The folks running the City of Manteca — both elected and those pulling down six-figure checks — aren’t channeling the Keystone Cops despite appearances.

What they are doing — and have been going for a long, long time — is more akin to being at the wheel of a car stuck in mud. As the drivers they keep hitting the gas which ends up just burning through fuel taxpayers filled the tank with.

They pay disinterested bystanders to consult on how best to get the car moving forward and out of the muddy quagmire. But they either don’t follow through on the advice or the advice is so far off base it is worthless.

The wheels are spinning. The car is going nowhere except digging itself in deeper and creating a bigger repair bill.

Yet the drivers aren’t alarmed. There’s water in the radiator. The catalytic convertor is cleaning the toxic waste while the occupants are putting the trash they create into a litter bag. They are oblivious to the deteriorating pavement of the nearby street they want to reach.

And the more they rev the engine the more they think they have a handle on the situation.

The spinning wheel syndrome that generates the illusion you are actually doing something is why both Mayor Ben Cantu and his detractors are both right.

Everybody has an idea on how to move the car forward. Some though don’t want to invest the money in a tow service to pull them out. Others think since the car’s engine is still running everything is OK and there’s no rush to get the car going down the road even though there has been a steady rain of growth and there’s a monsoon on the horizon that is more of a 40 day and 40 night event that an atmospheric river.

So what should we do?

Throw the bums out? How has that worked so far?

Then there is a good chance Manteca will burn through its sixth city manager in seven years counting the interim ones. The changing of the guard on the council nor the purges haven’t stopped the deterioration of streets, addressed growing traffic issues, moved the homeless dial very far, made a dent in affordable housing or upgrade many city amenities buying what they were at in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.

Yes we have solid water, sewer and waste collection services. The same goes for police and fire. But that is the result of frontline city workers and mid-management as well as those formerly in mid-management who rose through the ranks. Could it be they are more invested in serving the community of Manteca as opposed to showing how smart they are and building a resume plus also know how things work on the ground?

The most successful corporations are the ones that have boards that provide clear direction based on what products are needed to build a loyal customer. They then empower a dynamic chief executive officer who follows through on their vision along with a dedicated workforce that is treated properly. That tends to leads to a willingness of investors who also happen to be consumers to invest money in the company.

Whether Manteca has a dynamic city manager that can follow directions isn’t the starting point.

It is the city council.

That said voters playing musical chairs yanking the seats out from under incumbents won’t change a thing if who takes the seat does nothing different.

It’s because the culture that has to change that Cantu keeps taking about isn’t just at city hall. It is also on the council level. And yes, Cantu, as is almost every person who occupies or occupied a council seat, is part of the problem.

Councils flood municipal staff that isn’t exactly swelling with manpower with project after project. Councils want things but they don’t want to pay for what they want when it is clear new sources of revenue are needed to attain them.

Councils rarely pushback when senior staff takes it upon themselves to undermine council directives. They undermine in subtle ways as only a government bureaucracy can.

Councils are also notorious for being as clear as the proverbial mud they’re flinging everywhere as the stuck wheels of city government spin faster and faster.

This brings us to why it doesn’t matter if Cantu speaks the truth.

That’s because the path he is taking to get the city out of the rut its digging is only going to keep the wheels spinning.

The list he foisted on staff Tuesday — do something about growth, look at converting the animal shelter to a non-kill shelter, what is the city planning to do with two properties they spent a pretty penny buying downtown, and finding the status  of the privately owned old city hall — by Cantu’s own admission were just a third of the 12 items he wanted on his “honey do” list for staff.

If you are honest with yourself those are issues the city needs to address. And even if Cantu is the last person you want to see as mayor more than a few of the things he wants done would be good for the community.

Cantu has also done more than imply that the city bureaucracy is often the community’s worst enemy by its tendency to study things to death and be oblivious to quality issues let alone working to address them.

Like it or not the way to stop creating chaos is for council members to reach general consensus on what they want to see done. That includes whether the staff should invest time in a “wish” or “demand” list of an individual elected official or what general goal such as what the council wants done with Main Street through downtown that they can stomach and are willing to support to see completed even if it requires going after new revenue.

Whoever is mayor is not king and Manteca is not their fiefdom.

At the same the Machiavellian moves at the palace at 1001 West Center Street to undermine the collective will of the council duly elected by the community should not be tolerated.

But then again perhaps Manteca is getting the government it deserves.

Three out of the five council members spent more than 70 years on the city payroll.

Could there be a little bit too much blind faith that city staff knows best on policy initiatives given the majority of the council are the product of the very system they were elected to govern?

 This column is the opinion of editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinions of The Bulletin or 209 Multimedia. He can be reached at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com