Pacheco Named To Montebello City Post
By EGP News Service
The Montebello City Council hired attorney and former Los Angeles City Councilman Nick Pacheco as Interim Assistant City Administrator with a 3-1 vote in closed session at the Sept. 9 City Council meeting. Councilwoman Mary Ann Saucedo-Rodriguez was absent from the meeting.
Pacheco is filling a position vacated in April by Diane Albert. He recently represented the city in handling a claim filed by thirteen police officers against Police Chief Dan Weast.
Councilman Bill Molinari, who cast the dissenting vote in hiring Pacheco, said he hopes the city would pursue a more formal recruitment process than the one that was taken prior to this decision.
“There was one name put forth. I saw no resume, no contract, just simply a decision to bring an individual with nothing and no one to compare his qualifications to and I just don’t think this is in the best interest of the city,” he said at the council meeting.
The hiring of an interim assistant city administrator is the first of several actions the city is taking to fill vacant seats. A recruitment process has been started to fill the city administrator and finance director positions.
Finance Director Michael Tam retired earlier this year, and City Administrator Richard Torres announced to council and staff this summer that he would retire in November.
These positions, along with the assistant city administrator’s position were discussed in closed session at the Sept. 9 meeting.
There are no plans at the moment to recruit a permanent person to fill the assistant city administrator position.
Councilman Robert Urteaga explained that cities don’t normally recruit for interim positions, and as an example, Montebello did not formally recruit Randy Narramore when he was appointed Interim City Administrator in 2007.
Urteaga said the city should have a copy of Pacheco’s resume. Even though he knows Pacheco from having worked in his Los Angeles city council administration, he said he did not suggest him for the interim position.
Pacheco said he submitted a resume to Torres when he expressed his interest in being the assistant city administrator.
Molinari declined a request by EGP for further comment on the city’s recruitment process.
Pacheco said he approached the city about the position. “I was working with council on the claim that the officers had filed and I had shared an interest with the city administrator awhile back that I was interested in being a part of the city family,” he said.
“Other than growing up in the Eastside and playing sports in Montebello,” Pacheco said his first introduction to Montebello was working with Xavier Becerra’s campaign for State Assembly in 1990. The “main person” he worked with in Montebello at that time was Molinari, who was on the Montebello council and a supporter of Becerra.
“He talked to me months ago about his interest in public administration,” Torres told EGP on Tuesday, adding, “One of the toughest parts of the job is everybody has an opinion. You’re working for a public agency so you have to be able to filter all these opinions without taking anything personally… the Nick that I met is very calm and thoughtful, so he definitely has the temperament.”
Pacheco was a deputy district attorney in Los Angeles from 1995-1999 and served as the Los Angeles councilman for the 14th District, which includes Boyle Heights, Eagle Rock, El Sereno, Downtown Los Angeles, Garvanza, Glassell Park, Hermon, Rose Hills, Highland Park and Mount Washington, from 1999 to 2003.
Mayor Rosemarie Vasquez said Pacheco comes with valuable experience from his time serving in Los Angeles.
“He’s highly educated and highly experienced in municipalities and public agencies. He represented a [Los Angeles city] district much bigger than… Montebello. He oversaw major budgets… He brings experience in the law,” she said.
Pacheco will assist Torres in other city duties such as reviewing the city’s existing contracts with outside vendors in preparation for next year’s budget.
“It’s not a criticism of our contracts, but they have not been scrutinized in awhile… It’s good to get a jump on it knowing next year’s budget is going to be one of the toughest ones to prepare,” Torres said.
“Every city is struggling right now with their budget. That’s an area where I can be helpful. Clearly as a trained attorney I can help with the risk management issues… there are different things I can work on,” Pacheco said.
Pacheco will not be assisting with recruiting someone to replace Torres as was initially reported in a city press release that was later updated to exclude that specific responsibility.
Torres said he would likely retire after the November city elections in which three council seats are up. The recruitment process will take several months and a replacement will likely not be found by the time he leaves, Torres said.
The City Council has traditionally appointed an administrator without a formal recruitment process, Torres said. The city has not had to look for a new administrator since 1989 when he took over the position, he said, and even then the Council picked him from within the city.
Torres, who grew up in Montebello and lives three blocks away from city hall, worked his way up from his first city job in 1978 as a Business License Inspector for Montebello’s Finance Department. He held positions as a Deputy City Treasurer, Assistant City Administrator, and the Director of Transportation before being appointed as City Administrator in 1989.
Torres was fired briefly by the City Council in 2007 and was replaced by Narramore, a former Huntington Park police chief.
Torres said Narramore was a contractor and was not recruited.
To recruit for the finance director and city administrator positions, the city will be placing ads in industry publications such as the League of California City’s monthly newsletter and circulating flyers, Torres said.
Vasquez says she trusts Torres to go through with the recruitment process for the two positions.
“Those are very key and important positions for a municipality to run smoothly,” she said.
“Richard has experience with this… I just want him to take care of it…. We do not do any of that stuff… My job is to come before a body of five people and discuss recommendations. We can give directives if we have to,” she said.
With the seats of Mayor Vasquez and Council members Saucedo-Rodriguez and Molinari coming up for a vote in November, details about what kind of administrator the city is looking for is “almost premature to talk about,” Torres said.
There is also a recall effort that may also open up the seats of Council members Urteaga and Kathy Salazar.
Torres said he would be willing to stay on to do some work if no one is found to replace him either temporarily or permanently by November.
Print This Post
September 17, 2009 Copyright © 2009 Eastern Group Publications, Inc.
Comments
One Response to “Pacheco Named To Montebello City Post”
Feel free to leave a comment.... but for your safety, please do not post personal information such as home addresses and phone numbers. If you would like to contact us directly or give us your contact information another way, you can call our office number at (323) 341-7970 or email us at editorial@egpnews.com.
We Are the Largest Chain of Hispanic Owned Bilingual Newspapers in the U.S.
Eastside Sun / Northeast Sun / Mexican American Sun / Bell Gardens Sun / City Terrace Comet / Commerce Comet / Montebello Comet / Monterey Park Comet / ELA Brookyln Belvedere Comet / Wyvernwood Chronicle / Vernon Sun
So where do we find out what positions are open? I’d like to apply. I don’t think I can do worse than the current administration.