Pointing to a government that is broken and "badly in need of repair," San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders said yesterday that he will spend the first six months of 2006 examining city processes and functions to determine what must be changed to right the city's path.
Less than a month into his tenure as mayor, Sanders offered another reminder to constituents that his office has more accountability under the city's new form of government, which, after a year of planning, was officially put in place Sunday.
Under the new system, approved by voters in 2004, the mayor is responsible for the duties formerly handled by the city manager, a title that no longer exists.
Sanders will make personnel decisions, prepare the budget and propose policies, which the City Council will then review. He also will have veto power over council decisions, but the council can override a veto.
Echoing some of the points he made during Sunday's formal acknowledgment of the government change, Sanders reiterated that he is the individual responsible for addressing the city's problems and that residents will judge him accordingly.
The public is well aware of the city's troubles, including two years of federal investigations into San Diego's finances and a deficit of at least $1.4 billion in the employee pension system.
However, Sanders pointed yesterday to more prosaic, but nonetheless important, aspects of city government as examples of things he said San Diego has failed to track.
He has found that no one at City Hall knows how many contracts to which the city is committed, how much the city collects in lease revenues or how many management-level officials it employs.
"The existence of any one of these issues is inexcusable," Sanders said. "The fact that they all exist is quite literally beyond belief."
The number of top and middle managers is crucial for Sanders to establish, because one of his main campaign pledges was demanding resignations from all of them so he could thin their ranks.
He had estimated that there were 300 such employees, but he said yesterday that he's "not sure about that now."
Regardless of the number, he appears mindful of the strain the resignation threat has placed on workers. "Some I'll accept, most I won't," he said.
The mayor's office billed the noon news conference as an announcement of "his plans to reorganize city government." However, instead of offering specific changes, Sanders discussed how his team will study the current structure to determine what should be altered.
The initial reviews, to be conducted through June, will examine city contracts, personnel, information technology and administration. He called the city's processes "complicated and overly bureaucratic" and said they "promote, rather than curb, waste, fraud and abuse."
The city is accepting administrative advice from other agencies, including the San Diego Unified Port District, and is looking at streamlining plans used by the Navy and San Diego County.
One thing San Diego won't do during this process, Sanders promised, is to hire outside experts. The use of such advisers during the pension fallout has cost the city more than $24 million.
"We're not hiring consultants," he said. "We're trying to save money and we won't be using outside people."
Sanders also said he hopes to open formal talks with the city's labor unions and to complete his budget proposal by April 15. "We aren't going to be doing any more deficit spending either by borrowing from the pension or giving out budgets that aren't honest," he said.
Sometimes Sanders sounded more like a corporate executive than a politician, referring to taxpayers as customers, while using business terms such as "re-engineering" and "performance measures" to present his vision.
"We serve at the pleasure of the taxpayer and we have to be effective," Sanders said.
Jennifer Vigil: (619) 718-5069; jennifer.vigil@uniontrib.com
