OCTOBER 22, 2024
ADDENDUM
CITY OF CALIFORNIA
CITY COUNCIL/HOUSING AUTHORITY/SUCCESSOR AGENCY
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2024
REGULAR MEETING @ 5:00 PM
CONTINUED BUSINESS
ADDITION TO CB2.Employment Contract and Salary Schedule Resolution CB2. Adding City Manager Resume
AFFIDAVIT OF POSTING: The following items were added to the City Council agenda a�er publishing and pos�ng, but within 72 hours of the regular mee�ng - Leanndrea Weible, Deputy City Clerk CHRISTOPHER R. LOPEZ
Riverside, CA
· www.LopezChris.com
A collaborative people leader with a passion for creating high performing teams and focusing on employee engagement, performance management, customer and resident satisfaction, and consistently delivering high quality results. Strong background in data analysis, financial management, and public works infrastructure planning with the soft skills necessary to implement process improvements, drive changes, and bring teams together to produce positive outcomes.
EXPERIENCE
FEBRUARY 2023 – PRESENT
INTERIM CITY MANAGER, CITY OF LIVINGSTON MUNICIPAL CORPORATION • Manage and oversee 74 FTE, and 93 PT employees, and 15,000 residents • Oversee the provision of water, wastewater services, Police Services, Public Works, and all other municipal operations
• Developed, presented and received approval on the first CIP in over 15 years prioritizing water infrastructure road improvements, and wastewater infrastructure • Negotiated real property acquisition with one of Forbes’ largest privately held companies— Foster Farms
• Manage negotiations with Foster Farms to acquire additional real property, easements, and long term agreements for water infrastructure
• Developed and presented the FY 23/24 and FY 24/25 Budgets with direct feedback from Council, and both adopted unanimously.
• Received $1M grant for infrastructure improvements from State Senator • Managed and closed out sensitive personnel items that had lingered for over 9 months prior to my arrival
• Manage negotiations with County on new master tax sharing agreement which has been non-existent for over a decade
• Lead negotiations for increased Fire Department staffing with County • Oversee the development of a fiscal model which will project multiple years of expenditures to achieve long term financial and service solvency
• Organized first employee appreciation committee to honor, recognize, and develop employees
• Developed RFP for additional Finance personnel to upstaff to address backlog of accounting reports and address monthly reconciliation issues
• Developed plan to address delay of audits; City projected to be caught up on audits by the end of FY 23/24
• Managed and oversaw development of General Plan update which has not been done in 20+ years
• Presented Council with recommend hauler for solid waste and manage negotiations with selected hauler
• Led negotiations on behalf of City with six bargaining groups • Proposed revenue options for long term financial sustainability, and oversaw citywide polling to understand voter sentiment
2 JUNE 2022 – FEBRUARY 2023
SMALL BUSINESS OWNER, WAYPOINT STRATEGIES
• Small business consulting advisor that specializes in strategic planning and performance management
• Utilize analytics to improve operations, refine processes, and make recommendations to leadership
• Review profit/loss statements and identify investment opportunities MARCH 2019 – JUNE 2022
CITY MANAGER, CITY OF HEMET MUNICIPAL CORPORATION (91,000
POPULATION)
• Managed and directed thirteen salaried managers who oversaw 300+ FTE including 24/7 operations, $90M+ budget, and increasing demand for services and over 91,000 residents and five Council Districts
• Added over $1B in property valuation in 2021 vs. 2017 with economic development and market strategies
• Implemented transition to excess insurance carrier resulting in a $1.2M savings in year one • Implemented public transparency portals including TrakIt, public records request system, iCompass agenda management system, and QLess to improve customer service experience • Managed negotiations for six bargaining groups and fostered positive employer/employee relations
• Devised Strategic Planning efforts with comprehensive community engagement strategies to gather public input
• Partnered with Eastern Municipal Water District to monetize carry over credits which is projected to generate over $20M in new water revenues
• Developed multi-year financial models which included pension increases, salary increases and various local economic scenarios to provide situational awareness for Council • Implemented Section 115 Trust to address unfunded pension liability • Identified operational improvements in the Fire Department to reduce response times, improve employee engagement, and prioritize employee mental health • Increased reserves to $36M, implemented cost cutting initiatives, and removed city from financial oversight by State Auditor without sacrificing service delivery • Utilized lean principles to increase infrastructure repairs with a reduced budget and reducing liability claims
• Developed career pathways program to address labor shortage with over $1M of grant funding allocated
• Mentored staff to prepare them for promotions into management roles in HR, Public Works, and Finance
• Simplified and launched tracking of analytics by implementing Envisio; a cloud-based tracking system
• Exceeded all economic development targets based on actual data resulting in added valuation
• Developed and delivered four years of balanced budgets with strategic, first of its kind police technology deployment in Riverside County in lieu of personnel to recover over $2M in stolen vehicles
