Cut and run

Good riddance! That’s a sentiment I’ve heard or read several times in response to news that City Manager Brian Nakamura is leaving Chico for the same job in a Sacramento suburb. I can’t say I’d disagree with it.

Nakamura will be remembered in Chico as a short-timer hatchet man, just as his employment track record of 10 cities in 21 years should have indicated. During his roughly 22 months on the job, I think I talked to him once or twice. The occasion that stands out goes back to a City Council meeting one year ago this week, on the evening before he unveiled his draft budget plan—the one that basically eviscerated city services.

Moments after that Tuesday night meeting ended, I rushed over to the city manager, introduced myself and explained to him that the CN&R is on deadline Wednesday mornings. I wanted a copy of the draft budget that evening or as early as possible the next day so that I could do some analysis in that week’s issue.

By the time I got my hands on it the next day, it was a half-hour or so before deadline. Other CN&R staffers joined me in going through the 333-page document to see what we could glean. The news looked pretty bad. As we now know, dozens of staffers would lose their jobs, first in a round of layoffs in July. About three months later, about a dozen others—many of them senior staffers—got cut loose. Nakamura called that period of time the darkest days Chico had seen. He was probably right.

What he did kept the city afloat, and he should be credited for that. In any city, employee salaries and benefits are the biggest expense, so the layoffs had to happen.

But I’m not going to defend the outgoing city manager, and here’s why: Sure, Nakamura had to cut positions to balance the budget, but he certainly could have—and should have—been empathetic to the laid-off employees. He should have acknowledged longtime staffers for their dedication, rather than forcing them out unceremoniously. In other words, he should have cared.

Instead, Nakamura shut himself in his office. He didn’t communicate. He appeared heartless. And now he’s cut and run. No public explanation. No goodbye. Nothing. (See Newslines, pages 10 and 11).

Chico Mayor Scott Gruendl is making Nakamura out to be some sort of martyr. He’s calling him a “sacrificial lamb.” Tell that to the 50 or so people who lost their jobs. I’d love to hear their responses.

What Nakamura’s actually doing is leaving a huge mess for somebody else to clean up (for more on that, see Editorial, page 4). But that’s probably for the best. He obviously wasn’t up to the task. And now he’s off to Rancho Cordova—a little burg abutting Highway 50 most notable for its giant strip club. He’ll probably buy a house in nearby Folsom or Granite Bay. For one thing, those communities are nicer. And as we all now know, Brian Nakamura doesn’t get attached to the cities he manages.