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SLO hires new Public Works head

November 26, 2012

The City of San Luis Obispo has hired a new Public Works director from out of the area. [Tribune]

Daryl Grigsby, previously the director of Public Works in Pomona, will earn an annual salary of $154,544. City management did not disclose his additional benefits package.

Grigsby replaces Jay Walter, who left the city in July with an annual salary of $151,450 and a total compensation of $222,141. Walter served as director of Public Works for about a decade.

City Manager Katie Lichtig said Grigsby will receive a salary at the top of his job’s range due to prior experience as a public works director and his compensation in Pomona.

“He has a proven track record of success,” Lichtig said.

Grigsby has worked in public works for more than 30 years. In addition to his work in Pomona, Grigsby also worked in Kirkland, Wash., San Diego, Seattle and King County, Wash.

In San Luis Obispo, Grigsby will oversee 75 employees and a $23 million annual budget.

Lichtig has replaced the majority of major department heads since assuming her position in January 2010. The city must also hire a new finance director since Charles Bourbeau recently resigned.


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I just looked at the SLO City Public Works Organizational Chart. Fifteen (out of 75 total employees per the article!) carry the title of director, assistant director, manager or supervisor. That is criminal!


http://www.slocity.org/publicworks/


In all sincerity when is the craziness going to stop? SLO needed this new director like it needs a hole in the head! Lichtig must go!


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Why don’t they just leave the job vacant for 5-6 years? That will go far in eliminating the “deficit.”


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No kidding!


Hey, here’s an idea. Put Parks & Rec under Public Works where it belongs. Let the $150K/year Parks & Rec Director star working for a change.


This new hire is criminal!


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So why has no one put a ballot initiative out there making double- or triple-dipping illegal? Something like “Public/state/local/government employees cannot receive more than one publicly-funded pension.”


Guess that would just be too cruel. I’d call it Proposition 2 since it’s crap that it is allowed to happen legally.


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This is more City Administration stupidity or downright good’ ol boys and girls with Southern California ties baloney at the counties expense. So we taxpayers get stuck paying for his huge government entitlements after about 5 years of service and then they’ll do it again. They tout his 30 years experience. That means he’s close to retirement.


Why didn’t they promote from within and replace at the bottom at a much lower cost. Like I said….Stupidity or the other…..idiots. Yea, I’m sure they have some lame excuse.


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They don’t promote from within, because that would lower a management position salary and set a precedent. The new guy is coming in at top pay and getting $3,000 more than the prior director in this economy. That is because as soon as money is available everyone will get a quick raise and Miss Katie wants to make sure all the management salaries are up there.


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Shouldn’t City Administrative positions have their pay and benefits ratcheted down like the rest of the City employees? For perspective this position makes all most as much and probably has similar benefits as

our Governor??? How did our Cities get wages and benefits so twisted and how do we untwist them in

our current long trend tough economic times?


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Well, they HAD to pay him more to entice him away from that paradise in Pomona. You know, it’s hard to find people wanting to live and work in the hell-hole known as the Central Coast… so you have to pay them for it! Duh! :/


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I don’t think degrees in history and “pastoral studies” is appropriate preparation for a public works director no matter what his/her work experience might be. I am quite surprised that Grigsby even qualifies for the job. I also suspect he’ll retire in 5-10 years with a fat pension. This is wrong.


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Seems right on target. Our Air Pollution Control Officer’s degree is in botany.


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Has worked in public works for more than 30 years. I wonder if he is retired and receiving a big check from somewhere and then getting this large check from SLO. Nothing against the guy, it’s just the system. If he is retired from another agency I think that the proper thing would have been to hire a younger person at a lower rate and let them work there way up and earn a single retirement. If he isn’t retired from somewhere else sounds like he may be a short timer until retirement. Probably cut himself a pretty good deal with moving expenses and relocation costs. A good start for retirement.

Why is it that all of these city managers think that everyone is qualified for the top pay and benefit packages at our expense? KSBY and KCOY should have a segment on the fleecing of San Luis Obispo County and its incorporated cities. It certainly wouldn’t take a whole lot of investigative reporting to come up with some interesting facts as to what is happening to us the taxpayers.


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KSBY, KSLO and, of course, the Tribune rely on press releases for their local news. If they were to critique the powers that be, they might not get those press releases anymore and would have no government news at all to fill in between the “feel good” stories they run.


Also, since moving their news production out of the area, the TV stations are relying on one or two local reporters to supply us with local news and they are not going to go to the expense of verifying controversial stories or risking law suits by unsupported exposes. It is much easier and cheaper to simply not report on such things until all the evidence has been dug up by other reliable sources.


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