The first impacts of new Redding City Manager William Tarbox’s efficiency study are being seen at city hall, with more to come over the next few months. But will the impacts be worth the study’s $300,000 price tag?
In an interview with the Record Searchlight, Tarbox said restructuring within some departments “under extreme distress” is already occurring. Tarbox also addressed concerns regarding the study, discussed whether the city will make personnel cuts, detailed his vision for Redding and provided background on his career thus far.
According to Tarbox, the study found that the city’s finance and personnel departments were in immediate need of “reinforcements.” These sorts of findings are in line with phase one of Tarbox’s plan, designed to assess the current standing of the city’s operations and identify any inefficiencies. But Tarbox said the urgency of the issues required quicker action than had been initially planned. In order to solve this, staff from other departments who were being underutilized but were “perfectly aligned to perform these functions” were transferred to fill the gaps.
These sorts of decisions are what Tarbox calls “just do its.”
“Its literally low impact high reward,” said Tarbox.
This is just one of many benefits which Tarbox expects from the study, but given the city’s current financial woes, its steep price tag is still a hard pill to swallow.
The study is being conducted by external consulting firm Circle 6 at a price of $300,000. Tarbox is confident, though, that the study’s results will make a return on the city’s investment.
“It’s not that we’re going to get a return, it’s how much are we going to be able to get out of it? And it’s going to be fairly substantial,” said Tarbox.
These returns will primarily come by way of cost-cutting measures. According to Tarbox, the city will need to make $8 million in budgetary cuts over the next 3 fiscal years by eliminating waste in the form of materials and supplies, debt service, and organizational restructuring. Tarbox reiterated multiple times that “nothing is off the table,” but was reluctant to confirm the city will make personnel cuts.
“It will be in the calculation, but it’s the last phase of the calculation. In an ideal world, you’re gonna be able to solve this problem without that,” said Tarbox.
One thing that is off the table though is salary reductions.
Tarbox said salaries are a major reason for the city’s financial woes.
“It’s one of the drivers for the situation that we’re in. And that’s not a comment on whether or not it’s deserved or earned or their ability to perform, none of that, but it would be disingenuous, if not outright lying, if I didn’t say that … there’s not a tie in,” said Tarbox.
Still, Tarbox “doesn’t believe in salary takebacks.”
“That’s a losing proposition. All you do is damage your good people …” said Tarbox.
Cutting costs, however, is only one part of the equation that ultimately leads to leveling out the city’s finances. The city has also suffered from falling revenues in recent years, not helped by the fact that the city’s tax base is plateauing. But Tarbox hopes that by optimizing city performance through the efficiency study, Redding will be able to attract “entities that will bring that economic stimulus and wealth to the city.”
“What (the study) will give to the community, to California in general, to the nation, is that Redding is serious. (Redding is) taking serious steps to run an optimized city to provide services, and that you can come in here and deal with professionals and be dealt with professionally, and your business could be stood up,” said Tarbox.
Tarbox also pointed to assets the city can leverage to increase revenue, including Redding Electric Utility, Redding’s “substantial water rights,” and the Redding Regional Airport.
According to Tarbox, his authority in the world of finance comes not from a formal education — his degree is in history, anthropology and theology — but rather from his decades of experience in the private and public sectors.
“I have been in a position of command and control in business for decades, and have been running a profit loss statement and budget since the 90s. So my financial experience is fairly substantial. And then, you know, quite frankly, just being a public works director for many years; the financing mechanism at public works is very complicated, especially for running utilities. Your enterprise units are basically business units … So my background in public works and utilities was very appropriate for running large complex operations …” said Tarbox.
According to Tarbox’s LinkedIn profile, he began his career as a district cartage manager for ABX Air, then became the director of distribution for Berkeley Farms, then transitioned to the public sector where he was the superintendent of structural maintenance and infrastructure for the city of San Francisco for over a decade. He later served as the public works director at the cities of Benicia and Concord for about four years each before becoming Redding’s city manager.
Tarbox told the Record Searchlight his transition to the public sector occurred after he had a “mid-life crisis” at a fairly young age.
The youngest executive at Berkeley Farms, Tarbox said he had a “great future” ahead, but found the profit-driven mentality of the private sector to be “unsatisfying.”
“I have literally had quarters where I was flown out to Dallas and honored at the board meeting, and then the next month something completely out of my control happened … and I wasn’t making my numbers and it was like ‘what’s going on with you?'” said Tarbox.
Coinciding with a health issue, Tarbox reevaluated his career path and stepped into the structural maintenance and infrastructure superintendent role.
“I wanted to serve the community. I felt that I had a lot to give,” said Tarbox.
If finances weren’t such a pressing issue in Redding, Tarbox said his number one priority would be homelessness.
“My goal is to square us away financially as fast as possible, so we can do things that bring true value to the taxpayers of this community, because the homeless problem is fairly significant. And if we can do it in a way that’s compassionate, humane, and doesn’t burden us with another entitlement, then, you know, everybody wins,” said Tarbox.
Drew Askeland covers Redding and Shasta County government issues, as well as anything else that needs reporting for the Record Searchlight and USA Today Network. Reach him at drew.askeland@redding.com or (530) 225-8247. Please subscribe today to support our newsroom’s commitment to public service journalism.
This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Redding city manager’s efficiency study starts to take shape
Reporting by Drew Askeland, Redding Record Searchlight / Redding Record Searchlight
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