By Roger Straw, September 10. 2020
Lorie Tinfow, Benicia City Manager, 2017-2020
Why did City Manager Lorie Tinfow resign suddenly? Everyone is asking, and I wish I had an answer to that question.
Most of my friends and acquaintances held her in high regard, had no warning of her quick departure, and were shocked and saddened when the news broke. Her resignation was effective immediately, and gave the impression of a firing or at least an unhappy crashing of relations.
I am aware that not every Benicia City Council member favored her, but I am truly shocked that we lost her at this delicate time in our city’s many struggles, including dealing with the effects of the COVID pandemic.
I take this opportunity to refer you to an excellent new source of Benicia news. John Glidden, formerly an excellent reporter for the Vallejo Times-Herald, has struck out on his own and is covering Vallejo and Benicia news at JohnGlidden.com. Here’s a good example of his work – covering a closed-session Benicia City Council performance evaluation of Ms. Tinfow before the sudden resignation.
If you have any information about why Ms. Tinfow resigned, please contact John Glidden via johnglidden.com/contact/ or write to me at rogrmail at gmail dot com.
Sad news: Benicia’s City Manager, Lorie Tinfow, has resigned as of today, September 8, 2020. Benicia Police Chief Erik Upson will serve as Acting City Manager. Information is sparse – we have only the following press release:
PRESS RELEASE
CITY OF BENICIA
Benicia City Hall
250 East L Street
Benicia, California 94510
Contact: Erik Upson
Chief of Police/Acting City Manager
(707) 746-4200 eupson@ci.benicia.ca.us
City Manager Tenders Resignation
Benicia, CA (September 8, 2020) — The City of Benicia announced this morning that City Manager Lorie Tinfow has tendered her resignation to the City. The City Council is grateful for Ms. Tinfow’s service to the City of Benicia and wishes her well in her future endeavors.
Mayor Elizabeth Patterson, on behalf of the city council, expressed gratitude for Ms. Tinfow’s service, stating, “Lorie’s three plus years with the City has positioned Benicia well by attracting and developing quality staff, and responding to the COVID-19 pandemic to keep our citizens both safe and primed for a strong recovery.”
Ms. Tinfow will be especially remembered by the community for starting the City of Benicia This Week weekly newsletter. The City’s Chief of Police, Erik Upson, will be serving as the Acting City Manager until the City Council takes further action.
[Our current Benicia City Manager, Lorie Tinfow, is said by many to be the most highly qualified and best City Manager we’ve ever had. She has brought stability in staffing, visionary planning and tough financial oversight in these hard times. I hope she stays for a long, long time! In today’s email newsletter, City of Benicia This Week, Lorie describes the work she does as our City Manager, published here with permission. Incredible! We should ALL be glad we’re not juggling everything she deals with every day. Read on…. – R.S.]
City of Benicia This Week
read it – watch it – like it – share it
August 10, 2020
Hello Everyone,
Lorie Tinfow, Benicia City Manager
During a recent conversation with the Mayor, she asked if I thought people in Benicia knew what my job as the City Manager actually entailed. I said, “no”. In fact, even my mother didn’t know what I do until about 4 years ago. I was visiting my parents and while there I was sending an email on my smart phone. My mom said, “Honey, what are you doing?” and I responded, “Sending an email to the Police Chief.” She looked puzzled and then said, “You’re in charge of the Police Chief?” I said, “Yes, and the Fire Chief, the Public Works Director, etc.” She said, “I thought you were a City planner.”
That reaction wasn’t a total surprise. City Managers tend to be in the background and mostly we like it that way. The Council/Manager form of government that Benicia (and most California cities) operates under has the City Council as the face of the City to the community, where it sets the policy direction and the City Manager implements that direction. Because of this structure, community members often don’t know much about what City Managers do. At the Mayor’s suggestion, I decided to share some information here.
