OpEd: Did Racism Play a Part in the Selection of Montoya for City Manager?

By Hardy Brown, Sr.
From – https://theievoice.com/
Reprinted – by Texas Metro News

I want to make a correction in my last article where I stated that three Council members voted to extend a contract to Steve Carrigan; it should have read “three Council members did not vote to extend.” I apologize for the error.

Continuing with my investigation of the selection process, it is revealing that some members of the Council interjected race, politics, and personal agendas into the process, disenfranchising the Black citizens of San Bernardino.

A quick review of the claim filed by Steve Carrigan in November 2023 revealed that racial dynamics were introduced into the selection process by Frank Rojas, Recruitment Manager for Koff & Associates, and Ms. Suzie Soren, San Bernardino’s Human Resources Director. Frank Rojas told Carrigan that several African-American community members spoke out against him during a Council meeting on August 28, 2023, and that three Council members—Ben Reynoso, Kim Calvin, and Damon Alexander—did not vote to extend him an employment contract.

Since last week, I reviewed the video of the 8/28/23 meeting again and race was never mentioned in any remarks made by the Black speakers as claimed by Carrigan. How did we get to this racial claim of Carrigan being white and used against him by the Black community?

I recall back in 2019 when the Police Chief position was open and I pointed out to the Council on May 15, 2019, to be exact, that it had been 114 years in this city without one being African American. I did not tell them to hire someone of lower qualifications or standards or to break any laws, just to hire a Black person. Ted Sanchez, Sandra Ibarra, and Fred Shorett were the only ones of the current Council sitting on the Council that night. Juan Figueroa was appointed to Council later, replacing John Valdivia, who was elected Mayor, while Teri Ledoux, a white female, was City Manager.

Some Council members did not like or appreciate me stating that fact and a few years later they hired Darren Goodman as Chief of Police. Teri Ledoux retired as City Manager and the Council hired Rob Field, a white male, who was fired by the Council in December 2022. The Council found themselves in a pickle, so they reached out to Charles McNeely, who is Black, 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, toward three Black Council members and McNeely, and how they reacted to Black citizens that came before the Council to speak.

Allow me to share a few examples: Councilmember Ben Reynoso had requested that the topic of discussing putting a police substation in the 5th ward to reduce crime in the community be placed on the agenda. Councilmember Sanchez objected to the topic even being discussed because to him it was political, plus in his conversation with the rank and file police officers, the money could serve the city in other ways. Reynoso’s topic was rejected by four council members.

Councilmember Calvin, with the support from citizens of the 6th Ward, did not want another storage building put on Highland Ave. Of course, 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 that Sanchez has done but I must share this one by Ibarra and Sanchez. It involves an email sent on October 10, 2023, from City Council member Sandra Ibarra 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 for a Town Hall meeting in the community. This is the heartbeat of the Black community, where this ward was created back in 1967 because Blacks 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, saying, “I have worked to be responsive to each Councilmember when they have requested support from staff to attend their Town Hall / Neighborhood meeting. Staff and/or I have been invited and attended Town Hall / Neighborhood 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 gave other examples, on how the city staff had assisted her 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” (political meaning 3/5/24).

It is clear to me, some members on the Council had already made up their mind to remove Councilmembers Reynoso and Calvin from the Council, smear City Manager McNeely, while disenfranchising the African-American citizens in the process; and they had already agreed, according to a City News posting dated October 13, 2023, amongst the five: Sanchez, Ibarra, Figueroa, Shorett, and Tran that they would hire Montoya at the October 18, 2023, Council meeting.

On October 13, 2023, Councilmember Ted Sanchez of Ward 1, took issue with the staff’s response back to Ibarra and he sent an email to McNeely defending Ibarra, saying, “While I disagree with many assertions made in your response to former Mayor Pro Tempore Ibarra’s email, I am more concerned with Brown Act compliance. This email appears to cross the line from an update to Council into advocacy for adoption of a policy which is a Brown Act violation. The fact you have cc’d and not bcc’d Council is not best practice and raises the risk Council’s response will be a Brown Act violation. I have dropped my colleagues from this email because I don’t wish to violate the Brown Act. I ask you to be cognizant of this fact over your short remaining tenure here.”

When I read both emails, McNeely cc’d the same people Ibarra had on her email list. I wonder why Ibarra did not include Councilmembers Kimberly Calvin and Ben Reynoso in her email. The council and mayor had voted unanimously to offer the top person the City Manager’s position; why didn’t they offer Carrigan the position on a 5-3 vote like they later did with Montoya?

My theory is, once the full selection committee agreed on the three top candidates, someone on the committee, probably Sanchez, developed a strategy to remove the number one and two candidates from wanting the City Manager position and get to Montoya, who was ranked as their 3rd choice.

For your information, there were more Black and other citizens speaking out against Montoya than against Carrigan.

So, my question is, did racism play a part in the selection process of City Manager Montoya? I am still monitoring and investigating City Hall to find out how did the HR Director qualify for a promotion that gave her a $90,000 yearly raise. I must commend Montoya for hiring a diverse management staff. We must find a way to bring the city back together because currently, it is divided along racial lines.