Unbeknownst to locals in Davis, a December 11, 2013, article in the Tahoe Daily Tribune reported that Davis City Manager Steve Pinkerton was one of two finalists for the new leader of the Incline Village General Improvement District.
That week, the paper announced, the IVGID board of trustees would vote to bring Mr. Pinkerton and a local candidate back for additional interviews and tours.
The paper said, “Trustees Jim Smith, Jim Hammerel, Bill Devine and Bruce Simonian each had Pinkerton and Severance in his top two. Trustee Joe Wolfe had Severance at No. 2, while Pinkerton was last. He ranked Burnett as his No. 1 choice.”
“I felt (Burnett) displayed a gung-ho type of leadership, a go get ‘em attitude,” Mr. Wolfe told the paper. “With (Pinkerton), I felt there was a lot of flash … I had a feeling of a used car salesman, he was slick.”
A previous article on November 13, 2013, noted that the trustees had voted 3-1 to have six general manager candidates be interviewed by two panels in December.
The timing coincides with the time frame in which the Vanguard learned that there had been an active effort underway to terminate the contract of City Manager Steve Pinkerton before the December 1 deadline, after a provision in his contract would have enabled him to receive nine months of severance for early termination.
The terms of the agreement, signed in 2011, say the contract “shall automatically renew and extend” for an additional three year term beginning on September 1, 2014, unless “written notice not to renew and extend is given by City to Employee no later than nine (9) months prior to the renewal date (i.e. not later than December 1, 2013).”
After that point, if Mr. Pinkerton “is asked to resign or is terminated as City Manager, then Employee shall be eligible to receive a cash payment equivalent to the sum of Employee’s then-current monthly salary multiplied by nine.”
At a special closed session meeting by the Davis City Council on Tuesday November 26, 2013, two days before Thanksgiving, the Council had no reportable action and it appeared that any effort to terminate the city manager’s contract had failed.
For his part, Mr. Pinkerton in a comment on the record, cited more personal reasons for the move.
He told the Vanguard late Monday, “My wife and I have always loved Lake Tahoe. Audrey lived in Zephyr Cove as a young adult and has always dreamed of going back to the mountains. We also have very close friends who live in the Reno-Tahoe area.”
He called the opportunity a unique one and denied he was actively seeking a new position.
“While I haven’t been actively looking for a new position, the position description piqued my interest,” stated Mr. Pinkerton. “The opportunity to manage a service-focused Special District in one of the most livable communities in the country is a unique opportunity.”
The process continues at Incline Village. Mr. Pinkerton explained, “I am one of two finalists for the position. The next step in the process is a series of follow up interviews at the end of this month.”
Sources have told the Vanguard that, at this point, Mr. Pinkerton seems a longshot for the position as the board appears to be leaning toward the local candidate.
Two councilmembers declined comment late on Monday. However, Mayor Joe Krovoza, in a text to the Vanguard after 10 pm, said, “Our council with Steve is moving tremendously important issues forward. He has gained a great sense for our values and how to reflect them in his two- plus years with us. I hope we keep the momentum going, but I certainly understand why others are interested in him.”
According to the job description, The Incline Village General Improvement District, commonly known as IVGID, is located on the northeast corner of Lake Tahoe, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Washoe County, Nevada and occupies a land area of approximately 15.36 square miles.
It is a community of roughly 9000 people.
The description explains, “The community encompasses approximately 9,400 parcels in an unincorporated rural area. The District includes parcels with addresses in both Incline Village and Crystal Bay and approximately 1,200 of these parcels are government exempt (USFS, State) and of the remaining 8,200 parcels, more than half are owned for occasional use.”
IVGID was formed in 1961 as a General Improvement District which is a quasi-municipal corporation. The Board of Trustees operates as a city council type organization, elected, setting policy on behalf of the electorate.
However, the description notes, “While the district is a local unit of government, it functions more as a business because of the significant enterprise nature of most of its activities.”
Mr. Pinkerton told the Vanguard he was not added to the list of interviewees until late October.
