Editor’s note: Manteca Mayor Ben Cantu is at the mid-point of his four-year term. Today’s story covers what Cantu lists as the city’s biggest accomplishments in the past two years. On Saturday the mayor shares his goals for the next two years.

What some saw as a period of unprecedented departures in the top ranks of city management, Mayor Ben Cantu viewed as a watershed moment to alter Manteca’s course as it rapidly closes in on the 100,000 population mark.

“Due to the previous (senior) administration leaving or changing we have a new administration with forward thinking,” Cantu said Thursday. “They are thinking out of the box to identify and aggressively attempt to resolve issues and problems.”

The essentially all new senior staff and a restructured city management framework is one of two key accomplishments Cantu identified the city has either put in place or is in the process of doing since 2019.

The other was re-evaluate the city’s finances in order to provide the solid footing needed to fund ongoing services and to pursue initiatives aimed at enhancing the quality of life in Manteca.

In doing so, Cantu noted the city has come across the “misalignment” of funds that were not assigned to the proper accounts. The mayor said making sure the city is on a strong financial footing and money is being used for what it was intended is critical. It gives city leaders a clear picture of their financial resources and a solid accounting of what funds they have.

Cantu said such financial information that makes true costs clear is critical in building and implementing plans to maintain and eventually improve services. It also will allow decisions to be made on initiatives based on available and projected funding that is available instead of starting something that the city lacks the financial wherewithal to deliver.

While getting the city’s internal accounting procedures in order is far from a finished endeavor, already there are changes that are leading to increased transparency to the council and public. Among the first measures was the return to quarterly financial reports as part of council meetings for the first time in at least 25 years.

City’s speedy work on

Lathrop Road is one example

A high profile example of the management switch being married with clearer financial information is the segment of Lathrop Road that was completely rebuilt from Airport Way to a point west of London Avenue.

The council, declining to operate purely off a road assessment study conducted five years ago staff used to determine the priority of projects, instructed staff to provide an in-house list of the most pressing road issue involving major arterials.

Staff used the study as a foundation and sought input from frontline street maintenance crews and by their own observations. That is how the Lathrop Road segment — that literally was starting to fall apart — became the top priority even though it wasn’t on the long-term street upgrade list.

The council agreed with the in-house assessment. They then told city management to shift funds from other road projects that could be pushed back a year or so and to find a way to get it done sooner than later.

Staff came back with a plan that would save money by having the project engineering done in house to save money and for the work to take place within six months. The result was the council authorized the staff to move forward in January of last year and the work was completed by September for one of the quickest — if not the quickest — turnaround on a street project that was a major endeavor in at least the past 30 years.

The realization that the city could move projects forward faster and for less cost in the design portion is part of what led to a change in the overall management by adding an in-house engineering department.

No disrespect meant

for previous city

management styles

Cantu, who tends to be blunt with his assessments, noted the need to change how the city is managed wasn’t a slam on those that have labored in key positons in recent decades.

He can point to numerous endeavors in past years where the city has made smart moves with long-term benefits such as the surface water treatment plant, the redevelopment-private sector partnership that transformed a shuttered sugar beet refinery into Spreckels Park, the decision on the design of the wastewater treatment plant, the Costco deal, the diverging diamond interchange, and Great Wolf deal to name a few

Cantu consistently over the years has pointed out when it comes to things such as being able to maintain streets and such, provide public safety staffing people desire, and similar concerns the city has consistently come up short.

The mayor noted part of being out of step with changing community needs can come from simply doing the same thing over and over again while also failing to encourage innovative thinking on a citywide scale.

That is why what some viewed as gross mismanagement on the part of the council in hiring decisions at the top along with the turnover of virtually the entire senior management team is seen by Cantu and the majority of his council colleagues as a fresh reset to aggressively look at ways to improve the delivery of services and better plan for a city of 100,000 plus.

Taxes essential to

get things done

And while out-of-the-box thinking is crucial, Cantu noted it can’t be done without one critical component — adequate funding.

“Things have a cost,” Cantu said.

The mayor noted the city is not a manufacturer or a retailer. They can’t make money selling goods. The only sources of income are taxes and fees.

The 70-year-old Cantu has no problem telling people what they don’t want to hear.

The city needs more revenue not just to expand services but to maintain the current levels in addition to securing amenities people contend they want.

And outside of fees for specific services such as solid waste and such the only way Manteca can get more money is through more taxes.

“It’s easy for (elected leaders) to get people to support taxes for public safety,” Cantu said in reference to the passage of the half cent Measure M sales tax in 2006. “Everybody supports police and firefighters.”

Cantu said it is another thing to get people to support taxes for general government functions and amenities.

Without a doubt, Cantu has been the most aggressive and forthright elected council member in at least three decades by pushing for more taxes as the only way to see a noticeable jump in what the city is able to deliver.

He started the ball rolling shortly after getting elected in 2019 when he suggested the city might want to explore a Manteca-wide community facilities district to roughly double the municipal general fund so the city could aggressively address streets, public safety, and other issues.

That got the expected blowback. The council did, however, try in the November 2020 election for as half cent sales tax that based on pre-COVID-19 sales would have generated $12 million annually for the city.

Perhaps the biggest change at the top has been changing the city manager’s office from a one horse affair to a team approach with a city manager, assistant city manager, and a deputy city manager.

In the past the city manager — whose job is to oversee day-to-day municipal operations as well as work to implement council goals and long-range objectives — has had only a pair of assistants.

It is typical for cities Manteca’s size such as Tracy to have a similar staffing in the city manager’s office that Manteca has implemented in the past year in addition to project analysts.

The team approach is being filtered down through the senior management with stepped up collaboration with the city manager’s office.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com