The Leadership Gap
The Leadership Gap
Lodi's Government Leadership Crisis in the Context of Central Valley and California Municipal Instability, 2023–2026
In 30 months, the City of Lodi has cycled through five people in the city manager's chair, lost key personnel in finance, human resources, and community development, spent more than $1 million on consultants and interim staffing, and endured a public rupture between its city manager and city council that made regional and statewide news.
This is not a story about one bad hire. It is a story about institutional erosion — and Lodi is far from alone. Across the Central Valley and throughout California, the machinery of local government is losing the people who know how to run it. The question is whether Lodi's elected leadership, at both the city and county level, understands the depth of the problem.
I. The Lodi Sequence: From Orderly Transition to Institutional Crisis
The departure of City Manager Steve Schwabauer in October 2023 was, by itself, unremarkable. After 24 years with the city — nine as city manager — Schwabauer left voluntarily to lead the North San Joaquin Water Conservation District. He described the decision as personal, citing the accumulated pressures of the role.
What followed was anything but orderly.
The breadth of the crisis is what distinguishes Lodi. This was not simply a city manager succession problem. The departures struck across departments — finance, HR, community development, and the city manager's office simultaneously. Nearly half the finance division departed. The HR manager retired. The IT manager quit. (Unofficial reports indicate the IT manager position has since been filled, though no official confirmation has been published by the city.) Consultants Baker Tilly were brought in to backfill positions, accumulating over $500,000 in billings.
The Carney chapter escalated everything. On April 1, 2025, City Manager Scott Carney read a prepared statement at a special council meeting alleging widespread misuse of public funds and document alteration by the city attorney and city clerk. Mayor Bregman cut him off, citing Brown Act concerns. Within days, the council placed Carney on paid administrative leave by a 3-2 vote.
What followed was a rapid-fire rotation through interim leaders: Parks director Christina Jaromay named acting city manager on April 11; retired Saratoga city manager James Lindsay took over in May at $140/hour as a CalPERS retired annuitant capped at 960 hours per year. By October, Lindsay was nearing his cap. Bobby Magee, the part-time interim assistant city manager, also stepped down after approaching the 1,300-hour part-time employee limit.
Two independent audits found no fraud: Lance, Soll & Lunghard reported no fraud or regulatory non-compliance in FY 2023-24; Moss Adams flagged minor CAL-Card compliance gaps — a $19 conference t-shirt, a $40 grocery purchase, meal overages under $19. The council voted in October 2025 to begin formally removing Carney. By February 2026, the council was simultaneously bidding farewell to retiring Community Development Director John Della Monica and outgoing interim Lindsay, while appointing Aaron Busch as the city's fifth person in the top role in 30 months.
II. Lodi in Context: How Peer Cities Compare
Stockton: Political Purge at the Top
Lodi's closest parallel is Stockton, which endured its own year of leadership chaos in 2025. City Manager Harry Black resigned under threat of termination in January 2025 just weeks after newly elected Mayor Christina Fugazi took office, receiving over $400,000 in severance despite a positive performance review months earlier. The council then appointed Steve Colangelo as interim — a decision that unraveled when misconduct allegations surfaced and were referred to the San Joaquin County District Attorney. Stockton cycled through four people in the city manager role before appointing Johnny Ford in November 2025.
The critical difference: Stockton's turmoil was concentrated at the top. Lodi's penetrated deeper into middle management and operational divisions.
Antioch: What Prolonged Instability Looks Like
Antioch provides the cautionary precedent. A 2024 Contra Costa County Grand Jury investigation found a vacancy rate exceeding 21% — four times the national average of 5.3% for state and local government. Seven of eleven senior positions were filled by acting or part-time personnel. City manager tenure had dropped below two years. Between July 2022 and mid-2024, the city hired 102 employees but lost 98 — a nearly one-to-one replacement ratio.
