Former City Manager Offers Clayton City Council Words of Advice

On Friday, a letter from former Clayton City Manager Bret Prebula offered words of advice to a dysfunctional city council which has seen many employees leave the city over the past year.

Currently, Clayton Police Chief Richard McEachin is the most recent Acting City Manager until new Interim City Manager, Adam Politzer, starts on Monday.

Also confirmed on Friday, the HR director and assistant to the city manager have also quit from the city while two other employees also resigned from the city of Clayton. Since it is an HR matter, no other information was released.

Here is Prebula parting words as outlined in the letter along with another letter to Councilmember Jeff Wan

Date: March 28, 2024 at 1:35:20 PM PDT

To: Jeff Wan <[email protected]>, Jim Diaz <[email protected]>, Kim Trupiano <[email protected]>, Peter Cloven <[email protected]>, Letecia “Holly” Tillman <[email protected]>
Cc: Amy Walcker <[email protected]>

Subject: RE: Forecast Info

Councilmember Wan-

It seems fitting and unfortunate that I am ending my time in Clayton how it began, addressing your overreach.

This sad reality only continues to underscore the email I sent City Council last week alerting you all that the ongoing behavior by City Council, that I warned you of in November, continues and thus continues to impact our great staff.

I find it interesting that over my entire time in Clayton the questions or “issues” and timing of said questions or “issues” made by you Councilmember Wan and Mr. Hood/Walcutt seem to be identical and happen at similar times, maybe this is just the greatest coincidence in human history?

Keeping with the spirit of your similar questions to Mr. Hood,  I will provide you the same information and explanation I outlined to him.

What you see on the website is the forecast in PDF form. You seem to want the excel document to act as a staff member which isn’t shocking as this overreach has happened for my entire tenure in Clayton. I also conveyed to Mr. Hood and will now convey to you; we reviewed the previous revenue and expenses from our financial software but did not link them into the model for a few reasons.

First, the historical expenses were of little value because the previous years had significant vacancies, lack of project initiation or completion, secondly, this is not a complex General Fund budget. There are very consistent go forward aspects to it, assuming full staff levels,  thus and as previously discussed, it made the most sense to use FY 2023/24 as a base year and use the assumptions from that point and adjust or smooth out for specific areas we may have better clarity into the future. This was a similar theme for the revenue as FY 21/22 and FY 22/23 had COVID one time funding that was not ongoing. Unlike $100 million- or $150 million-dollar budgets I have dealt with in the past which had exponentially more variability in revenue and certain expenses it did not make sense to try to over complicate a forecast that does not have those elements, remember this is $5.3M budget to start.

As I told Mr. Hood, I don’t need to recreate a record but because I am out of energy fighting the ongoing games and overreach, I pulled the previous revenue and expenses from a few prior years which we looked at but did not connect to the forecast, as I stated earlier. Additionally, I am providing the excel worksheets which is the same data as online, again because I have no energy to continue to fight the games and overreach.

I am copying City Council so everyone has the same data and in hopes that my continued messages that these behaviors by City Council will do nothing but continue to make high quality staff leave, negatively impact the staff remaining, and ultimately not benefit the Clayton Community. I believe you all wouldn’t want to hurt the community, so I am hoping above all else there is a change in behavior to create common ground or positive change to occur. Instead of trying to play “gotcha” focusing that energy on real collaborative solutions is what would be best for the staff and the Clayton community.

This might be to “Pollyanna” of me, but one can hope.

Best,

Bret

Subject: : Important: Addressing Council Dynamics and Its Impact on Staff Well-being

Dear Council Members,

I hope this message finds you well. I am writing to you today in my capacity as the City Manager of Clayton and as a colleague to our staff, not only to share observations but also to fulfill my responsibility towards fostering a positive and productive working environment for our entire organization and the community we serve. 

It has become increasingly apparent that there are certain dynamics at play within the council’s interactions and its engagement with the public that are having a detrimental effect on our staff. These are not easy concerns to voice, but I believe it is part of my responsibility to highlight blind spots that may exist particularly when they impact our team’s well-being and productivity.

Distressingly, I have been made aware that the atmosphere and certain behaviors from City Council members have pushed some of our team members to their limits. Specifically, two staff members are considering stress leave, and there is a potential pending resignation. 

This was the concern I voiced to all of you during my performance review in which I conveyed the negative behavior of council impacts staff and that if the council dynamic didn’t change it would impact human lives and our ability to function efficiently. 

This situation has arisen from what staff perceive as negative council behavior, an environment that they feel is created by council playing games, and a distressing lack of support in general from council, and in  instances where public commentary shames staff efforts. This is juxtaposed with situations where other public comments receive prompt council attention to rebut a statement. The comment made by one public member eluding to the fact that staff “staff don’t work hard” and “staff aren’t breaking a sweat because the windows aren’t fogging up” was a gross disrespect to the workforce and definitely not addressing council which is what should happen. Silence to those statements while

commenting on other public comment impacts our staff. The public is mirroring the behavior they see on the Dias and those that are impacted are the hardworking staff. 

Such circumstances not only affect the morale and mental health of our team but also impede our collective ability to serve the Clayton community effectively. It is a concerning development that we are at a breaking point, one that is not just about operational efficiency but, more importantly, about human lives and their well-being impacted by council culture. 

I am reaching out to you today with the hopes that you all will open a dialogue with each other on how you can address these issues constructively. My aim is not to assign blame but to seek solutions that support our staff, fostering an environment where everyone feels respected, valued, and understood. This will not only enhance the internal dynamics but also set a positive example for how we engage with the broader Clayton community.

Although I am moving on to another agency and any improvements won’t benefit me or my dynamic with some of you, they can help the next City Manager, current and future staff. 

My sincere hope is that you can look beyond personal issues and politics and ask yourselves “how you are contributing to the problem” and look to find common ground in order to collectively make it better for staff, current and future. 

Warm regards,

Bret 

City Manager to be hired/serve as interim:

1. July 2019 – Gary Napper
2. August 2019 – Joe Sbranti
3. Dec 2019 – Ikani Taumeepeau
4. July 2020 – Frances Robustelli
5. Nov 2020  – Reina Schwartz
6. February 2023 – Ron Bernal
7. May 2023 – Bret Prebula
8. April 2024 – Amy Walcker
9. April 2024 – Richard McEachin

Related Stories:

• March 14 – Suisun City Council Names Bret Prebula as City Manager
• March 8 – Update: Clayton City Manager Resigns