With former Milpitas City Manager Ned Thomas now out of the position, the Milpitas City Council has appointed Deanna J. Santana to the role on an interim basis.
Said a City press release, “Santana will focus on stabilizing the organization and setting the groundwork for a multi-year fiscal strategy. With a growing structural budget deficit projected in the coming years, her expertise in budget planning and fiscal reform will be instrumental in helping the City Council make proactive decisions.”
A 30-year veteran of the public service sector, Santana holds the distinction of having occupied high-ranking leadership roles in San Jose, Sunnyvale, and Santa Clara, spanning the heart of Silicon Valley’s tech hub.
In 2022, the Santa Clara City Council fired Santana from its City Manager role, citing a lack of confidence yet sparking a divided public reaction. She later collected a six-figure severance package. Previously, Santana resigned from a City Administrator post in Oakland after having closed a $58 million budget gap amid fiscal clashes with the city council there.
Santana last worked as Acting CEO for MissionSquare Retirement, a financial services corporation that had her overseeing $84 billion in assets. Simultaneously, she led up MissionSquare Research Institute, a research-centered non-profit, as well as the youth-oriented MissionSquare Foundation.
In her new role as Interim City Manager of Milpitas, Santana’s compensation will be $379,000 annually. While Ned Thomas was the City Manager, he received an annual base salary of $279,000.
All members of the council voted to appoint Santana except for Councilmember Hon Lien, who had her reservations…
“At the time that the city suffers a deficit, we’re trying to cut corners here and there to come up with 3.1 million dollars so we can have a balanced budget,” said Councilmember Lien at yesterday’s council meeting. “Instead of appointing an Interim City Manager from within our city organization to save costs, we went ahead and stuck with the recruitment. And this will put us in a much larger deficit.”
Councilmember Lien also brought up the fact that Santana had contributed $150 to Mayor Carmen Montano’s mayoral campaign, questioning whether or not that made for a conflict of interest.
But Milpitas’ Campaign Contribution Ordinance states that candidates cannot receive contributions over $250, and should disclose contributions over $100, which the City Attorney acknowledged Mayor Montano had taken care of.
Said Santana in the release, “I’m honored to join the City of Milpitas as Interim City Manager during this important time. I look forward to working closely with the City Council, City team, community, and stakeholders to support the City Council’s goals and objectives, provide stability for the organization, and ensure Milpitas is well-positioned financially for the future with transparency and care.”
Deanna Santana’s first day on the job will be April 17. In the meantime, the City of Milpitas shall carry out the search for its next City Manager.
So we are in a budget crisis and their solution is to pay for the recruitment of an Interim City Manager and then start the process all over again to hire a permanent one. How can anyone take the Councils claim that we are in a structural deficit seriously unless they recognize the futility of believing what they are telling us. We are in a deficit so the Council’s solution is to double our costs. Just brilliant governance!!!
The City of Milpitas will regret this decision, as this Interim City Manager has clashed with previous employers resulting in legal battles. It’s hard to believe that the City Council hired her despite her past when they are still in litigation with Steve McHarris. Moreover, they are paying her $100,000 more than the last City Manager. Typical government: they just can’t practice fiscal responsibility when they know that the taxpayers are always going to foot the bill.
If Ms. Santana would like to be the City Manager rather than just the “interim”, I say hire her now! Stop spending money looking for the ideal candidate, when a good one is already on board.
.
We’ve had many people fill the role of City Manager over the past several years that Tran and Montano have been mayors. The City’s problem retaining good talent seems to lie with the City Council, and especially the Mayor. That is certainly true of her firing of McHarris. Here’s the story about apparent bribery: https://meansfordemocracy.org/blog.html#mcharris
.
That case started on May 1, 2023. It has not been settled, and rumor says that $3M is the latest settlement figure. And that’s on top of the ever-growing attorney fees! It’s getting expensive because the Montano, Chua, and Barbadillo vote against settling. Read the McHarris complaint for details.
.
Corruption is clearly engulfing our federal government. It appears to have also filtered down to our local government.