Fallout Continues in Coachella After Manager Fired

Fallout Continues in Coachella as Key Director Jumps Ship

COACHELLA — Fallout continues from the 3-2 vote in January to oust former City Manager Gabriel Martin.  Gabriel Perez, Development Services Director, this week announced his resignation effective Tuesday, April 8.

“This decision has not been easy, as my time at the City of Coachella has been both professionally and personally fulfilling with almost fourteen years of dedicated service as an Associate Planner, Senior Planner and Director,” Perez wrote in his letter of resignation.

The letter was addressed to William Pattison, interim city manager.

The Development Services Department has blossomed into a stellar team, delivering high quality customer service and eager to implement efficiencies through process streamlining and technology applications, Perez wrote.

“However, the transition to your leadership as interim City Manager in the last two months has been contrary to a positive, collaborative and empowering environment that the City’s executive team has worked so hard to cultivate as evidenced by the following,” Perez wrote.

Perez continued to cite a list of grievances against Pattison. In his letter, Perez alleged the following:

• Criticizing staff for regularly meeting collaboratively across Divisions or Departments.
• Continuously speaking negatively about and demeaning the work of all executive team members in private to other Directors, with a constant negative attitude towards Celina Jimenez, Economic Development Director, and Castulo Estrada, Utilities Director, that appear to be personal reasons unrelated to their contributions as Directors.
• Exclusively negotiating the La Entrada development agreement amendment in your capacity as City Manager without the collaboration of staff in their areas of expertise and explicitly excluding the Development Services Director who processes the project related entitlements.
• Unethical behavior related to your exclusive and unwritten agreements with the Lighthouse dispensary owners for nearly $90,000 in delinquent payments to the City for cannabis taxes where your son is employed and your personal financial dealings with the business owners not too long ago in their cannabis enterprises, thereby overriding a payment and compliance plan recommended by staff to secure payment before the business is potentially sold with the potential purchase of the Glenroy hotel site. I cannot in good conscience participate in this exclusive arrangement as the Director responsible for overseeing the Cannabis Business Program and the possibility the business may be delinquent an additional $20,000 at the close of this quarter.
• Directing the Development Services Technician to issue permits and defer project impact fees for the Gateway Center commercial project without the knowledge of the Department Directors or City Council approval.
• Excluding executive team members from City efforts related to the public electric utility RFP and agency meetings related to the current citywide electrical challenges for new development. The directors are eager to address the City’s electrical challenges, but you have maintained exclusive control of this issue and left staff in the dark despite you identifying electrical service as the City’s number one challenge.
• Continuously placing blame on Dr. Gabriel Martin for problems of the City to other staff and externally in community meetings.
• Inappropriate direct questioning of the Development Services Department Management Analyst of the necessity of her position in front of other staff. These questions should be raised with the Department Director or simply reading the job description.

“…  Our team has felt demoralized by the tumultuous and hostile environment created in the past two months and my colleagues do not feel in a position to share their concerns with you without fear of reprisal and due to your stated intent to remain as City Manager beyond the next two years,” Perez wrote. “It is very difficult for me to state my concerns directly in this manner, but I feel a moral obligation to do so out of respect for my colleagues and my professional responsibility to the residents we are trusted to serve.”

Perez has an armlength list of accomplishments to his credit.

“He’s done such an amazing job when it comes to this city,” Mayor Steven Hernandez told Uken Report. “He’s worked to bring in money for the resiliency center, worked to build housing that people can afford. For example, we are leading the state right now as the city who has built the most ADUs, Accessory Dwelling Units. Those are meant to help families get housing,”

Hernandez praised Perez for building a solid team, for positioning Coachella for annexation, and for working to implement the general plan.

“He’s such a great professional,” Hernanadez said. “And then he writes his resignation letter, and it’s in there, right? He alleges a lot of different things, it’s concerning. And particularly, management style, feeling isolated or like silos that are being created. The fallout continues, right? I don’t expect him to be the last one.”

Without taking sides, Hernandez said Pattison has a certain management style that can be effective.

“The world we live in today is a lot more complex,” Hernandez said. “What we have in Coachella or what we had built in Coachella, and this is on the record, is a lot of collaboration and partnerships, whether they be with businesses, with other governments, nonprofits, community members, and our staff. The top-down approach of management is something that, it may be outdated, but at the same time, that’s his style, right? It’s one of those things where it’s, “Are you going to be able to maintain your staff with those approaches? “I think that’s a fair question. I think the council needs to take that into consideration, right?”