Departing city manager leaves impression
CALEXICO — Rampant spending, depleted reserves and decreasing tax revenue were just some of the issues that greeted City Manager Armando Villa when he took the reins here a year and a half ago.
Since then, the revitalization plan that Villa had proposed upon his hiring has been about 80 percent completed, resulting in restructured spending and a more aggressive pursuit of economic development. Now, with his departure pending, Villa expressed gratitude for both the elected officials’ and city employees’ support, as well as confidence in the recently hired management team he leaves behind. “In the absence of a crystal ball, we can say that if we keep moving forward, we’ll see good results,” Villa said.
Friday will mark the Calexico native’s last day here, after having accepted a job as city manager for Menifee, a city of about 88,000 in Riverside County.
The decision to leave Calexico was a difficult one, Villa said, but nonetheless reflects a balance of his personal and professional aspirations. Following Wednesday’s City Council meeting, council members, city employees and community members gathered for cake and refreshments, commemorating what would be Villa’s final meeting.
Mayor Maritza Hurtado presented Villa with a plaque honoring his service to the community, while at the same time acknowledging the “colorful conversations” the pair had often engaged in. Hurtado, who had opposed Villa’s hiring in June 2016, also conceded that his tenure was not without its positive outcomes, despite whatever differences they may have had at first. “At the end of the day, our community is that much better,” Hurtado had said.
Strategic growth
One widely shared source of pride within the city is the recent opening of Cardenas market, which is expected to serve as the anchor for a shopping center that will soon include an IHOP and Dairy Queen, Villa said.
Additional automotive and clothing retailers are also expected to set up operations at the same shopping center in the future. Expanded commercial activity, a focus of Villa’s tenure, also will include plans for four new stores to open at Gran Plaza, he said.
Another focus of Villa’s growth strategy includes the city’s permitted and proposed cannabis-related industry activity, also expected to be a financial boon for the city, bringing in anywhere between $500,000 and $2.5 million annually in tax revenue, Villa said.
Currently, one such permitted cannabis cultivation and manufacturing project is under environmental review, and if ultimately approved, is expected to be operational by summer 2018.
“We’re the only city to date that has actively empowered that proportional form of revenue,” Villa said. A proposed residential housing development north of Cole Road is also cited as part of the city’s ongoing strategic growth.
The project calls for about 800 new single-family homes and about 200 condominiums and apartments to be built over the next decade or more, Villa said.
Aside from the revenue generated by building permit activity, newly installed residents’ local shopping could also drive up sales tax. “It’s kind of a domino effect,” Villa said.
Villa’s tenure also coincided with the expenditure of about $7 million in infrastructure improvement projects this year.
Such improvements are expected to account for $10 million in spending next year, as a result of Villa having previously directed staff to examine its capital improvement plans — which will total about $80 million over the next five years.
“It’s an injection of synergy and economic energy,” Villa said. “We’re kickstarting the economy, basically.” The recent hiring of a Public Works and Economic Development director also was part of Villa’s plan to assemble a capable management team to help the city’s strategic growth. While other staff positions were purposely left vacant in order to reduce expenses, Villa said the two directors, as well as a yet-to-be, hired finance director, are crucial to the city’s success. “We needed to bring in talent,” he said.
Moving forward
The City Council is now able to regularly receive financial statements thanks in part to initiatives Villa had overseen within the city’s Finance Department, said Councilman Armando Real.
The lack of such financial oversight is largely viewed as having contributed to the $9 million in overspending that highlighted the tenure of Villa’s predecessor, Real said. “We’re still a city that’s nowhere near completely out of financial danger, but at least (Villa) got us to the point where we know where we are at,” Real said.
The city’s best hope for the future is to become more business-friendly and do away with policies and practices that have allowed other Valley locales to capitalize off of Calexico’s reluctance to welcome new business ventures. “We need to be a city that rolls out the red carpet for any type of business,” Real said.
Although the city must again contend with additional financial constraints and reductions in expenditures, Hurtado said that she is confident in the ability of her colleagues on the council to keep the best interests of the city in mind. “The city of Calexico is not just one person,” she said. “It’s about a whole group of people who care about the community.”
Villa is also widely credited — or criticized, depending on who is asked — for extracting significant employee concessions that allowed the city to help close a $3 million general fund deficit for the 2016-2017 fiscal year.
Similar salary and benefit negotiations continue with the Calexico Firefighters Association, in the hopes of securing about $700,000 in savings to the city’s general fund for the current fiscal year, Villa said.
The city is also considering possibly privatizing the ambulance services the Fire Department provides as a way to realize those savings and help close a $3 million budget deficit. “The council did approve a variety of methods by which those savings could be achieved,” Villa said.
Lasting impressions
Since having been elected in 2010, Hurtado has worked with a number of permanent and interim city managers. Had anyone asked her at the outset of Villa’s tenure of her expectations of him, Hurtado said she would have likely given a response very different from that of today.
“Working with him has been very satisfying,” she said. “We found ways to solve a lot of problems, and for that I’m thankful.”
Former Business Improvement District Commissioner Morris Reisen said his frustration with Villa ultimately forced the downtown business owner to resign from the BID commission.
Specifically, Resin said Villa’s reluctance to allow a variety of the city’s commissions to meet doomed any efforts the commissions were attempting to undertake on behalf of the city.
With Villa’s departure pending, Reisin expressed hope that the city’s commissions will be able to get back to conducting the business they were appointed to do.
“Hopefully, they’ll have meetings now,” Reisin said.
Economic Development Commissioner Ben Horton said Villa will likely always be remembered for presiding over the widespread reductions in employees’ salaries and benefits, which in some cases reduced workers’ salaries by 30 percent. Yet, Villa also deserves credit for his efforts in stabilizing the budget.
“He brought fiscal responsibility to a city where there was none,” Horton said.