15 Years : Double-Dealing Autocratic Mesa City Manager Chris Manager: An Inside-Man or On-The-Outs?

There are two sides to City Hall - the one you at the Main Street entrance is this image inserted above "Qwackers" . . then you can scroll farther down to see the chosen image selected last week about him 'weathering the storms" in a front-page cover story by Gary Nelson published in the East Valley Tribune

More years in-office than most city managers for sure, but after holding down office since January 2006 it might be time for him to move on. . . First here's a series of factoids culled from the archives of the East Valley Tribune
February 2007 > Updated October 2011

Mesa city manager: Inside man, or just on the outs? (Image is Brady doing his own "News Show")

                        

Jason Massad

East Valley Tribune | 2007-02-22T04:31:00-07:00

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PAUSE > BLOGGER INSERT: trimmed or eliminated.

A focus on controlling the information given to the press is becoming institutional under Brady.

Brady would only grant 30 minutes last week for an interview.

His personnel file also was not released even though it is subject to the state’s open records laws.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Brady grew up in Kansas, where his father was a University of Kansas geology professor and worked in the oil business. After Brady’s mission with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he headed to BYU for a bachelor’s degree in political science, and then attended graduate school there.

> It was in San Antonio as an assistant city manager in 2000 where Brady earned a reputation as being skilled at luring economic development and for creating opportunities for fellow BYU graduates. A handsome sketch of a 1,000-room Hyatt hotel that he helped lure near San Antonio’s convention center sits on a shelf in his corner office.

BLOGGER INSERT >

The latest comes from a Twitter post on August 24, 2019 https://twitter.com/mayorgiles  

Here's a clue to this latest installment for The Game of Charade here in Mesa:
The Pay-Off for a $94M debt
(that's the story they want to be told at least)
The City of Mesa has no "home team", except for all the salaried and elected players inside City Hall. They somehow managed to finance not one but two ball parks.

 

Mayor John Giles (@MayorGiles) | Twitter

https://twitter.com › mayorgiles

 

 

The latest Tweets from Mayor John Giles (@MayorGiles). John Giles. 40th Mayor of Mesa, Arizona. Mesa, AZ. ... Embed Tweet.

 ICYMI: #Mesa's #spring training facilities are being paid off years ahead of schedule saving millions of dollars ⚾ ... PLEASE WATCH THE VIDEO

_________________________________________________________________________

The Game of Charades from Mesa City Manager
Chris Brady's own playbook.
It started a long time ago when he had a plan for the playbook.
It took a while to 'juggle the books' and find the right time and the right places to see off 'obsolete water-rights' to more than 11,400 acres on the Mesa Farm in Pinal County.
The buyer who was ready, will and able?

SAINTS HOLDINGS LLC
Website: Saint Holdings  
Twitter: @SaintHoldings       

 

Saint Holdings is a multi-faceted real estate investment and development company with holdings in industrial, land, multifamily residential, and agriculture.

Scottsdale, AZ

            

Global Water Resources has signed agreements with Saint Holdings that will result in providing water services to Saint Holding’s Inland Port Arizona, where @nikolamotor is constructing their new facility. Contact us for shovel-ready opportunities. http://bit.ly/2lEAiWa 

9:27 AM - 5 Sep 2019

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Eight other BYU alumni have followed in Brady’s footsteps to work for San Antonio, opening up a pipeline for graduates who typically stay in Utah.

> Numerous community events have been aimed at making city government appear more open, while city leaders push for new projects and another property tax that could stem Mesa’s chronic financial problems.

BLOGGER NOTE: The city has a structural budget problem that extends out about 20 years that would affect every service it offers. But Brady, and the City Council, consistently highlight only what the deficit would mean specifically for the city’s police and fire services.

12 February 2019

Time-To-Pay > The-Pied--Piper Moment for Mesa City Manager Chris Brady

What does he who pays the pied- piper mean?

Looks like all those Pie-In-The-Sky schemes pushed by Mesa City Manager Chris Brady and the city's Office of Management & Budget during the past four years in that big beautiful "Grab-Bag-of-Goodies" for everybody that tricked Mesa taxpayers to go into more debt in the November 2018 ballot proposals are getting a heavy dose of REALITY . . . Better late than never

East Valley Tribune staff writer Jim Walsh barely hit the nail-on-the-head or scored any points to tell the public what's really going down here in Mesa. He covered "amenities" only, not getting a grip on the tough stuff that's hard to swallow:
Mesa voters approved virtually every sort of municipal amenity in last fall's
$196-million bond issue - from a new library and public safety station to athletic fields and walking paths to new parks and even a dog park . . . One important consideration in adding the new facilities is whether there is enough money available . . . "

WHOA!! Why worry now after all their projections and cost analysis  were wrong? 

