled to your opinion regarding the hiring of our next city manager. Respectfully, having worked in city government myself, I wholeheartedly disagree with some of your assessments. I do not believe that LB should continue its practice of appointing or hiring from within. I believe we need a change now in the administration and culture that has existed for way too long in our City Hall. IMO, the fact that City Manager Pietig (20 years at CH) and ACM Shoreh Dupuis (almost 5 years) has never bothered to formally take the pulse of our city workforce is irresponsible and speaks volumes about their management styles and leadership. Confidential third party employee satisfaction surveys are easy to do and important to most healthy cities. They identify employee concerns as well as their ability or inability to perform the jobs they are tasked with and when this information is explored and addressed it ultimately strengthens the organization. WHY we have never shown our employees collectively the respect they deserve by simply asking them their opinion is beyond me. This is the current culture and management style I have major concerns about. It should not continue. Clearly, hiring the same person who has chosen to ignore the importance of employee needs and viewpoints for years will produce the same results of unsatisfied employees who leave us the first chance they get which is where are now. It’s not enough to have top city management focus only on pleasing council members or downtown businesses and ignoring employees and/or city residents.
There are numerous surrounding cities (San Clemente, Del Mar, Pasadena to name a few) currently looking for a city manager replacement and they are taking the responsible step to search for the most qualified and successful manager available for their city. This is called responsible governing. It was disappointing that our City Council did not take this approach immediately after John Pietig’s formal announcement. As for John’s endorsement of ACM Dupuis. I say, “let’s not settle for his clone.” Let’s start fresh with a CEO with proven experience and interpersonal skills that will represent LB stakeholders citywide. I’m hearing that our new outside hire police chief is a breath of fresh air and his “what makes his employees tick” approach is welcomed. It’s time we do the same with the City Manager position. I personally feel our employees, businesses, property owners and resident stakeholders are ready to welcome a new approachable and innovative City Manager. Looking forward to participating in the public Zoom meetings and online survey being scheduled by the executive search firm to gain feedback on the characteristics LB stakeholders feel are important in our next city manager. I encourage others to weigh in. Thank you.