• Communicated leadership principles and standards for 300+ employees including 24-hour operations
• Maintained top tier quality emergency response by utilizing lean principles and reviewing analytics
3 • Identified and recommended investments in city owned water utility to increase value of water utility and recommended strategies to obtain funding to recover damages for polluted groundwater
MAY 2018 – MARCH 2019
DEPUTY CITY MANAGER, CITY OF HEMET MUNICIPAL CORPORATION • Identified and implemented safety protocols to reduce liability claims and reviewed metrics • Developed and led all daily operating plans within budget and prioritized customer complaints to foster trust
• Responsible for identifying waste, solving complex problems, and employing lean principles to drive results
• Collaborated with HR, Finance, and legal to reduce recruitment times for difficult to recruit positions
• Oversaw and led various recycled water projects including the conversion of multiple ball fields and park space to a recycled water irrigation system APRIL 2015 – APRIL 2018
MAYOR’S CHIEF OF STAFF, CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO MUNICIPAL CORPORATION • Developed customer engagement strategies at weekly/monthly intervals for over 221,000 residents with 7 Council Districts
• Led crises communication strategies for terrorist attack at Inland Regional Center and Northpark Elementary
• Facilitated development at former Norton Air Force Base resulting in over $3B in economic activity in 2015
• Managed two salaried FTE and five hourly employees, created work plans, and managed $1M budget
• Created award winning program to launch innovative solution to reduce blight with no new resources
• Prepared policy recommendations for the City Council for the City’s Violence Intervention Program in collaboration with the Police Department
• Created communication strategies which included monthly townhalls, video content, and Instagram, NextDoor, Twitter, and Facebook platforms
• Researched and provided recommendations for economic development opportunities • Collaborated and maintained relationships with the Chamber of Commerce, Cal State San Bernardino, San Bernardino Valley College, and San Manuel band of Mission Indians • Served as appointee on the Dignity Healthy Benefits Advisory Committee to recommend funding for specific projects in the greater San Bernardino region MAY 2013 – APRIL 2015
ASSISTANT OF THE CITY MANAGER, CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO MUNICIPAL
CORPORATION
• Spearheaded components of bankruptcy filings including $300M+ investment plan and restructurings
• Restructured and launched programs resulting in fewer personnel and increased service delivery
• Led data analysis and strategies resulting in $250K+ savings to improve performance including consolidations
• Coordinated the development of the $211M budget for FY 2014/15 without the use reserves 4 • Managed contractor tasked with analyzing fire services deployment study which ultimately resulted in transition to San Bernardino County Fire
• Implemented the use of financial transparency portal accessible to the public to track revenues and expenditures to increase transparency
• Served as staff liaison for the public safety citizens oversight committee, Business Roundtable, and other citizen focused groups
JUNE 2012 – MAY 2013
ACTING ADMINISTRATIVE ANALYST, CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO MUNICIPAL
CORPORATION
• Collaborated with managers to develop daily operating plans within allocated budget of $47M
• Ensured customer satisfaction with street repairs, tree trimming, and refuse pickup despite bankruptcy
• Motivated team to embrace a "can do" culture and implemented pre-shift meetings to listen to employees
• Utilized lean processes to reduce maintenance repair times and costs • Provided high level professional assistance to the Public Works Director and City Manager’s Office
DECEMBER 2009 – JUNE 2012
PROJECTS SPECIALIST, CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO MUNICIPAL CORPORATION • Owned all operations related to administration of state and local laws for regulatory compliance
• Provided recommendations to lessen revenue loss because of mandatory commercial recycling
• Identified areas for route optimization to exceed targets with increasing demand and utilizing lean principles
JUNE 2004 – DECEMBER 2009
ASSISTANT ENGINEERING DESIGNER, RICK ENGINEERING COMPANY • Delivered engineering design improvements on time for land development projects • Reduced plan review, labor hours, and errors by using engineering checklists while increasing productivity
• Regularly made site visits with engineers and survey teams to ensure timelines were consistently met
• Notable projects included La Sierra Senior Center in Riverside, Toscana Country Club in Indian Wells, and California Baptist University expansion in Riverside
EDUCATION
JUNE 2011
MASTER OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, CALIFORNIA STATE POLYTECHNIC
UNIVERSITY POMONA
JUNE 2008
BACHELOR’S IN POLITICAL SCIENCE, MINOR IN GIS, CALIFORNIA STATE
POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY POMONA
5 CERTIFICATIONS/LICENSES
FUNDAMENTALS OF DIGITAL MARKETING, GOOGLE— CERTIFICATE ID: PS8-NMG-TBY FUNDAMENTALS OF LEAN, LEANSCAPE— CERTIFICATE ID: RIMMGG1WF7 SIX SIGMA WHITE BELT, AVETA BUSINESS INSTITUTE— CERTIFICATE ID: L2VNJBFUCS SIX SIGMA YELLOW BELT, 6SIGMASTUDY— CERTIFICATE ID: 862051
PRESENTATIONS/SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
LEAGUE OF CALIFORNIA CITIES ANNUAL CONFERENCE, SEPTEMEBER 2023— “WHAT THE BLEEP!” LIMITS OF PUBLIC COMMENT
VOLUNTEER/TEACHING
ALLEN MARTIAL ARTS ACADEMY, NOVEMBER 2014—PRESENT — 2
ND DEGREE BLACK BELT
INSTRUCTOR AND TAI CHI INSTRUCTOR