"We are concerned as we get to the later part of it, when we deliver big parks and libraries, that will put a lot of strain on the budget"

-- City Manager Chris Brady

 _______________________________________

SCAMMING THE VOTERS

------------------------------------------------------------

> Brady’s political savvy and a diplomatic skill in shaping the public discourse surrounding the city’s issues has impressed some and raised skepticism among others.

>  . .Even when Brady is being directed, it’s clear he’s in charge of even the smallest details around city government.

There's some excellent research and attention to details in this report published yesterday by AZ Republic reporter Jessica Boehm, updated just this afternoon 25 Jan 2018 at 2:06 pm MT
Blogger's Note: There are numerous posts on this blog going back to last year and before about these accounting methods, unfunded liabilities, and the dangers of increasing Bond Debt that bankrolls the costs of Suburban Sprawl
Phoenix, Mesa earn 'D' grades in financial-health review due to pension debt

"The Valley's two largest cities earned "D" grades in an annual review of government financial health because they don't have enough money to pay their bills.

Truth in Accounting, a national fiscal watchdog non-profit, released its "Financial State of the Cities" report this week, which analyzes the financial audits of the 75 most populous cities in the country. . . "

Mesa's shortfall is $784.6 million, or $5,900 per taxpayer

> Since his start in January 2006, Mesa has faced $25 million in budget cuts, employee layoffs, a city e-mail scandal that led to 300 employee reprimands, and a turnover rate that remains high as employees continue to head for the door. . .

> Brady says his work ethic and willingness to take on challenges can be tied to his first job in 1989 with Houston’s budget department. He landed the job after earning a graduate degree in public administration from Utah’s Brigham Young University, the nation’s premier Mormon university.

> The young budget analyst represented his department in front of the Houston City Council, showing them billion-dollar monthly financial reports on computerized charts and graphs that he developed.. . "I became the kind of publisher of the monthly reports,” he said. “I had to be in the briefings to the mayor and the CEO because if they wanted to make a change to the document, I would have to be there.”

Mesa also has a hefty unfunded retiree healthcare liability of $646 million, which adds to its problem, Truth in Accounting CEO Sheila Weinberg said.

"We can't ignore that," Weinberg said. But cities have tried to in the past, she said.

'Phony government accounting'

Apparently it wasn't Mesa City Manager Chris Brady who got put on-the-hook by the reporter:

"Mesa Chief Financial Officer Michael Kennington said the city responsibly manages all of its expenses, including pension and retiree health-care

> In November, Brady basically rebuilt the structure of city government, completely eliminating departments such as Community Services months after first shaking up city government by placing his trusted managers into the most problematic departments.. .Trisha Sorenson, for instance, was installed to oversee the Parks and Recreation Department as a fraud investigation was launched. The inquiry eventually led to a theft conviction of former Mesa employee Jordan Stradling.

> Brady’s bold moves have also drawn criticism of what some say is an autocratic management style that has helped drive employees away. . .

The Mesa Superintendent of Public Schools, hired from Park City, UT last year and shown smiling with Hizzoner John Giles, didn't last too long on a job she was ill-qualified to fill from the start. It took weeks for Mesa School Board members to decide whether to fire her or make an agreement to get her to resign - it was a slow-play in the media.
In contrast, Mesa Police Chief Batista who was appointed by City Manager Chris Brady resigned by email abruptly so they say it was "unexpected". The vacancy was filled by a 20-year Mesa PD insider to dial-down a revolt-in-the-ranks.

_________________________________________________________________________ 

The second half of last Thursday's City Council Session featured the City Manager Chris Brady who was hired and took over the job in 2005 from Mike Hutchinson.
Mayors and City Council members - who are elected - might come-and-go in successive 2-year or 4-year terms (or not) or resign early. City managers typically stay a long time.
As the City of Mesa's Chief Executive Officer, the financial and administrative governance of the city is in his hands and on his watch for more than 15 years.
Brady is an alumnus of Brigham Young University like so many salaried and elected officials inside City Hall
_________________________________________________________________________

The second half of the Study Session is a robust discussion that's really the aftermath of the intense informed analytical
Issues raised in the budget approval hearings last year by District 2 Councilmember Jeremy Whittaker, who waged and won an uphill campaign challenged by the hand-picked candidate endorsed by the mayor to maintain "business as usual" - Whittaker definitely created waves in 2019.
Waves that gather more force out of his 2018 district election win.
_________________________________________________________________________

 

> Brady’s outsider status in a city that has been led from within for decades has allowed him to shake up the city’s status quo, while giving council members some space to guard their political fortunes

> Brady prefers to avoid the media’s attention and usually wears a nondescript charcoal gray suit. But while down-playing the focus on himself, he has made promoting and protecting the city’s image a priority through the enforcement of new policies.

