On Monday, the City of Brentwood invites the community to meet G. Harold Duffey, who is the finalist for the city manager position, a salary of up to $315,967 and benefits.
The meeting will take place on Monday, October 20 at the Brentwood Senior Center (193 Griffith Lane) at 7:30 pm where attendees will be able to ask questions and meet Duffey. According to the city, Duffey was chosen from a pool of over 60 candidates — including several internal candidates.
On Friday, Mayor Susannah Meyer announced the selected of Duffey came after a national search was conducted by Peckham & McKenney. His employment agreement will go before the city council on October 28. Meyer touted deep experience in budgeting, economic development, capital improvements, solid waste, and emergency operations will support strong collaboration and trust.
Although the mayor says a comprehensive background review was conducted, several issues in Duffey’s past has come to light in a simple web search– including his time with the City of Oakland, Grand Terrace, Compton and Oroville.
Although the Brentwood city council has not yet publicly defended the selection of Duffey, he has faced harsh criticism from Seneca Scott–where he even launched a YouTube channel and a Google Document suggestion many wrongdoings. In response to Scott and his allegations, Duffey attempted to get a restraining order against Scott— it was denied.
Meanwhile, former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao was indited and Duffey was involved with naming Larry Gallegos to a high-ranking role to help influence purchasing – it should be noted, the FBI and federal prosecutors haven’t accused or charged Duffey with any crime. Gallegoes has since left the position.
9:00 am Monday Update – city issues press release:
CITY TO HOLD PRESS CONFERENCE AND COMMUNITY MEET & GREET TO INTRODUCE G. HAROLD DUFFEY, CANDIDATE FOR CITY MANAGER
BRENTWOOD, CA – The Brentwood City Council will hold a press conference and community meet and greet on Monday, October 20, 2025, at the Brentwood Senior Center to introduce G. Harold Duffey, who has been selected for consideration as Brentwood’s next City Manager.
The press conference will begin at 7:00 p.m., followed by a community meet and greet at 7:30 p.m. The event will provide an opportunity for residents and community members to hear more about the City Council’s recruitment and selection process, meet Mr. Duffey in person, and learn about his background and experience.
Earlier this year, the City Council initiated a nationwide recruitment process with the assistance of executive search firm Peckham & McKenney. The process included extensive outreach to qualified candidates from across the country and resulted in nearly 60 applications. Following multiple rounds of interviews, background and reference checks, the City Council identified Mr. Duffey as the leading candidate to bring forward for consideration.
Mayor Susannah Meyer shared the following statement:
“Mr. Duffey stood out among all of the candidates for his proven leadership, collaborative management style, and experience in cities of similar size and complexity. After a thorough background check and interview process, the City Council believes Mr. Duffey is the right person to move Brentwood forward. We’re excited to introduce him to the community as part of this important next step.”
With more than 30 years of experience in California local government, Mr. Duffey has served in a variety of leadership roles across the state. He most recently served as Assistant City Administrator in Oakland, and previously held City Manager positions in Grand Terrace, Compton, and Oroville.
“I’m honored and excited to join the City of Brentwood,” said Duffey. “As a professional city manager, my role is to provide policy makers with the leadership and expertise necessary to advance, maintain, and expand the quality of life for our residents, local businesses, and stakeholders. I take seriously the responsibility of serving both the community and its employees—the City’s most valuable asset.”
If residents are unable to attend the community event Monday, they will be able to learn more about the candidates and make comments during the October 28, 2025 City Council meeting. The proposed employment agreement for Mr. Duffey is scheduled for City Council consideration on October 28, 2025.
Work History:
- Jan. 2023 – Assistant City Administrator, City of Oakland
- July 2021 – Public Works Director for City of Oakland
- May 2015 – City Manager of Grand Terrace
- July 2012 – City Manager City of Compton
- Aug. 2010 – City Administrator for City of Oroville
- July 2006 – Chief Assistant Director of Planning and Public Works and Community Development for Yolo County.
Editors’ Comment:
At first glance, it would appear asinine that the Brentwood City Council would even entertain bringing a controversial hire to Brentwood given all that is going on in the country. Then again, is Mr. Duffey even controversial? Or is he a victim of circumstance in Oakland?
