Monte Sereno must rebuild trust with the community it serves
Who would have thought that another South Bay city could be as dysfunctional as Cupertino or Santa Clara?
Welcome to politics, Monte Sereno style.
The affluent city of about 3,500 residents situated between Los Gatos and Saratoga has been awash in political turmoil for most of the year. It needs to get its act together. Adhering to best practices for good government would be a good start.
For starters, newly installed City Council members in March abandoned protocol and voted to remove Curtis Rogers, a hardworking, experienced council member, as mayor. The council members had the right to do so, but the manner in which they acted left Rogers so humiliated that he resigned from the council.
City Manager Terry Blount and longtime City Attorney Kirsten Powell also quit, and city employees felt compelled to unionize for the first time in Monte Sereno history.
The latest political uproar erupted earlier this month when the council offered the city manager’s job to real estate agent Steven Leonardis, a member of the Los Gatos Town Council.
The council missteps included:
• Failing to hire a professional recruiting firm to help with the search for a new city manager. The council instead took on the task itself, ignoring that a professional firm can help identify weaknesses in the city that the council may not see or want to admit — such as the fact that an inexperienced council should surround itself with experienced leaders.
• Offering the job to Leonardis despite his lack of any experience as a city manager. Leonardis has owned a real estate brokerage firm and has more recently worked as an agent and broker for Coldwell Banker. He graduated from San Jose State University with a bachelor’s degree in business administration.
Leonardis told the Bay Area News Group’s Thy Vo that critics failed to look at his resume or his credentials. But he refused to discuss his professional or educational background further and declined to show his resume. And the city of Monte Sereno denied a public records request for his resume.
“At this point, it’s a moot point, it’s unwarranted,” Leonardis said.
Yeah, right. An experienced city manager would recognize the weakness of that argument and the need for transparency.
• Failing to recognize in its initial agreement with Leonardis a potentially significant conflict of interest. Leonardis requested that he be allowed to continue working in his real estate job in his spare time if he didn’t engage in any deals in Monte Sereno. The council eventually rejected that request, but only after community members expressed concerns at a council meeting, recognizing that developers could offer Leonardis deals in other cities in an effort to receive favorable treatment in Monte Sereno.
Monte Sereno may be a small city. But the city manager’s job is anything but small. Leonardis, who will receive a $180,000 annual salary, will manage a $5 million budget and essentially serve as both the city’s chief executive officer and chief operating officer. He is also responsible for helping build trust between the City Council and Monte Sereno residents.
On that front, there’s a lot of work to be done.