> During the past year, the city added three people to its public relations office. Mesa hired an executive to direct the media relations office after a national recruitment effort, even while other divisions were trimmed or eliminated.

A focus on controlling the information given to the press is becoming institutional under Brady.

Brady would only grant 30 minutes last week for an interview. His personnel file also was not released even though it is subject to the state’s open records laws.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

September 2012

Mesa city manager gets first raise in 4 years – well deserved Chris Brady is an amazing manager!

Rose Law Group Reporter |

City has impressive national recognition for its accomplishments in landing important economic-development projects such as First Solar, Able Engineering and AzLabs

By Gary Nelson

The Arizona Republic

Some Valley cities go through city managers like Imelda Marcos went through shoes.

Scottsdale, for example, has had three in the past four years. That doesn’t give a guy time to sharpen his pencils before he’s bouncing down the road.

During that span — in fact, for the past 61/2 years — Mesa has had one man in that job. And after his last performance review, it appears Chris Brady can stay as long as he wants to.

The City Council held its annual evaluation for Brady in mid-August in executive session, which is allowed by state law.

Also in keeping with state law, council members cannot discuss, even in general terms, what was said behind closed doors.

The bottom line, however, may speak for itself

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FAST FORWARD > Here's Gary Nelson December 17, 2020

Brady rides out 15 years of Mesa storms as city manager

Chris Brady has navigated Mesa through some turbulent times in his 15 years as city manager.

Pablo Robles/Tribune Staff Photographer             

• By Gary Nelson, Tribune Contributor
• Dec 17, 2020
• Dec 17, 2020 Updated Dec 17, 2020

"It would be the rare little boy who dreams of growing up to be a city manager. Chris Brady was not one of them.

As a student at Brigham Young University in the 1980s, Brady aimed instead at a business career. That, after all, is where the money is.

But an unexpected detour by means of a political science class got him interested in city government – the upshot for Mesa being that for 15 years, he has steered the city through some of the hairiest moments in its history.

The field of municipal government is littered with the figurative corpses of city managers who got crosswise with their mayors or their city councils. But Brady, 58, has avoided stepping on land mines to such an extent that he hopes Mesa will be the last stop of his career."

OK. LET'S PAUSE

That's fairly straightforward, but conveniently skipping-over some history... Has Gary Nelson managed to mix-up those storm clouds?

Storm clouds are gathering in the Mesa mayor race             
By Jim Walsh, Tribune Staff Writer

Jan 26, 2020 3 hrs ago

SM

"Mesa City Councilman Jeremy Whittaker has expressed interest in mounting a potential mayoral bid – elevating himself from Mayor John Giles’ chief nemesis to a 2020 election opponent.

Irked by the emergence of a Giles ally as a possible challenger in his council district, Whittaker filed a statement of interest for mayor job.

The statements of interest, required by a new state law, qualify candidates to collect the signatures of registered voters to get their names on the ballot. . .

"Whittaker said it was Giles’ recruitment of Julie Spilsbury, a Mesa mother and volunteer in the Mesa Public Schools, to run against him in his district which prompted him to consider a mayoral campaign.

“Julie is just a puppet for the mayor and the establishment,’’

Whittaker said, describing Spilsbury as well-connected with the upper echelon of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints even if she is a political novice

 

 

hold on and let's note a barrage of quotes from John Giles:

> “Every city has challenges, Mesa included,” Mayor John Giles said. “But we are, relative to a lot of other places, doing extremely well. And Chris Brady deserves much of the credit for that.”

LOOKS LIKE "BROTHER CHRIS" AND "BROTHER JOHN" STICK TOGETHER TO DODGE ANY STINGING CRITISM

 Some more. . .

> The battle for the Cubs was a huge deal for the city, Giles said, and one that perfectly encapsulates Brady’s value to Mesa.

“The skills that he demonstrated in building that project, he’s used them over and over again,” Giles said...

>

Giles said Brady’s greatest accomplishment probably lies in the diversified nature of what he’s done for Mesa. 

“Maybe that’s the ultimate compliment you can pay him, is that there are so many that it’s impossible to identify a single thing,” Giles said. “Many city managers, if they had one of these things on their resume, they would retire a happy person and brag about it for the rest of their lives. But Chris has multiple major achievements.”

There are more challenges ahead.

 Brady said the biggest one is trying to determine what the economy will look like in the post-COVID world. But he said as long as he can maintain good relationships with the City Council members, mayors and others with whom he works, he won’t be going anywhere.

“Hopefully they’ll let me stay long enough to finish off my career here,” Brady said. “That’s my hope.”