He also assured his council and the public that he is not seeking other positions, that this was what he considered a unique opportunity given the community and the proximity of lifelong friends.
“I want to emphasize that I am very happy in my current position and continue to enjoy working for the City Council and the citizens of Davis,” he said. “I have not been submitting applications for any other positions, and I am not considering any other opportunities at this time.”
—David M. Greenwald reporting
Davis ought to offer him a new contract before its too late.
Has he performed that well?
In my opinion he has done an excellent job of getting our budget into a manageable position.
I believe his contract automatically renews.
I think his contract simply extends like a lease that expires and becomes month to month although he still gets nine months of severance should they decide to terminate him. Sadly they could lose him by not locking him into a new contract something that would be a huge loss to the city as it needs a firm hand to get its finances in order.
That’s not how I read the contract: The terms of the agreement, signed in 2011, “shall automatically renew and extend” for an additional three year term beginning on September 1, 2014, unless “written notice not to renew and extend is given by City to Employee no later than nine (9) months prior to the renewal date (i.e. not later than December 1, 2013).”
Is the City Mgr contract avail. on line?
Yes that’s how I got it.
Can you provide the link?
04-City-Manager-Employment-Agreement-1
Thank you… as the City Mgr contract is tied to provisions of the Executive Mgt Employees, do you have a link to that? Cannot find on City website…
http://city-council.cityofdavis.org/Media/Default/Documents/PDF/CityCouncil/CouncilMeetings/Agendas/20120626/Packet/06D-Executive-Management-Compensation-and-New-Job-Description.pdf
You are correct David but I think what it means is that he gets nine months severance if they let him go.
nobody wants to state the obvious – pinkerton almost left to dan and lucas’ attempts to fire him in november. toad, you’re positions seem at odds with each other, supportive of pinkerton, supportive of dan and lucas, supportive of dan and lucas’ policies.
Except, City Mgr indicates he was in contention in October…
The Vanguard reported in November that rumors were flying as early as September
k.. but that was not what was said.
not following you.
You wrote about a November effort. I responded to that comment of yours, given today’s article. Please excuse me for not remembering everything posted over the course of time. Pinkerton has definite flaws/mistakes, as we all do, but you seem to hold him out as the new Messiah.
i’d call that a radical interpretation of the text here.
Which is your right.
Ok. My last sentence may have been a stretch, but I stand by the rest.
Actually, I stand by the last sentence, excepting how you might feel about the CM.
my view of pinkerton is that especially on fiscal issues he is a vast improvement over his predecessors. he has numerous flaws, but for two councilmembers to attempt to fire him is extreme.
As I understand it, the only issue was whether to renew. Thanks to David, I read the contract, and it explicitly says non-renewal is not “firing” nor “termination” as those terms are defined in the agreement.
Pinkerton spent tens of thousands of dollars for various City Hall remodels that were unnecessary, given much cheaper IT solutions that would have met his objectives.
You are entitled to your view, as am I.
so one mistake negates all of the positive things?
One? try at least two (on remodels), and many others, including forcing all employees @ CH to go to a 9/80 schedule [wreaks havoc for those who need childcare]. Seems you won’t back off on accepting people have different views… however you are not entitled to your own facts. They are what they are.
I’m pretty sure this is a place for discussing those different views and offering each other facts and perspectives, no?
David… I acknowledged that there are different views/opinions… apparently there are those who do not wish to reciprocate.
I have are hard time with presenting facts, and having my motives challenges due to zealots.
Will take a self-imposed time-out for at least a week.
I don’t think that’s necessary. I don’t see Progressive being a zealot. I saw his posts attempting to understand where you were coming from.
To DP… last post from me for awhile… no single error negates the good. To be a good manager I’ve heard it said, you only have to be right only over 50 % of the time.
Consider that.
hpierce, In my personal opinion Steve Pinkerton has been right the vast majority of the time. He and I have differed on a number of things, most notably the handling of the YRAPUS case, but we have always agreed to disagree reasonably.
