Local politics roiled by voter revolt

First it was the SF Schoolboard recall special election, in which three hard-left, woke elected got the boot. Next, the City of Santa Clara's City manager got shown the door by her bosses, the SC City Council. What gives? Our political system doesn't invite a lot of do-overs, but local voters and pols are pushing back on perceived government overreach and unaccountability. Planning Commissioner Pierluigi Oliverio reads the tea leaves in an exclusive conversation with Opp Now co-founder Christopher Escher.

Christopher Escher: I can remember when most Bay Area voters couldn't even name their school board members and city managers. Now they're getting fired. What's the big takeaway from this eruption of voter discontent?

Pierluigi Oliverio: It's pretty clear: when termination processes are invoked that allow for direct feedback from voters--or through their elected representatives-- the results can be sobering.

CE: The Santa Clara City Manager kerfuffle daylighted an issue I think many voters don't understand--a lot of local cities have a city manager-centric governing model, where the city manager nominally works for the city council, but is in reality very independent. Walk us through how city managers get appointed.

PO: In cities like San Jose and Santa Clara, the City Manager reports to the City Council. City government is a very big enterprise--in SJ it's more than 6,000 employees and has a $5 billion budget. It requires a serious management and executive structure. The City Manager is like a combination of CEO/COO--an employee of the council, the council is their boss, it's an at-will position. They can be fired by a majority vote of the council. Usually, there's an annual review by the full council. City Managers are recruited just like in the private sector; a high-end recruiter is often involved. The council members interview candidates individually, then they vote in a closed session, and reveal the vote at a public session.

CE: Is there any outreach to voters about the candidates for these positions?

PO: Voters get a voice in this position via their elected councilmember: voters delegate this decision making to their elected representatives, the same way shareholders in a public corporation do to their board of directors.

CE: Do the voters have any direct influence over the City Manager's performance? In a publicly-held company, there are usually routes for shareholders to directly influence company policy.

PO: Voters are supposed to voice their concerns through their elected reps, with whom they can communicate pretty easily and regularly. They can also vote their council members out of office. For the San Jose City Manager, most folks would be surprised to learn, there is a recall process. But it's onerous and never been used, as far as I know. My understanding is that voters have to get a petition signed by a large number of residents, and then there is a special recall vote. In reality, it doesn't happen. City managers tend to stay in their positions for a long time. I think only once in the last thirty years has SJ City Council gotten rid of a City Manager. Generally speaking, the system suggests that voters should have an indirect relationship with the city manager, that the city manager has a good deal of leeway, and reports to the council as a whole, not the populace directly. Again the Council acts like the Board of directors--they set policy and direction, and the city manager leads the staff in delivering on that direction with regular check-ins. City Council has oversight, but day to day direction and implementation is in the hands of staff. But it's important to emphasize that the City Council doesn't do the work--they don't write the reports or plans. City staff works for their department heads and City Manager. Council doesn't manage staff directly.

CE: When I worked in the private sector for tech firms, we always jumped whenever a board member intervened in our day to day work. Watching the SJ City Council, you don't get that dynamic at all. Staff sometimes seem to view Council as a bunch of community members they have to endure; they visibly roll their eyes at Councilmember questions, or bury them with b.s. In this enterprise, the board members seem pretty timid, they don't--or can't--get forceful, and seem pretty subservient to staff. One sees this dynamic a lot in non profits, where the board rubberstamps their executive director.

PO: Staff understands political realities. They work for the whole board, not just individual board members. So they will align their work with the majority of the council--or at least their perception of the majority of the council. They know that if one of the elected council members does not represent a majority, they can just say, "that's a great question, thanks for your input, no thank you, let's move along." In fact, councilmembers and even the mayor have been publicly shamed for managing staff too directly and too firmly. They have had to apologize.

CE: Well, that's a wacky management environment, where the bosses have circumscribed authority, that allows the staff to run wild.

PO: Because the Council is a majoritarian organization, it's basically impossible for a minority position to elevate itself against a majority opinion. This is not the U.S. Senate, there is no cloture, no filibuster. If a few council members don't like a policy or don't like a city manager, it doesn't matter. They lose the vote and that's that.

CE: In that case, you can very easily get city policy that runs contrary to how the population really feels. We already see that with certain council votes--like its unanimous support of Prop 16 in 2020 (affirmative action), which the city itself decidedly voted down. And it sounds like staff work is even another step removed from popular will.

PO: Remember, staff members stay employed much longer than city council members. They can outlive councilmembers--some people stay on for 30 years. They can wait until they get a majority to align with their preferred policies.

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