Although I have never met Mr. Duffey before, nor have I had a conversation with him, at this point, it appears to me the guy is getting a raw deal on the internet. Rather than believing everything on the internet, some critical thinking should better utilized while perhaps others should be a bit more open minded. After all, if the guy survived the politics of Compton and Oakland, given the crime and financial woes, perhaps with the stability of Brentwood he shines–which is what we should all want, a successful city manager.
I get it, there is one guy with a YouTube channel basically bird-dogging Mr. Duffey with entertaining content full of innuendoes and conspiracy theories ruining his reputation– think what Councilmember George Fuller is doing to the City of Oakley and its city council — plenty of accusations with no substance. What has occurred with Mr. Duffey appears similar in nature. Lots of statements, no substance behind them—at least from what I have found and researched the past few days. Entertaining reads, but nothing more.
I look at it this way, if everything Seneca Scott says in his videos were true, Duffey would have been either fired or in jail by now – and let’s not forget, with all the FBI attention, Duffey was neither charged or found to have done wrong-doing. The FBI and DOJ was looking hard at Oakland and Duffey simply appears to be a victim of circumstance and working a job at the wrong time. Remember, controversy gets clicks on YouTube while anyone can say anything online but it doesn’t make it true nor is there much consequence for being reckless with someone else’s life. Finally, if he wasn’t charged with a crime, with Oakland under a microscope, perhaps it says a lot about his character and integrity while under pressure.
While I do respect Mr. Scott’s ability to tell a good story and his efforts to make Oakland more transparent, he is also political as he ran for Oakland City Council in 2020 recording just 8.1% of the vote losing to Councilmember Carroll Fife. In 2022, with ranked choice, Scott took just 2.98% of the vote as he ran for mayor of Oakland—he got no higher than 3.31% and was eliminated by round 5. Sheng Thao won in round 9. Of course, the national headlines, politics, nastiness in Oakland helps no-one working find another job elsewhere. Needless to say, Oakland appears tuned out to Scott.
Moving on, you have another obscure website talking about Duffey’s time at the city of Grand Terrace, a town of 13,000 people. The complaint was too long of agendas. Seriously people? It also sounded like the City of Oroville wanted him to stay—that is a good thing.
Furthermore, it appears Duffey help guide the city of Compton away from financial ruins, along with Grand Terrace. With many not pay attention to Brentwood’s budget, this is a good thing for Brentwood as the city is likely going to need a revenue enhancement at some point given the council spending the past few years and development slowing down. Duffey’s experience should be helpful.
I get the community pause – especially with 60 candidates. But people need to remember that not all candidates are created equal and not all candidates are qualified. Assuming 60 applied and 20% are viable, that leaves the candidate pool around 12 candidates. Of that, maybe 5 moved deep into the process while others may not even want to work with the city council upon discovery. Compounding that, you have a very well-liked assistant city manager in Darin Gale who has filled in wonderfully as acting city manager. If he stays, it will be fantastic! If he leaves, he has the experience and talent to do great things in another city.
Ultimately, it’s the council prerogative to hire the city manager they want to work with—in this case, it is Duffey. And if we look at history, Brentwood residents didn’t like the last two hires either in Gus Vina and Tim Ogden, so this is par for the course.
At this point, unless something major is discovered, I am looking at this potential hire as a glass half full and by October 28 hopefully the glass is full for many. We have to remember when it comes to the internet we must verify everything before trusting the authority of a person or channel. Brentwood residents have every right to question the city council hiring choices, but also remember not to judge a book by its cover either.
For now, lets hope the council did its due diligence and completed its homework. Time will tell.
Mike Burkholder
Publisher of ContraCosta.news
[email protected]
Previous
- Oct 15 – Brentwood to Consider G. Harold Duffey as Next City Manager
- April 23, 2025 – Brentwood Names Darin Gale as Interim City Manager, Sukari Beshears as Assistant City Manager
- March 27, 2025 – Tim Ogden Resigns as Brentwood City Manager, Accepts New Gig
- Jan 2020 – Brentwood City Council Defends Hiring of Tim Ogden Before 5-0 Vote
- Jan 2020 – Tim Ogden Named Brentwood City Manager: The City of Brentwood City Council, after an exhaustive national recruitment conducted by Peckham & McKenney Inc., have selected Tim Ogden as their next city manager, and will consider approval of an employment agreement with him on the January 28 City Council agenda. During the transition since the retirement of city manager Gustavo “Gus” Vina in December 2019, the city has gratefully been managed by assistant city manager Terrence Grindall and appreciate his efforts.
