Johnny Ford returned to Stockton’s City Hall on Wednesday, and became focused on familiarizing himself with each city department and filling the vacant executive staff positions in the city government.
The Stockton Civil Service Commission was one of the first governing bodies the newly-appointed city manager met with Thursday afternoon, his second day in office, and he stopped for a brief photo-op in front of city hall.
In an exclusive interview with Stocktonia, Ford acknowledged that he and his staff are working to get set up. However, he said city issues including infrastructure, homelessness and filling executive staff positions needed to be addressed.
“The council sets the policies, we will execute their policies and their actions,” Ford said. “We are just trying to get back up for executive staffing. We have positions that are open that need to be filled, so that we can help provide that overall leadership within the city.”
Ford is rejoining the city government as tensions continue to rise with multiple ongoing investigations into potential council member misconduct, and two high-ranking executive staff positions have remained vacant for several months. Stockton has not filled the vacant city auditor position after six months, and the city has operated without a full-time chief financial officer for about 18 months.
While city council meetings and discussions between council members have become increasingly tumultuous, Ford said he has, “no concerns whatsoever.”
“We will work with them, individually and collectively as a group, which is normally the case,” Ford said. ‘My job is to implement their policies, and I’m looking forward to working with each and every one of them.”
Office of Public Transparency Chief Tony Mannor, said the new city manager is working to meet with each city department over the next two weeks.
Ford was unanimously appointed to the top administrative position by Stockton City Council earlier this week, about 16 years after he was fired as deputy city manager in 2009, and later exonerated.
After serving as deputy city manager for seven years, he was terminated by then-City Manager Gordon Palmer over accusations of “improperly pressuring the city’s arena manager for free event tickets,” according to prior reporting from The Stockton Record.
The city council convened a three-member ad hoc committee to investigate the accusations and later cleared Ford of wrongdoing.
Ford left Stockton to serve from 2013 to 2015 as a deputy city manager , and briefly as interim city manager in the city of Compton. He returned to Stockton to become a business owner.
Public records show Ford has been associated with at least three businesses — KJ Quality Transportation, Wesman Supply and, JC Global Enterprise and Associates.