Other Cases Across California
California City in Kern County cycled through six city managers in three years, with a grand jury describing the situation as "crisis mode." Calistoga in Napa County experienced a 22% employee turnover rate — twice the leisure and hospitality industry's pandemic-era rate. Aliso Viejo lost its city manager to an unexpected death in December 2025. Dana Point's city manager retired after 18 years, taking irreplaceable institutional knowledge with him.
| City | Pop. | CM Changes (2023–26) | Exit Trigger | Dept. Breadth | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lodi | 66K | 5 | Voluntary exit, then political conflict & investigation | CM, Asst. CM, Finance, HR, IT*, Comm. Dev. *Unofficial reports suggest filled |
Extreme |
| Stockton | 320K | 4 | Political pressure from new council majority | CM office primarily | High |
| Antioch | 115K | Multiple (avg. <2 yrs) | Council dysfunction, Brown Act issues | 7 of 11 senior roles acting/PT; 21% vacancy | Extreme |
| California City | 14K | 6 in 3 years | Chronic inability to attract/retain | Leadership-wide | Extreme |
| Calistoga | 5K | Stable CM | Management-driven attrition (22% turnover) | Multiple departments | High |
| Fresno | 542K | Stable (strong mayor) | Council turnover via term limits & elections | Council seats, not admin staff | Moderate |
| Tracy / Manteca / Ripon | Various | Relatively stable | N/A | No major leadership disruption reported | Stable |
Within San Joaquin County, the two largest cities — Stockton and Lodi — both experienced leadership crises in 2025, while smaller cities like Tracy, Manteca, and Ripon remained comparatively stable. The common thread in the crisis cities is not size but political dynamics: the intersection of new council majorities and existing city managers.
III. The Numbers: California's Municipal Staffing Crisis
The 2025 Rose Institute/CCMF survey found that California has 483 incorporated cities, of which 97% operate under the council-manager form — far above the 48% national average. This makes the city manager hire the single most consequential staffing decision a California city council makes.
UC Berkeley's Labor Center found county vacancy rates as high as 30%. Oakland reported vacancy rates exceeding 10% in almost every department. Nationally, over half of HR managers in local government reported difficulty filling positions in policing, corrections, and healthcare. California responded with AB 2561, effective January 1, 2025, mandating annual public hearings on vacancy data before budgets are finalized.
IV. The Lodi City Council's Role: Oversight, Accountability, and Consequences
City councils in California's council-manager system have one central staffing responsibility: hiring and managing the city manager. By this measure, the Lodi City Council's record over the past 30 months demands scrutiny.
The Carney Hire
The council hired Scott Carney in spring 2024 to replace Schwabauer. Within months, his relationship with key staff had deteriorated. The Lodi Chamber of Commerce, which became the most vocal institutional critic, later noted that maintaining Carney on paid leave for over five months added unnecessary salary costs while leaving a leadership vacuum.
The Investigation and Its Costs
The council's decision to investigate Carney's claims was appropriate. The manner of execution was not. Multiple law firms and consulting firms were engaged. The investigation stretched for months. The Chamber estimated the combined costs at roughly $1 million — money that could have funded playground equipment, a new dock at Lodi Lake, new lighting at Salas Field, or other community improvements.
The 3-2 Divide
The council split 3-2 on placing Carney on leave, with Councilmembers Alan Nakanishi and Lisa Craig-Hensley dissenting. This division — and the broader question of whether the council majority acted too hastily or too slowly at different stages — remains unresolved. The council has not held a formal public accounting of the total costs.
What the Council Owes the Public
Regardless of whether Carney's allegations were valid, the crisis exposed real weaknesses in Lodi's internal controls. The Moss Adams review recommended establishing an internal audit function, improving utility billing oversight, and implementing a fraud and abuse hotline. These are systemic improvements that should have been pursued regardless of the Carney episode.
V. San Joaquin County: The Missing Layer of Support
The Board of Supervisors does not manage Lodi's internal affairs. But the county's role in regional governance makes it a critical piece of the puzzle.
The Regional Transit Flashpoint
In late 2025, the city managers of all eight incorporated cities in San Joaquin County signed an unprecedented joint letter warning of a "transit disaster." This was a remarkable moment: eight city managers, several of them interim or newly appointed, finding common cause on a regional issue even as their own houses were in varying states of disorder.
What the Supervisors Should Be Asking
- What is the county-wide municipal vacancy rate? AB 2561 now requires annual disclosure. The county should aggregate this data across all jurisdictions.