One way to think of a City Manager is to compare the City to a company structure-think of me as the CEO of a $90 million non-profit corporation that provides critical services to everyone who lives or has a business in Benicia. Other executive level staff report to me and help me oversee all City operations. The Finance Director could be compared to the Chief Financial Officer, the Assistant City Manager is similar to a Chief Operating Officer and so on. Of course, there are major differences between running a City and running a business so the comparison isn’t perfect-for example, there’s really no private sector version of a Fire Chief or a Police Chief, and private sector businesses are not required to operate with the public sector’s breadth of service delivery, transparency rules, limits on pricing, and required service to all.
I’ve worked in city government for almost 25 years. My experience is broad and that’s necessary to be successful in this position. The work is fast-paced so knowledge and expertise about a variety of areas is important in order to keep the City moving. I’ve overseen many functional areas such as Human Resources, Information Technology, Finance and Economic Development. I’ve been the project manager for the construction of two large scale capital projects (the Saratoga Library and the Walnut Creek Library) and led many community-based efforts around traffic calming, community problem-solving, communication, etc. If you’re interested in knowing more, my resume at the time I was hired is attached here.
One of my primary responsibilities is delivering a balanced budget to the City Council and overseeing the City finances. I also enforce all the laws, ordinances and contracts; hire and supervise directly all the department directors; make staffing decisions related to all employee positions (except the City Attorney); negotiate labor contracts; conduct studies, reorganize work and exercise general supervision over all public buildings, parks and property. In all hiring decisions, I am always looking to recruit top talent from an increasingly small, competitive pool of qualified people. In short, I’m responsible for all the operational elements of the City. And, I serve as the Emergency Services Director during emergencies.
I also provide leadership by supporting and guiding the City Council through establishing its vision and helping to translate that into a work plan. In the City organization, my leadership is often a blend of overseeing the day-to-day activities with keeping an eye on the shifting long-term needs that require change and innovation.
I first learned what a “City Manager” was during an undergraduate class at Stanford taught by two City Managers. I was already interested in government and this position intrigued me-serving the community and being part of something bigger than myself was attractive. As I continued into graduate school at Harvard and ultimately decided on working in city government, I stayed focused on becoming a City Manager. It’s a very challenging job and a very rewarding one.
So, now you know something more about what I do and how the City is structured. Let me know if you have any questions.
City of Benicia publishes new “Use of Force Policy Review” web page, makes Policy Manual available to public – and pledges to remove choke hold from police policy
I almost always read the City Manager’s weekly newsletter. But you know how email inboxes can get out of control…
So I missed a really important City of Benicia newsletter this Monday. City Manager Lorie Tinfow shared information there about Benicia’s response to the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the subsequent nationwide protests and calls for police reform. Here is her June 8 message for Benicians concerned about police violence and racial justice. Read on, but don’t miss a number of my own concerns and questions that follow below.
City Manager Newsletter, June 8, 2020
“The past two weeks have been extremely tumultuous. The killing of George Floyd was the tipping point for many in our country and those participating in the protests and civil unrest that have followed have called for many necessary changes. And they are beginning to happen.
Friday night, Benicia Police Department (BPD) was notified that Governor Newsom ordered the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (P.O.S.T.) to remove the Carotid Control hold from training certification. The change was immediately communicated to our Police Officers. This change seemed to follow an effort called 8cantwait.
Late last week we began to receive emails asking that we enact changes aligned with 8cantwait. Police Chief Upson evaluated the requested changes and directed his staff to create a webpage that offers information designed to increase transparency. The page includes a comparison of what BPD currently does with what 8cantwait wants as well as a table that shows total calls for service with instances of use of force for the past 3 years. Click here to visit the new webpage.
On the new page is also a link to the complete use of force policy that is posted online as required by law. For those interested in reading more, click here to view the policy.
During last week’s protest, the Benicia Police Officers who assisted, performed their duties exceptionally well. They managed traffic and helped keep the space safe for the participants. The officers’ response when at the police station in particular garnered my confidence and my respect. Click here to view the video in case you missed it. Clearly the protesters’ passions ran high but they too performed well, helping bring attention to the much needed changes across the country.
