Sunday, April 10, 2011

The Wit & Wisdom Of Allan Roeder

ROEDER'S FINAL "CITY TALK"Dane Bora and Brad Long of Costa Mesa Television have provided us with a very special piece of video featuring now-retired City Manager Allan Roeder that provides not only a glimpse into the history of this remarkable, caring, exceptionally competent man, but also shows us some of the reasons he has been considered by many the consummate City Manager in our region - perhaps anywhere.


GREAT MEMORIES
This hour-long video homage to Roeder w
ill just zip past as you listen to his portrayal of highlights of his career. Some of the archival photos included in this presentation will certainly jog memories of those of us who've been watching city activities for awhile. Images include then much younger council members - like Mary Hornbuckle, Peter Buffa, Jay Humphrey, Orville Amburgey, Joe Erickson, Norma Herzog and Sandra Genis. Local characters like Sid Soffer and the truly memorable Will B. Free are shown.

SMILES GUARANTEED
You'll see images of the you
ng Allan Roeder that will make you chuckle and hear of just how he managed to land in Costa Mesa in the first place. You'll hear his views about his most memorable characters and important accomplishments on his watch.



VIEWING SCHEDULE
This wonderful piece of Cost
a Mesa history, moderated by Dane Bora, is available for viewing on streaming video, HERE, and on Costa Mesa Television - Channel 24 on Time Warner Cable and Channel 99 on ATT Uverse - all this month on the following schedule:



SIMPLY THE BEST

Allan Roeder was as good as there is in his job. He served this city for 36 years
and for 25 years as the City Manager he kept his steady hand on the tiller and helped many city councils stay focused on what was best for the city. He built an exceptional city staff, led them by example and left an indelible footprint on our city.

WISE WORDS
I'll leave you with some of Roeder's final words in this wonderful
video clip. We hope those in power today will read them and heed the message.
"We've all gotta work together. We need to listen to each others opinions, take those carefully into consideration and find ways to work together and n
ot focus on our differences."

THANKS, AGAIN....

Thanks, again, to Allan Roeder for all his years of dedicated service to the City of Costa Mesa. We wish him well in his much-deserved retirement.

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3 Comments:

Anonymous Why? said...

If Allan Roeder was so wonderful, why did he leave the city in such a God awful mess?????

4/12/2011 10:26:00 AM  
Blogger The Pot Stirrer said...

"Why", assuming your question is legitimate and not just a spit wad you decided to fire my way, I'll answer your question.

Roeder announced his retirement nearly five months before it was to become effective to give the council plenty of time to search for and select his replacement. At that time, after nearly 3 years of financial turmoil which caused the city to reduce staff from 611 to 472 and trim many services, we were on track to actually end up with a balanced budget the end of this fiscal year. He didn't do that alone, but had the cooperation and active participation by the staff and the bargaining units, which came to the table and agreed to concessions when they didn't have to do so.

It was only after Roeder announced his retirement and the election results were known - and Mensinger was appointed - that the wheels began to come off. The ham-handed way this council has attempted to "manage" our fiscal issues has created your "God awful mess", not Roeder.

I've watched Allan Roeder, year after year, advise each City Council during budget deliberations that "the use of fund balance was not a budget strategy but a consequence of not making hard decisions." Every single time they, the councils, chose the easy way out and used fund balance to balance the budget. Since he worked for them, his job was not to "tell them what to do", but to give them the best professional advice, including the consequences of their actions. It was the people we elected who got us where we are today. Don't try to tag Roeder with this debacle.

4/12/2011 11:07:00 AM  
Anonymous Why? said...

The rest of us Costa Mesa taxpayers have been watching the same show you have, year after year, since long before Roeder came on the scene. Guess some of us just have a different perspective.

My family also took exception to the fact that Allan's heart didn't seem to be in purchasing the fairgrounds for the residents either. His only interest was in handing that property over to developers.

4/12/2011 01:45:00 PM  

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