Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that the City Council voted not to rehire former interim City Manager Steve Colangelo. In fact, his contract was removed from the council agenda and never received a vote.

As Stockton rushes to fill multiple high-level city jobs vacated under former interim City Manager Steve Colangelo, one city employee has found himself in the unusual position of holding three leadership roles.

Former Public Works Director Chad Reed took over in June as one of Stockton’s four deputy city managers, following Colangelo’s apparent firing of the previous deputy a month before. But Reed is still leading public works until a new director is hired — and on top of that has stepped in as Stockton’s temporary chief financial officer.

Reed’s unusually-broad job description is due in part to the vacuum in city leadership that followed newly-elected City Council members’ taking their seats on the dais in January. 

The departures kicked off with former City Manager Harry Black’s forced resignation , and continued as a deputy city manager, interim CFO, assistant CFO, economic department director, city spokesperson and more resigned, retired or were fired under Colangelo’s leadership.

Reed was tapped as a deputy city manager amid the turmoil caused by these vacancies, he told City Council’s Audit Committee Friday during questioning by Vice Mayor Jason Lee.

The committee was gathered to hear testimony about Colangelo’s removal of a diversity, equity and inclusion specialist from the city manager’s office.

“At the time when you were Public Works Director and then moved into the deputy city manager role, what was the culture here at City Hall?” Lee asked Reed.

“It was tense. There was a lot going on,” Reed said.

“Candyland, or Game of Thrones?” Lee asked.

“Oh — Game of Thrones,” Reed said.

The deputy city manager sent no response to Stocktonia’s requests for an interview about how he’s managing to carry out three major roles at the city.

Reed’s three hats

A former tractor dealership manager and head of the city’s vehicle fleet, Reed rose to the top of Stockton’s Public Works Department about eight years after joining the city’s ranks, according to his Linkedin. He holds a master’s degree in public administration from California State University, Stanislaus, his profile says.

As public works chief, Reed is responsible for the finances, policies and day-to-day work of several offices in charge of the city’s physical operation, from the maintenance division to recycling to city engineering, according to the job description.

On top of that, Reed is now also responsible for overseeing three other city departments in his role as deputy city manager, he told councilmembers Friday.

In addition to public works, Reed also oversees the human resources, utilities and administrative services — i.e., financial — departments, he said. 

As the public works and administrative services departments lack leaders — the latter is typically run by the city’s CFO — Reed’s leadership of those departments has been “a little more boots-on-the-ground.”

“So, helping in daily approvals processes, signing off for authority, where needed, that type of stuff,” he said.

For example, Reed was responsible this month as temporary CFO for presenting the city’s yearly financial report to councilmembers — a report that came months late after the upheaval in finance leadership. 

In general, the city CFO usually oversees the development of the city’s yearly budget; accounting and the procurement of goods and services; the city’s treasury, debts and investments; and revenue collection from services and taxes, according to the job description. The CFO oversees about 90 employees, the description says.

Reed sent no response to emailed questions about how many hours he dedicates to each of his roles. 

He also didn’t say how he’s being compensated for holding two interim roles in addition to his official job. The city didn’t immediately respond to a question about Reed’s pay made under public records laws.

The three roles range from a starting salary of about $139,000 for a deputy city manager to about $182,000 starting pay for the public works director, according to a city salary schedule. But many other factors often determine how much an individual city employee is actually paid.

Oversight

Perhaps the most unusual part of Reed’s three jobs is that, for two of his roles, he’s his own manager. As deputy city manager of public works and administrative services, Reed oversees the interim leaders of both departments. He holds both interim roles.

Tony Mannor, Stockton’s spokesperson and head of the new Office of Public Transparency, Information and Communication, sent no response to Stocktonia’s question about how the city is ensuring sufficient oversight of the interim roles given that Reed is supervising himself. 

Reed sent no response to the same question.

What’s more, neither Mannor, Reed nor the city’s Human Resources director, Rosemary Rivas, responded to a question about when Stocktonians should expect the city to have new directors of public works and city finance. 

What’s the impact?

Also among the questions Reed did not respond to was what impact the lack of a full-time CFO and public works chief has had on Stockton.

But at the City Council’s Audit Committee meeting last week, Reed told councilmembers that after his promotion to deputy city manager, his focus on the two interim jobs meant he wasn’t involved in discussions that preceded Colangelo’s controversial decision to move a diversity, equity and inclusion staffer from the city manager’s office into one of his departments.

Former DEI officer Preya Nixon was transferred to HR and received a pay cut in May. She left the city shortly after.

During questioning by Lee, Reed said, “you’ve got to remember, my role (as deputy city manager) at that time was very new at the city, and we had a lot of departments that had a lot of issues going on, and didn’t have directors.”

He added, “when I first came on, that’s primarily where my role went. And so, I wasn’t involved in everything that was going on.”

In July, the council voted 7-0 to appoint Deputy City Manager Will Crew as the city’s acting City Manager, replacing Colangelo. The next month, a proposal to reappoint Colangelo as interim was removed from a City Council agenda. It hasn’t showed up on a council agenda since.

Meanwhile, councilmembers have held multiple special meetings in recent weeks to discuss candidates for a permanent city manager. 

When they identify a final candidate, they will vote on the appointment in closed session before announcing the result. The next closed session is scheduled for Nov. 4.