53.7 F
San Diego
Thursday, Mar 28, 2024
-Advertisement-

City Likely to Make Changes to CCDC’s Structure, Oversight

It’s been more than a year since Nancy Graham resigned from her job as president of the Centre City Development Corp., but the downtown redevelopment arm of the city has yet to find a replacement.

Not that it’s looking for anyone. Earlier this year, the CCDC as well as the city’s other focused redevelopment entity, the Southeastern Economic Development Corp., suspended seeking a permanent president when Mayor Jerry Sanders determined both agencies, racked with issues of executive malfeasance and outright fraud, needed to be scrutinized and possibly consolidated into the city’s Redevelopment Agency.

The San Diego City Council sits as the governing board for the Redevelopment Agency, but established the CCDC and later, SEDC, as nonprofit organizations to manage development projects within downtown and the southeastern parts of the city. The Redevelopment Agency also oversees redevelopment activities in 11 other areas of the city.

Graham left her job in July 2008 amid charges that she did not disclose her personal interests in a Florida firm that was awarded a contract from CCDC. In May, she pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor.

SEDC’s former president, Carolyn Smith, was fired last year after an audit revealed that she granted more than $872,000 in extra pay to herself and her staff over five years.

As a result of those scandals, Sanders and other elected council members said they needed to take a closer look at how the organizations were managed.

Fred Maas, CCDC’s chairman who stepped into the role as acting president after Graham’s departure, says he doesn’t have any problem with the increased scrutiny and likely changes to the agency’s structure and oversight.

“Any organization, particularly ones that have dealt with controversial issues, requires oversight,” Maas said. If the agency hopes to regain the public’s trust, it has to go through a process of increased transparency and regulatory oversight, he adds.

Following extensive performance audits of both organizations, recommendations were sent to the city’s independent budget analyst, who then proposed revised changes that were passed on to the council.

Derek Danziger, CCDC spokesman, says those recommendations could be reviewed by the council in early September. The most notable change and one that’s likely to be adopted is how the chief executive of each organization is chosen.

The proposal calls for a five-member selection committee that would oversee the recruitment and interviewing process, and then submit three names to the mayor for the appointment, which would then require a two-thirds vote of the City Council.

Previously, the CCDC board selected the CEO, with the council and mayor not involved in the process.

Graham, former mayor of West Palm Beach, Fla., was hired in 2005 and earned $248,000 annually when she resigned from her CCDC post.

Last year, CCDC set the range for the president’s job between $191,000 and $255,000, but this year, as part of a drastically reduced budget, it slashed the salary to a range of $175,000 to $225,000.

CCDC’s 2009-10 budget is $159.5 million, down from $235.5 million in the 2008-09 fiscal year, and the result of reduced cash flows in tax increment revenue, plus a $40 million “taking” of funds by the state in response to its budgetary woes.

SEDC’s budget for the current fiscal year is $15.2 million, down from $19.9 million in the prior year. The agency’s interim president is Brian Trotier, who is paid $150,000 annually.

Maas declined to say how many hours on average he spends as CCDC’s acting president, a position that has no salary. He also is president of a local development firm, Black Mountain Ranch.

“I try not to count the hours. I spend as much time as I need to spend to get the work done,” he said.

Danziger says Maas usually averages 15 to 25 hours per week on CCDC matters as well as running his own firm.

Robert McNeely, an executive with Union Bank who has served on CCDC’s board for eight years, says the economic slowdown that has impacted both the agency and Maas’ business probably has provided more discretionary time for his voluntary service.

McNeely says he’s against the idea of consolidating CCDC and SEDC into the Redevelopment Agency. That would dilute the agencies’ effectiveness and the focus on projects occurring within the areas, he says.

While the economy has put the kibosh on a slew of residential projects that had been in its pipeline, CCDC is still accepting some new projects, and managing a good deal of others, particularly those involving public benefit, such as assembling land for parks and building a pedestrian bridge over Harbor Drive, says Danziger.

-Advertisement-

Featured Articles

-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-

Related Articles

-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-