Congratulations To Emeryville's New
City Manager, Helen Bean
City Manager, Helen Bean
Opinion
At tonight's council meeting, Emeryville City Manager, Pat O'Keeffe announced he plans on retiring in March, surprising meeting attendees and forcing a "search" for a replacement to be conducted by the city council, probably in January. We'd like to take this opportunity to congratulate Helen Bean, currently Emeryville's Director of Economic Development and Housing, on being selected as Emeryville's new City Manager.
As Emeryville's current second in command at City Hall, Ms Bean will be selected by the council after a nation-wide executive "search", paid for by Emeryville taxpayers, probably in February.
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| Welcome Aboard! Emeryville's current Economic Director and future City Manager, Helen Bean |
After an exhaustive nation-wide "search", the city council selected Pat, bringing him up from his former position as Emeryville's Economic Director.
The council, later on selected another city employee, Maurice Kaufman, to be Emeryville's Director of Public Works after another nation-wide executive "search", this one costing some $7000. Mr Kaufman had previously been second in command at the Public Works Department before the taxpayer funded "search".
We wish Ms Bean all the best in her new position and we give a nod to the city council for their unswerving tenacity in making sure nothing is left to chance as they soldier on with their program of reliability and predictability in public policy. The way the council selects managers here helps contribute to our reputation for being extremely business friendly. We should acknowledge this reputation is earned, cemented really by Emeryville's reliable and predictable environment creating an ongoing laser-like focus on keeping businesses happy.
Where does Mr. O'Keeffe live? Where does Ms. Bean live? Who do they account to and for? To manage this city, you must live here. All of them, they do not account to me (resident taxpayer), it is only a job to them (400K +). What a joke.
ReplyDeleteThis is not the same Council who selected O'Keeffe. Maybe we will experience real change this time. Maybe they will make a provision that the City Manager has to be a resident of Emeryville. Maybe they will insist on a fresh perspective and hire someone from outside the organization. Or maybe it will be same old-same old.
ReplyDeleteMs Bean has shown she will continue on as Mr O'Keeffe (and former City Manager John Flores before him) likes to run City Hall. It's a program of shutting out the community and forwarding developer's projects. Large development projects are decided by the City Manager, behind closed doors. All the elements of a project are hammered out there, in the City Manager's office. Only the city council majority is let in these meetings. Since the three vote council majority, headed up by perennial council member Nora Davis, is still extant, there is no reason to believe there will be a change to this town hall machine nastiness. Ms Bean can start measuring for drapery...she's in.
DeleteThe City will continue to support developers because the increased tax revenues they generate flow to City coffers. The City of Emeryville is a corporation which acts to maximize its revenues just as private corporations do. Those revenues fund unbelievably generous compensation packages for employees. Well over half of employees make over $100,000 a year, and many of them will collect more total compensation after retirement than while working. The value of total compensation for key employees is in robber baron territory. Even a radical change in the City Council will not alter this fact, because employment and retirement contracts have to be met, and because employees and their unions are at least as powerful as the Council in everything the City does.
DeleteSorry, the problem is not unions. Unions are not part of a problem in this country, rather, the lack of unions is a problem. Now at 9% down from 38% of American workers working in union shops and with the hourly union wage dropping since the 1950's and with the attendant decline, decimation really of the middle class in America, the trashing of unions is just so much plutocrat driven BS. Why do non-rich people keep carrying water for the rich in this country?
DeleteYou should consider the idea that these talking points of yours are derived from the 1%'ers and it's not in your economic interests to continue forwarding them. They're rich, why don't you let them do their own work?...you're not even being paid for it (presumably).
I hope Mr. Donahue's sarcasm is apparent to readers and hope his cynicism proves to be unwarranted. When Redevelopment ended, so did much of Ms. Bean's work. She should already be searching for another job, outside our city. This year's budget talks made clear that she was having to prop up a bunch of projects to give the appearance of a lot of work to be done, but the truth is that the handful of employees she manages could be transferred to Building & Planning or Public Works and her position eliminated, saving the City a lot of money. Regardless of that, let's hope a genuine search is conducted this time.
ReplyDeleteNO WAY. Brian, you already bet me $100 that Nora Davis would be Mayor after Jac Asher, and that isn't going to happen. Remember the Council is going to add one year to their current term to have even year elections. I saw Nora at a meeting the day after and I heard her make that comment. I don't think the elections should be moved, and it is a decision which should be made by voters. The 2nd in command is the City Attorney, and that would be a total disaster for him to be City Manager. Even O'Keeffe stopped leaving him in command when he was away, once Delores became assistant city manager. When O'Keeffe was chosen he wasn't going to be my choice nor John Fricke's choice but once we knew he was going to get it, it didn't make sense to vote against him. There were 42 applicants for the position. Some of them were pretty good. I just wrote a whole story about how John Flores and O'Keeffe handled development on the WWW.EPOA.US web page. NO Ms Bean is not going to be City Manager. She is not qualified for that job. I will also say the life of a city manager should be no more than FIVE years and after that they become corrupted. The power goes to their head. It is time for a new city manager
ReplyDeleteThe city attorney cannot be the city manager, unless he quit being the city attorney. He is under contract to give legal advice to the City Council and their various incarnations.
Delete"It is time for a new city manager"
DeleteWell, duh, Pat O'Keeffe resigned, there will be a new city manager.
There are plenty of other department heads to choose from, ones who have been here much longer.
ReplyDeleteThere are plenty of smart qualified people out there who could bring fresh vision, experience and real talent in economic and community development to our town and the East Bay. Mr. O'Keeffe's retirement should be seen as a much needed opportunity to clean house on the old uninspired and flat guard, particularly his appointee, Ms. Bean, from what we can tell she has done nothing original on her watch, is the handmaiden of developers, and alienates both the public and her ever dwindling staff. Time to do some serious reorganization in City Hall, get a high level fiscal whiz for City Manager to use the public trust in a responsible way, and realigns staffing with the new reality of City government after the demise of redevelopment. Ms. Bean is from Concord, her speciality is using redevelopment to build out suburban style development. Redevelopment met its demise earlier this year, and Emeryville is much more urban and urbane than what Ms. Bean can offer. It is a great opportunity to rethink City Hall with fresh, new and vibrant talent.
ReplyDeleteSo from what I am hearing we can expect a shake up at city hall? Brian we are counting on you not to let the same old corporate interest run our town. Bean is a watered down O'Keffee it sounds like, and maybe her days are numbered if she is "redevelopment" expert. Great conversation to start as the future of the town depends on this key position maybe more than any other. It is a perfect time to start lobbying for a fair and open process, and to consider a serious reorganization and house cleaning. Sounds like O'Keffee stepped down at just the right time, now if he would take this mediocre hire, Bean with him out the door, the city has a fighting chance in this brave new post-redevelopment and hopefully community-centered era. Good luck and thanks again for this public forum.
ReplyDeleteRats. For a moment, I thought that Mr. Bean was going to be named as the new City Manager: http://www.mrbean.co.uk/. He would have been a much funnier choice for the city.
ReplyDelete