Political Gumbo: So Long Steve, Thanks For The Transparency

There’s an old adage, be careful what you wish for because you just may get it.

City Manager Steve Mermell leaves City Hall today.

We know all the particulars, a handful of people, yes, just a handful, have been trying to run Steve out of town for some time. Now, that’s par for the course around here — trust me.

Cynthia Kurtz is set to run things under the dome until Mayor Victor Gordo and the City Council can find the new City Manager.

That’s fine and good, but Mermell’s supporters and detractors should proceed cautiously.

Not only does Mermell take a lot of institutional knowledge with him, which sadly gets even worse when you consider many others are also leaving City Hall, including Police Chief John Perez. Assistant Manager Julie Gutierrez left last month.
Institutional knowledge is important, but Mermell’s commitment to transparency is also worth its weight in gold.

Even with the complaints and the calls to fire Steve which some people made as late as last Monday (weeks after he announced his retirement) — yeah I know it made no sense — you have to respect the man for his transparency

After the Christopher Ballew incident, Mermell wasted no time announcing that all body worn camera and police cruiser footage would be released.

Ironically, months before that Mermell and then-Police Chief Phillip Sanchez called the media to the ‘cop shop’ to view footage of a police stop. In that case, the motorist claimed the police had brutalized him.

The police showed reporters every piece of footage they had and answered all of our questions. When it became obvious the claims amounted to nothing, I opted to leave.

But before I left, I made a point to Steve, “It’s great you show us this, but I have to ask, what are you going to do when the video doesn’t look good for the city?”

Without pause, he answered “I’ll release it.”

And he did just that in the Ballew matter and as every local knows, it didn’t leave the officers in a good light.

That’s not the only time Mermell released footage without a request for public records. Of course, the police department deserves credit for the transparency also.

It was disappointing that at his last City Council meeting his effort to get better body worn cameras that come on automatically when an officer draws his sidearm did not pass.

It’s even more disappointing, some of the people screaming out against it did not take the time to read the staff report, see the last pot of gumbo.

Back on point: the question now is will we get that same transparency in the next City Manager?

No, I’m not talking about Kurtz. Cynthia has no problem with transparency and she’s pretty good at telling it like it is.

What about the next full time City Manager?

It’s easy to say that’s the Pasadena Way, and it is, at least it’s supposed to be.

I remember the fight to get the McDade report released when Michael Beck led the city under the dome.

During my days as deputy editor of the PW we were right in the middle of that fight. That was when that paper fought for those kinds of things.

Beck didn’t want to release it at first. Yes, the city later changed its position and opposed the Pasadena Police Officers Association in court.

But it never should have gone that far.

Before you say the City Council can order him to do it, think again. The City Council is a legislative body, the report falls under the purview of the CM.

In the McDade case, the council did not see the report until it was released and some of them were calling reporters to ask us what we knew, because their hands were tied and they could not get information.

Of course, I have not agreed with every decision Mermell has made, but that’s life — you keep stepping.

He probably hasn’t agreed with every editorial decision we made at the PW or at Pasadena Now either.

But he’s always been easy to deal with and he has returned all of my calls. Trust me reporters don’t get that in other cities.

Respect for that Steve.

Of course, the City Council will do its part and hire the best fit for the city, but none of us will truly know how good that fit is until the water rises.

And it will rise at some point. That’s just how things work.

As Abraham Lincoln said, any man [or woman] can deal with adversity. If you want to see who he truly is, give him power.

Let’s just hope the next person to sit in the chair full time wields it wisely.