Manteca’s elected leaders were misled in the waning years of the last decade by key city staff when it came to addressing what has consistently been a top five priority for City Councils — the homeless.

It clearly was intentional.

But whether it was spurred primarily by sloppiness, incompetence, indifference, laziness, or the perception the council at the time was wacko in terms of what they wanted to do, is a bit harder to ascertain.

What isn’t is the consequences of the council essentially being lied to by staff they relied on to make a decision balancing a pressing public need with the city’s ability to fund the solution.

The misleading of a previous council:

*Postponed the established of even an emergency homeless shelter for several years.

*Led to hundreds, if not thousands of hours, wasted in public as well as one-on-one meetings as councils looked for suitable locations other than 555 Industrial for a homeless center.

*Meant the reduction in homeless issues that were significantly worse than they are now in Manteca, was essentially delayed as outreach efforts were missing a vital component that would have eased the burden of not just some of the homeless but also property owners that had  to deal with garbage and vandalism.

*Created the high level of animosity in the 2022 mayoral race that centered around the homeless navigation center being proposed for 680 South Main Street.

*Led to Manteca Unified making an offer on the building to acquire it for a warehouse after the council at the time indicated they were no longer pursuing the Qualex structure. That ended up leading to borderline animosity between the city and school district over the ensuing years when the city hedged its bets by opening a temporary homeless shelter in the parking lot prompting the city to delay selling the site they legally didn’t control.

It was asked by the council under a previous mayor to determine the feasibility of converting 555 Industrial Park Drive into a homeless navigation center and report back to the council.

They did a month or so later.

Staff pronounced that is was unsafe for “people to live in” and would require $16 million to $20 million to bring up to code and remodel as a homeless navigation center.

If it wasn’t for current City Manager Toni Lundgren wanting to make sure 555 Industrial Park Drive didn’t pencil out, Manteca today would likely be breaking ground on a new facility for a homeless navigation center on the last remaining prime large parcel of real estate near the city’s center.

Instead, the southern half of the eight acres are now moving forward toward groundbreaking of a new police station early next year.

And the remaining four acres are being considered for a possible library, community center, performing arts combo facility.

Any way you slice it, those uses have a much higher value on land near the core of a city than a homeless navigation center.

So what did Lundgren do?

She contacted several private sector contractors who agreed, at no charge, to do a walk through to give their opinion of the building’s condition.

It needed a new roof. No surprise there.

The electrical system from its days as a photo processing plant was good but PG&E connections and such would need updating.

The flooring needed work but it wasn’t a disaster.

Then a written estimate was obtained from another source.

After that was in hand and looked do-able, a structural engineer was hired.

Yes, the building needs some work but clearly it’s way below the $16 million to $20 million smoke blown in the face of the council that was in place seven years ago.

Lundgren did the due diligence. Her predecessors simply took the word of senior management without any documentation backing up the $16 million to $20 million cost estimate.

By staying put and working with 555 Industrial Park Drive the city will:

*Keep its homeless outreach efforts in an established area where problems have been minimized.

*Not only establish a permanent navigation center at a lower cost than new construction but have space left over for other city uses and possible future expansion of the homeless services footprint.

*Allowed the 8 acres on South Main Street be put to a much better municipal use.

You might as yourself why any of this is important to now.

It’s all water under the bridge, right?

Wrong.

Lundgren from the get go drew extremely harsh criticism from some quarters that she was too inexperienced to be a city manager.

Yet, here we are 40 months after Lundgren initially took over first in the role as acting city manager in February 2022.

Manteca hasn’t imploded.

It is clearly moving forward on a lot of fronts.

Do not misunderstand. Lundgren doesn’t walk on water. She is far from perfect.

And while she clearly has foundational background in a lot of areas of city operations, Lundgren isn’t — nor does she act like — a know-it-all.

It also is her first rodeo as a city manager.

That — along with an unquestionable commitment to Manteca — has driven her to be the Energizer Bunny of Manteca City Managers relentlessly drumming away.

None of this should be taken to mean Lundgren gets a free pass from anyone, whether you agree with her or not.

And to tell the truth, the fact that she knows she is not ever going to get a free pass based on her “experience” and the nature of the job itself, works in Manteca’s favor.

Other city managers would — and did — walk away from 555 Industrial Park Drive on their belief, and that of staff, it was the right answer.

And in doing so they contributed to continuing public upheaval over the years-long debate on where to site a homeless center.

Dropping Industrial Park Drive as the permanent homeless site also likely kept homeless problems throughout the community at higher levels for a number of years.

Equally important, the issue of 680 South Main Street never would have emerged as a divisive “wedge” issue in the 2022 mayor’s race.

The smoke blowing on 555 Industrial Park Drive and the subsequent fallout underscores the waste of time and resources when hired staff torpedoes the efforts of elected officials.

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