OpEd – Here We Go Again: City of San Bernardino Recruiting for a City Manager

Hardy Brown Sr.

I stopped attending City Council meetings but continued watching without voicing my thoughts at council meetings for several months because of their lack of respect for citizens speaking out and their treatment of the Black community, led by Councilmember Theodore Sanchez, in my opinion. I was hoping that things would change on the council without my participation, but now I see that was wishful thinking.  

Now, I read the 3/19/25 city agenda, and the council is recruiting for another City Manager since they could not agree to appoint Acting City Manager Rochell Clayton, who has served in that role since May 2024 and was Assistant City Manager before that. She wanted the job. I know this because I spoke with her just before Ted Sanchez and four other councilmembers had agreed—outside of a meeting—not to hire her as City Manager.  

I understand clearly why it is difficult to attract businesses to the city and why management turnover is high, especially for City Managers. The main reasons are Councilmembers Theodore Sanchez, Fred Shorett, and now Mayor Helen Tran, with Councilmember Juan Figueroa playing a lesser role. From what I know about Juan Figueroa and others close to him, he wants to do the right thing, but he is afraid to confront or stand up against his colleagues, Sanchez and Shorett.  

Let me say, I don’t have to be on the council or on staff to know how people who serve on the council should behave. I have served on many private boards, religious boards, public boards, personnel interview selection panels, commissions, committees, and task forces. Some people do not know how to respect the process of ethical integrity required of them—not only to the applicants but to the agency or organization they represent.  

I wrote an article on 4/29/24 about what I witnessed when Teri Ledoux retired as City Manager and the council hired Rob Field to replace her. That did not last long, and they fired Field in December 2022. The council found themselves in a pickle, so they reached out to Charles McNeely to come back and hold the position until they could find a permanent City Manager. It was a happy reunion with McNeely, Mayor Tran, and the council.  

Then, something happened during the recruiting and selection process that changed the relationships between Mayor Tran, four members of the council, the three Black councilmembers, and McNeely, as well as how they reacted to Black citizens who came before the Council to speak.  

Allow me to share a few examples:  

Councilmember Ben Reynoso requested that the topic of discussing a police substation in the 5th Ward to reduce crime be placed on the agenda. Councilmember Sanchez objected to the topic even being discussed at a council meeting because he considered it political. He claimed that in a conversation with rank-and-file police officers, they had suggested the money could serve the city in other ways. Reynoso’s request was rejected by four councilmembers.  

Councilmember Kim Calvin, with support from 6th Ward residents, opposed another storage building being located in Ward 6 on Highland Ave. However, Councilmember Sanchez led the charge to advocate that it was needed, and the “gang of four” voted to build it despite Calvin and the Black residents’ opposition.  

I do not want to go into more examples of what Sanchez has done, but I must share this one involving Councilmember Ibarra and Sanchez. On October 10, 2023, Councilmember Sandra Ibarra sent an email to Interim City Manager Charles McNeely, accusing him of “unequal treatment” and giving “preferential treatment” to a specific part of the city—Ward 6, represented by Councilmember Kim Calvin.  

The city was invited by Councilmember Calvin and host Pastor Wade Ford of 16th Street Seventh-Day Adventist Church to a Town Hall meeting in the community. This is the heartbeat of the Black community, where this ward was created back in 1967 because Black residents were disenfranchised from serving on the council.  

McNeely had city employee Debbie Gonzalez prepare a response on October 12, 2023, in an email back to Ibarra, stating:  “I have worked to be responsive to each councilmember when they have requested support from staff to attend their Town Hall Neighborhoods meeting. Staff and I have been invited to and attended Town Hall Neighborhoods meetings for every single councilmember in the time I have served as Interim City Manager. In fact, if you recall, I, along with several staff members, have attended two of the citizen meetings you have hosted in your ward.”  

Gonzalez provided additional examples of how city staff had assisted Ibarra in Ward 2, pointing out that Ibarra had received the same equal treatment. So, I am asking myself, what is the issue?  

The issue for Councilmember Ibarra is racial and political because she stated in her email:  “I am seeking equal treatment because I believe this is preferential treatment to a specific part of our city (Black community) and one colleague (Calvin, who is Black), in light of the upcoming election” (referring to 3/5/24).  

It was Sanchez who spoke up in defense of Ibarra and reminded McNeely, “Remember, you work for the whole council, and your time is limited.” In other words, stay in your place.  

It was clear to me then and is even clearer now after reading the Rochell Clayton report on how she was treated by Sanchez and his allies on the council.  

Here we go again—Part One.