- Is there a regional talent pipeline strategy? When Lodi loses its HR manager and half its finance staff, those are skills in demand across every jurisdiction in the county.
- What is the cost of instability to the county? When Lodi and Stockton are consumed by internal crisis, their capacity to participate in regional governance is diminished.
- Are county resources available for municipal stabilization? Shared-services models for IT, HR, and finance have been explored in other states but not publicly in San Joaquin County.
VI. Why This Keeps Happening: The Structural Forces
1. The CalPERS Trap for Interim Leadership
Retired annuitants are limited to 960 hours per fiscal year — roughly six months of full-time work. Lodi experienced this directly when James Lindsay approached his hour cap. The result is a structural guarantee of further transition.
2. The Shrinking Pipeline
The 2025 CCMF/Rose Institute survey found that 77% of California city managers are in their 40s and 50s. When a city loses its HR manager and finance staff simultaneously, it is not just losing current capacity — it is losing the training ground for the next generation of leaders.
3. The Cost-of-Living Squeeze
Central Valley cities compete for talent with Bay Area and Sacramento agencies that can offer significantly higher compensation. The most experienced professionals have the most options — and the least reason to stay in a city where organizational chaos multiplies their workload.
4. The Politicization of the City Manager Role
Both Lodi and Stockton illustrate a troubling pattern: competent city managers being forced out not because of performance failures but because of political dynamics. When the city manager role becomes a political football, it deters quality candidates and incentivizes risk-averse management.
The Self-Reinforcing Cycle
Leadership instability → staff departures → institutional knowledge loss → consultant dependency → budget strain → deferred improvements → reduced service quality → public frustration → political pressure on the next city manager → more instability.
Lodi is currently in the consultant dependency phase. Whether it breaks the cycle or continues through it depends on decisions being made right now.
VII. Breaking the Cycle: What Would Stability Require?
The appointment of Aaron Busch as interim city manager in February 2026 offers Lodi a window — but windows close. Busch brings experience from Roseville, Yuba City, Rancho Cordova, and Vacaville. He knows Central Valley governance. But he is still interim.
For the City Council:
- Conduct and publish a full cost accounting of the 2024-2026 leadership crisis.
- Implement the Moss Adams recommendations on internal controls, audit functions, and reporting without further delay.
- Commit to a permanent city manager hire within a defined timeline.
- Invest in succession planning. Key positions should have documented succession plans and cross-training programs.
- Rebuild the finance and administrative divisions with permanent, competitive-salary employees rather than contractors.
For the Board of Supervisors:
- Commission a county-wide municipal staffing assessment using the AB 2561 framework.
- Explore shared-services models for back-office functions that smaller cities struggle to sustain.
- Advocate at the state level for reforms to CalPERS interim employment rules.
VIII. The Stakes
Lodi is a city of 66,000 people whose government, at its best, maintains roads, treats water, manages parks, operates an electric utility, responds to emergencies, processes permits, plans for growth, and connects residents to services. Every one of those functions depends on people who know what they are doing and who are committed to staying.
The data points in this report are not abstractions. A 50% loss in finance staff means slower processing of payments, invoices, and budgets. An absent HR manager means slower hiring for every other vacancy in every other department. An IT manager departure means deferred technology upgrades and increased cybersecurity risk — and while unofficial reports suggest this position has been filled, the city has not publicly confirmed it. A rotating cast of city managers means deferred strategic decisions, interrupted relationships with developers and state agencies, and an organizational culture oriented around survival rather than service.
Lodi is not California City, where leadership collapse became a self-perpetuating condition. It is not Antioch, where a 21% vacancy rate hollowed out basic services. But it is closer to those conditions than it has ever been, and the trajectory will not reverse itself.
The Central Question
Lodi's residents are not asking for heroic governance. They are asking for functional governance — the kind where the person running the city has been in the job long enough to know the names of the department heads, where the finance team processes payroll without a consultant looking over their shoulders, and where the city council's agenda is driven by community priorities rather than internal crisis management.
That is not a high bar. It is the minimum. And for 30 months, Lodi has not cleared it.