Thanks, Andy Souza. We Will Miss You.

Two of the most difficult jobs in the public sector, I have always held, are the superintendent of schools in large urban districts (Fresno Unified is certainly qualifies being the 36th largest school district in the country) and the city manager. The city manager has a delicate balancing act, providing overall management of city employees while at the same time satisfying the policy directives (sometimes whims) of elected mayors and council members.

Andy Souza, with 24 years of service to the City of Fresno (seven of them as city manager), has decided to resign and pursue other interests. After serving on the city council for eight years, with Andy as city manager for many of them, I want to commend Andy for helping to steer the city through the treacherous shoals of state and local politics, high expectations and deep disappointments, egotists and pragmatists, saints and sinners.

Andy could probably write the definitive book on "inside Fresno." My assumption, however, is that he is discreet enough to not tell all. Just think of the mayors and council members that he has known. The stories he could tell about the sausage-making process that passes for policy-making. Imagine the tension and tug-of-war in Fresno's strong mayor form of government between his role as city manager, his boss (the mayor) and those pesky 7 council members with whom he has to sit on the dais every week during those long council meetings.

I wonder what Andy could tell us about Jim Patterson's libertarian say-no to-everything mind-set, the Operation Rezone scandal where some council members went to jail for pay offs from developers, Alan Autry's stem-winding, off-the-wall State of the City speeches and press conferences (some day I will share with you the circumstances of Alan throwing me out of his office), and those annoying council members having the "audacity" to question his or the mayor's decisions.

Andy Souza has been an honest, hard-working, loyal city employee. The citizens of Fresno have been served well.

Even though Andy is Portuguese, I want to send him into his new stage of life with the old Irish blessing: "May the road rise to meet you. May the wind always be at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face..."

Coming Soon. . .

1. Roses and Thorns awards.
2. Where are our private sector leaders?
3. How many deployments can we expect from our military? Resurrect the draft?

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