We are all navigating these uncharted waters to the best of our abilities. I appreciate the community, City staff and the City Council for maintaining the connections that keep Benicia strong. Benicia is better together!”
TRANSPARENCY WELCOME
These new developments and the transparency embraced by our City Manager and Police Chief are to be applauded. I believe that the Police Policy Manual has never before been disclosed to the public, and the Use of Force webpage is an excellent way to engage the public in further conversations. These moves are significant and show personal and professional judgement in a time of profound unrest and hunger for reform.
BREAKING NEWS: NO MORE POLICE CHOKE HOLDS IN BENICIA
The City’s new “Use of Force Policy Review” web page clarifies current BPD policy and announces that “We will be removing carotid control hold from our policy.”
That policy (§300.3.4, Carotid Control Hold, pp. 48-49) takes up two pages in the current BPD Policy Manual. Exactly when and how the manual will be revised and adopted is not clear to me as of now.
CONTINUING QUESTIONS AND CONCERNS FOR BENICIA POLICE
There is more to be done. City staff, electeds and community members should continue to ask questions and raise concerns.
For instance:
Use of Force Policy Review page on the City website
The “Use of Force Policy Review” page on the City website is a good start. The chart compares 8cantwait.org policy recommendations with BPD policy. It’s important to note at top that we will be “removing carotid control hold from our policy” (§300.3.4, pp. 48-49). But other than that, in most cases the BPD column qualifies each policy with “when reasonably necessary,” “where feasible,” etc., which seems a bit weak… Maybe that’s the best we can hope for?
The final item on that page is requiring comprehensive reporting. The BPD policy is to document all use of force promptly, but it does not address the 8cantwait recommendation to report any time an officer threatens to use force. Should we consider adding that to our BPD policy?
The 2017-2020 statistics provided on the page are interesting, but pretty thin on facts, context, details. It would be especially of interest to know about the racial characteristics of suspects and officers involved in these incidents. Can the BPD make more information available?
It is GREAT that no major injuries have been sustained by suspects or officers in use of force incidents over the past 3 years. But it is noteworthy that tasers have been used in 6 of the last 7 incidents (2019-2020), but prior to that only once in 11 incidents (2017-2018). Why has the use of tasers increased? And what are the “minor injuries” that are reported with nearly every use of tasers?
It is GREAT that the public now has access to the BPD’s Policy Manual. But gosh, it’s 756 pages long!
I would assume new officers are required to read the whole thing. And take a test?
How often are officers required to review the document and then take a refresher test?
I understand that the BPD is to be commended for its strong emphasis on frequent training exercises. Have our officers had a recent in-service training on Use of Force policies? This might be welcome in the current time of unrest and reform.
Other concerns and questions
The BPD Policy Manual has 7 references to “community policing.” It might be well to highlight and expand upon this official Department philosophy in a news conference and/or press release, as well as in an internal BPD memo or workshop.
The BPD Manual lays out crowd control measures and has extensive policies governing discipline. Will the BPD review these policies carefully in light of recent times? One suggestion: Minneapolis Police Chief Arradondo announced today (June 10) that the MPD will begin tracking disciplinary data as compiled by Benchmark Analytics, and that the Department will rely on this data rather than the authority of a supervisory officer when making decisions related to hiring and firing. Perhaps the BPD hiring and disciplinary policies could be reviewed in light of this?
Questions about race and gender: How many BPD officers are there, and how many are Black, how many Hispanic, how many Asian, how many White, etc.? How many male and female officers? The BPD Policy Manual is clear in opposing all forms of discrimination (§328.2, p. 156). But is the Department under any obligation or philosophical intent to achieve racial and gender balance? Does the BPD have any official goal statement on recruiting women and minority officers?
If you have any information about why Ms. Tinfow resigned, please contact John Glidden via johnglidden.com/contact/ or write to me at rogrmail at gmail dot com.
You must be logged in to post a comment.