A closer look at some members of City Manager Deanna Santana’s alumni club tells a story that’s hard to dismiss as being simply the results a high cost-of-living area — most of these employees were already living in the Bay Area or comparably expensive Manhattan Beach.
Chief Electric Utility Officer Manuel Pineda has the distinction of being the highest paid City employee next to Santana herself. He worked with Santana in San José and Sunnyvale and was hired as Assistant City Manager in 2017 at the top of the pay scale ($310,000).
He was then promoted to the top job at Silicon Valley Power, with a salary again close to the top of the pay scale, $363,000. Previous SVP CEO John Roukema earned $324,000. In two years Pineda received a total raise of $134,000 (59%) over his Sunnyvale salary of $228,000.
Fire Chief Ruben Torres worked with Santana in San José and was hired in 2019 at close to the top of the pay scale, 320,000. His previous salary in Pleasanton was $219,000. The previous fire chief Bill Kelly earned $279,000. Torres’ total raise of 46% is $101,000.*
Assistant City Manager Cynthia Bojorquez worked with Santana in Sunnyvale. She was hired into a newly created Assistant City Manager position in June of 2019 at a top-of-the-scale salary of $335,000. Her Sunnyvale salary was $236,000, making her raise almost $100,000.
Assistant City Manager Nadine Nader Kayali worked with Santana in San José and with Danaj in Fremont and Manhattan Beach. Her previous salary was $224,000. She was hired in 2018 at a salary of $310,000, at the top of the pay scale, adding up to an $86,000 raise.
Another new employee getting an $86,000 raise is Public Works Director Craig Mobeck, who worked with Santana in San José and Sunnyvale. He too was hired at a salary of $264,000. Mobeck’s previous salary was $178,000.
Former Chief Operating Officer Walter Rossmann worked with Santana in San José and Sunnyvale. His previous Sunnyvale salary was $240,000. When he was hired into a newly created job, Rossmann got a $75,000 raise to $315,000. Rossmann has since left the City to become Milpitas Finance Director at a salary of $165,000.
Finance Director Kenn Lee worked with Santana in San José and Sunnyvale. He was first hired as Assistant Finance Director in 2017 at a salary of $224,000, at the top of the pay scale. Lee was recently promoted to the top finance spot at a salary of $268,000. His previous Sunnyvale salary was $171,000 — making his total increase 57%, $97,000.
Recently retired Human Resources Teresia Zadroga-Haase worked with Danaj and Nader Kayali in Manhattan Beach. She was hired last year at a salary of $262,000, a 33% increase over her Manhattan Beach salary of $197,000.
New Human Resources Director Aracely Azevedo worked with Santana in San José and was hired as Santa Clara’s Assistant HR Director in August 2018, with a salary of $200,000, and increase of $59,000 from her $141,000 San José salary. She was promoted to HR Director in October, but remains at the same salary currently.
The only promoted City employee coming close to these levels of increases is Kathleen Hughes, a 20+ year veteran of Silicon Valley Power, who received a $63,000 raise to $197,000.
* Torres is also collecting a City of San José pension of $196,265.
Editor’s Note: This is a follow-up to a previous article. Read the original here.