He gets a whole lot of flack because he is in the role of being the messenger who is delivering a very painful message, but I admire the fact that he has the knowledge and courage to stand up and deliver the bad news in a way that allows us to formulate solutions to the issues that have created the bad news. We are a better community as a result of Steve’s hard work and very professional work.
There is a consistency in my positions. I support good leadership. Davis, for the most part, currently has good leadership at both the Council and City Manager levels.
First we don’t know that Dan and Lucas tried to fire Pinkerton because there was no vote and we don’t have access to the minutes of the meeting. Nobody who was in the meeting has told me Dan and Lucas tried to have Pinkerton fired and no story I’ve read quotes any person saying that is the case. Until someone is on the record saying Dan and Lucas tried to fire Pinkerton I’m not going to accept it as factual.
Second I’m not going to agree with anybody all of the time. I think this is an important point that many on this site and others in the community fail to understand or practice. There is this with us or against us attitude that is destructive to the community as a whole that pervades this site. Many of you need to stop and take a breath.
Having said that I am unequivocal in my support of Pinkerton. He has done a good job trying to get the fiscal situation of the city under control. His time in Stockton taught him much about the consequences of inaction on budgeting so he has the experience and discipline to help get our house in order before things get truly out of control. He has led by example taking a pay cut when he knew that other employees were going to need to do the same. When it became clear that contracts were going to be imposed he knew how to dot I’s and cross the T’s so that the City didn’t again end up on the expensive losing side of a court challenge. He figured out how to provide faster and cheaper emergency services by integrating the the University and City fire departments with the boundary drop. He has shepherded through improvements to the water system in the face of relentless opposition of every sort while also squeezing down the total cost of the project. He has brought in excellent people to help with business development while getting the best out of the good people already on the staff like Landy Black. He is starting to arrest our road deterioration due to past neglect. There are any number of smaller things in addition to these big ones that are the results of decisions he has made on a regular basis. By the way, sadly we would be much farther along toward fiscal solvency if the Council had followed the original staff recommendation on 391 and the Open Space Commission had remained advisory instead of turning to advocacy, boxing in the Council, and killing the goose that could have laid the golden egg.
If the Council doesn’t retain him it will be the city’s loss and I doubt they will be able to get the voters to go along with a tax increase because it will signal a lack of seriousness about not letting the inmates run the asylum or a commitment to fiscal restraint.
I need to add, because this is a big deal, Pinkerton is moving the community away from PG&E toward a municipal utility.
Toad, I think “moving” is too strong a word for where we are right now. I would say that with Steve’s leadership we are doing the appropriate due diligence to determine whether moving the community away from PG&E toward a municipal utility is a wise course of action for our community.
I strongly support that due diligence effort.
“When it became clear that contracts were going to be imposed (Pinkerton) knew how to dot I’s and cross the T’s so that the City didn’t again end up on the expensive losing side of a court challenge.”
This is off point. The city manager is not a lawyer. It’s not his job, in the process of contract imposition after impasse, to know “how to dot I’s and cross the T’s” to get past “a court challenge.” That is the job of the city attorney.
If you look over the PERB decision in the DCEA case, where DCEA won a Pyrrhic victory, the $800,000 mistake was made by our city attorney*, not the then interim city manager, Paul Navazio. The legal advice given to Navazio and the members of the city council ignored the rules laid out in the Davis labor ordinance (#1303). Davis followed the city attorney’s advice, quit the process with DCEA, and lost.
That entire unfortunate experience made Harriet Steiner understand what went wrong. And this time around, Pinkerton and the Council got sound legal advice and the process, which was designed by the unions that run the Democratic Party to frustrate and delay action to thwart the public good, finished without further legal jeopardy. Yet it’s not the case that the imposed contracts will really solve our problems. The total compensation costs are still going up much faster than tax revenues; and that will get much worse over the next 5 years.
*I have always blamed Harriet Steiner for the big boner with DCEA. However, an insider suggested to me that Steiner was following the council of one of her colleagues at Best, Best & Krieger, who specializes in such matters. Either way, it is the fault of our city attorney, be that Ms. Steiner or another lawyer we relied on from the same firm. (Note: BB&K is our lawyer. Although that normally means just Steiner, she is not directly employed by Davis as I understand the contract.)
