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Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
Community Development Director Tom Sullivan quickly ushered in a new era by replacing several staff members in his department.
Community development changes send senior-most planner packing
By Oakley Brooks
Barely a month into his tenure, new Community Development Director Tom Sullivan wasted no time revamping his department. In recent weeks, he's hired two new associate planners, decided to phase out two temporary employees within the next month and fired Mark Connolly--an assistant planner who, with a year under his belt, had the most experience with the city's community development department.
Connolly says the actions were too abrupt, and that his own unexplained termination shows Sullivan has little appreciation for the unsettled and understaffed conditions that the community development staff was forced to work under during the last year. The department suffered a complete turnover during that time, punctuated by the resignation of longtime Director James Walgren in December 2000.
Sullivan says hiring new staff was one of the first tasks assigned to him by City Manager Dave Anderson when he arrived on May 14. The new director says the addition of permanent staff--he's currently interviewing candidates for two open assistant planner positions--will allow the department to function on a more normal level.
"This a permanent solution," said Sullivan. "With permanent staff on board they'll be able to see projects from the beginning to end. It's more efficient."
Sullivan refused to comment on his dismissal of Connolly.
Connolly was a probationary employee--one who had been under city contract for less than a year--and subject to firing without cause. But Connolly says the move and surrounding changes weren't handled well.
In late May, Sullivan passed over Connolly for the vacant associate planner position and told Connolly, who had been acting in an associate planner role for the previous six months, he wasn't "ripe" for the position, according to Connolly.
Connolly says he was under the impression Sullivan was looking for one new associate planner at the time. But during the third week in May, he found out that a second associate had been hired and would assume Connolly's duties.
As an assistant planner by title, Connolly said he still thought he would be kept on board in the short term.
"I decided I'll keep showing [Sullivan] that I was the man for the job," he said.
Two weeks later, Sullivan determined that Connolly did not fit into any of the department's future plans. According to Connolly, Sullivan called the planner into Sullivan's office at 4:30 p.m. and fired Connolly. He offered Connolly a letter about the dismissal, but it didn't give a reason for the action, according to Connolly. Sullivan then requested that Connolly turn in his keys within a half-hour.
"Common decency begs the question, 'Can I get an explanation?' " said Connolly.
During the last month, he says the department remained in a state of transition, with over 70 projects backlogged, and he never had a chance to demonstrate his ability to work under normal conditions.
"We were always overbooked," said Connolly.
Connolly says there was an understanding when Sullivan was hired that he would gradually phase out some of the temporary staff in the community development department. But the former planner never understood that it would happen within a month or that Sullivan would jettison almost the entire existing staff at once.
While contract planner Alison Knapp will remain with the city until the end of August, Connolly believes the department's lack of continuity will hurt the city in the coming months.
"The biggest problem is going to be the new people getting experience in the city," Connolly says. "It's a very complicated city and a complicated city code."
City officials rallied behind Sullivan last week, saying that his personnel moves stuck to a transition plan he developed when he first arrived in Saratoga. City Manager Dave Anderson said the changes were "evolutionary" and not a standard "house cleaning." Mayor John Mehaffey admitted that Connolly's firing was unexpected, but he supported that decision, among others.
"Tom's got a rare opportunity to build a department from scratch," said Mehaffey.
Anderson did credit Connolly with handling the planning commission agenda over the last year, though the planner had limited experience handling a commission.
"He took on a tremendous amount when we had no permanent staff," Anderson said. "It was very courageous."
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
