PITTSBURG -- City Manager Marc Grisham will put in his last day on the job Monday, ending a busy seven years in which he has shaped the redevelopment of what was once a moribund, crime-ridden downtown.
Although he wouldn't comment directly about his tenure, Grisham, 60, included a few remarks as part of a proposed 2011-12 budget the City Council will consider Monday evening. He retired at the end of last year but stayed on as city manager on a contract basis.
Grisham cited a 50-year-low crime rate, the remodeling and reconstruction of the Pittsburg district's schools and the redevelopment of the city's Old Town as the city's major achievements during his tenure. Assistant city manager Joe Sbranti is replacing Grisham.
Several community leaders and residents had nothing but praise for Grisham and the ideas, knowledge and skill he brought to the job.
"He's done a fantastic job," said Mayor Will Casey, who joined the City Council six months into Grisham's tenure and was a previous Pittsburg city manager and police chief. "His expertise in redevelopment is unequaled in the state of California."
Casey said Grisham began in 2004 by revitalizing the city's marina area, dredging the harbor and attracting a new Elks Club that helped bring more people downtown.
"He took that start and ran with it," Casey said.
Councilman Sal Evola, who has generally been the only no vote when a council decision on a Grisham recommendation wasn't unanimous, called the city manager "an absolute visionary."
Evola credited Grisham with the Old Town redevelopment and also praised him for bringing new businesses to town, including guiding Pittsburg Power Co. projects to successful conclusions.
The power company invests in projects to produce and transmit energy, yielding additional revenue for the city.
While Grisham was city manager, the power company laid a cable under San Francisco Bay that sends electricity from the state's power grid from Pittsburg to San Francisco. The city will receive $900,000 in annual royalties from the cable project for 40 years.
Grisham also drew raves from Pittsburg schools Superintendent Linda Rondeau and retired city employee Merl Lewis-Craft.
Rondeau described Grisham as "creative and energetic" and credited him with putting together partnerships to build playing fields at Marina Vista Elementary and Hillview Junior High that are used by the schools during the day and adult and children's leagues and groups at other times.
"He always saw the importance of the connection between the city and school district," she said. "He's a good person to brainstorm with."
Lewis-Craft was the city's recreation supervisor when Grisham arrived. She credits him with broadening youth programs to include vocational training for high school-age kids.
Grisham helped re-establish the city's teen center that had been closed since the 1980s, said Lewis-Craft, who retired in 2009 after 35 years with the city.
"It wasn't until Marc came along that we got the mentoring and training programs for older teens," she said. "When they pulled the teen center, there was no place for them to go and nothing for them to do."
A smaller group of Grisham critics wondered whether the city incurred too much debt while he was city manager and whether money from redevelopment and the power company had been spent wisely.
Pittsburg's redevelopment agency was among 18 statewide reviewed by the state controller's office this year, and was singled out for some "questionable" accounting that Grisham disputed.
Pittsburg is anticipating more than $30 million in budget deficits over the next several years, even if city employees, including police, don't receive raises.
Al Affinito, a longtime resident who served as mayor from 1965 to 1968, said the City Council could have scrutinized some of Grisham's proposals more closely.
"We don't have a strong City Council that recognizes that responsibility," he said.
Affinito criticized the city's Arts and Community Foundation, which he said spends money without direct public scrutiny.
The foundation uses money generated by the power company and other sources to pay for community-enrichment programs, such as library services, a community bookstore and literacy programs.
Affinito knocked a foundation-sponsored trip to China that Grisham and some council members took.
"That money goes from the city to the foundation, so where does the public get its voice in how it is spent?" Affinito said. "Why can't they decide how to spend the money at a City Council meeting instead?"
One of Grisham's most vocal critics has been Joe Canciamilla, the former Pittsburg school board trustee, mayor, county supervisor and Democratic Assembly member.
Many of Grisham's downtown redevelopment projects have had "no foreseeable net return, jeopardizing the fiscal well-being of the city," Canciamilla said.
Some of the ventures, such as three or four high-end restaurants and a $6.5 million brewery, probably will need continued city subsidies to stay in business, he said.
"There's no disagreement that everything looks better than it did, but public funds have been used over private money by 10, 20, 30 to one," Canciamilla said. "My fear is that it all comes to a grinding halt long after Marc is gone."
Contact Rick Radin at 925-779-7166.