The buck stops with the city manager in this system. Before he was there imposition got screwed up badly. With him in charge it went smoothly.
Damn… have to violate my exile… look to HR for the foul, CA was trying to mop up.
The imposition came down in spring 2010 when Lamar Heystek was still on council and Emlen was city manager, not Navazio.
I stand corrected re: Emlen.
“Until someone is on the record saying Dan and Lucas tried to fire Pinkerton I’m not going to accept it as factual.”
and since no one can go on the record you get to have your cognitive dissonance. i have heard from a reliable source that it did happen, but since it’s a personnel matter, we’ll never “know”
What I was told is that there was not a vote on his termination. That also is supported by the Mayor’s no reportable action remark.
I don’t think few managers hired to cut – even if he does a good job, which I think Pinkerton has – will end up with a long career in the area of change.
In fact, I think it is rare that a leader responsible for significant change will have a long career in that place he/she is tasked with changing. The exception is when the change is one where significant goodies will be handed out to stakeholders.
Significant change impacts some people, creates anxiety in others, and generates a general sense of resentment from still others that feel left out and whose ideas did not prevail. The bottom line is that getting things done and making real progress naturally creates enemies. If you have nothing to give these people, they will grow in numbers and make a hobby out of trying to take you down.
I think any city manager hired to do the things Pinkerton has been asked to do should expect to stay 4 years max.
You are correct… look at his term in Manteca…think Sherman’s ‘march to the sea’… probably necessary, but much pain and resentment.
When I look at situations like Manteca where much pain and resentment is created, I can’t help but wonder two things, 1) did the pain need to come in one huge reactive wave, or with a bit of community forsight, could the pain have been handled in small proactive doses well before the crisis ever got to the point of being a crisis? 2) Is the resentment truly broad spread, or narrowly focused on those people who are being forced to give back that which it was never fiscally wise to have given in the first place?
good questions… Mr Pinkerton presiided…
“I think any city manager hired to do the things Pinkerton has been asked to do should expect to stay 4 years max.”
I hope this is wrong, but likely it is not.
I recall when I was a youngster, likely following the approval of Prop 13, the Davis School Board hired a Superintendent who was tasked with the job of cutting out all of the waste. I don’t recall the man’s name. But after a year or two of axing too many gourds he was terminated (or his contract was not renewed), and the school district went back to hiring leaders with more finesse and less backbone.
If the Davis City Council decides we should have someone who will not stand up for budgetary discipline and will kowtow to unions, Davis will go bankrupt. In fact, we might go bankrupt either way. But perhaps we can avoid that with a person of Pinkerton’s fortitude in charge.
We won’t avoid bankruptcy unless we are willing to acknowledge and address the entirety of our fiscal problems. Right now we still have ‘leaders’ who think that all we need to do is raise the sales tax for a few years and then sit back and hope for a better economy. The current CC is far to willing to kick the can down the road once again.
Avg CM tenure is ~ 5 years… even before the “troubles”
do you mean the “super” who gave away the store, and then sme? Think it was Predovich.. on the . major over runs for the cost of Emerson, and subsequent disclosures that the fire suppression system did not exist..
Sorry…
I don’t think few managers hired to cut – even if he does a good job, which I think Pinkerton has – will end up with a long career in the area of change.
I think that few managers hired to cut – even if he/she does a good job, which I think Pinkerton has – will end up with a long career in that area of change.
David… if you need factual information about the City, I believe you have my e-mail. Until I return from “exile”, best wishes to all for 2014. I truly mean that.
By the way… the heading of this article is incorrect. Pinkerton IS STILL a finalist for the job at Incline Village.
All I can say as a laid off city employee by his retaliation to the dcea from the perb ruling is. Good Luck Charlie Brown.
My suggestion: Point your wrath at your union’s leadership. The DCEA is at fault for your being laid off.