From a genuine mountain high to the emotional depths of being fired from a key city post he had held for the last five years, Pleasanton’s Traffic Engineer and Deputy Director of Public Works Jeff Knowles had quite a week.
With over 28 years of transportation engineering and planning experience, Knowles was quickly hired by Dowling Associates, one of California’s top traffic engineering firms that did more than $150,000 in consulting work for Pleasanton last year, shortly after his departure from City Hall.
City Manager Nelson Fialho said he couldn’t comment on Knowles’ termination or the two months pay and benefits severance package the city was reported to have given Knowles “because this is strictly a personnel matter.” He said Assistant Traffic Engineer Michael Tassano would step into Knowles’ position on an interim basis until a successor could be recruited.
On his return from the Mount McKinley expedition, so far the hardest and highest of Knowles’ longstanding passion for mountain climbing, Knowles sent a series of photos to the Weekly along with a promise to send more and talk about the trip soon after he returned to his office on Monday. He never had a chance. When he reported for work Tuesday morning, he found his phone had been turned off. Public Works Director Rob Wilson gave him his termination papers and he was escorted out of City Hall.
Although neither Wilson nor Fialho will discuss the dismissal, and Knowles said his termination agreement prevents him from talking, it was clear that the Dowling offer had been in the works for some time. Knowles is well known as a top professional in traffic engineering circles, and has been a frequent speaker at state, regional and local government and private sector meetings on area traffic congestion.
Here in Pleasanton, he implemented measures to curb cut-through commuter traffic and reduce speeding, which included metering lights on on-ramps to eastbound I-580 at Hopyard, Hacienda and Santa Rita, speed bumps on Crellin Road and a traffic speed monitoring light on Vineyard at Montevino, which received international coverage and has served as a prototype for similar signals in other cities.
He was also a supporter of the roundabouts on Vineyard, which, at the direction of the City Council, are now being torn out at a cost of $600,000, and of extending Stoneridge Drive to El Charro Road and Livermore, which all five members of the current council have vowed to prevent. An earlier effort to curb cut-through traffic with a metering light near the Sunol Boulevard off-ramp at I-680, which then-Mayor Tom Pico supported, significantly reduced cut-through by volumes. But, the device also delayed Pleasanton commuters coming back from jobs south of Pleasanton and was removed because of the protests. In recent months, Wilson and Tassano have replaced Knowles at City Council, commission, committee and agency meetings where Knowles served as the city’s traffic expert.
In a press release, Dowling Associates said Knowles would work on traffic analysis and engineering assignments. He is expected to focus on Dowling projects in Northern California, but probably not in Pleasanton, at least not for now.
The exodus of Knowles came in the wake of major changes at City Hall as City Manager Fialho solidified his management team since taking the post nearly two years ago. About that time, the city’s long-time Principal Planner Jerry Iserson was named Director of Planning, succeeding Brian Swift. Swift has provided some assistance as a planning consultant on the city’s General Plan update. Principal Planner Wayne Rasmussen also left to start his own consulting business. Fialho and Iserson subsequently hired two new principal planners: Janet Stern and Donna Decker.
Fialho also hired David P. Culver to succeed Finance Director Sue Rossi, who retired after 31 years of public service. Culver, who has 28 years of experience, most recently was director of finance and treasurer for the city of Santa Cruz.
Also new is Karen Diaz, hired as city clerk to replace Dawn Abrahamson, who took the same post in Fremont. Diaz reports to Fialho.
Other recent changes at City Hall included:
* Lorie Tinfow to the new position of administrative services director. She replaces the position Fialho previously held under former City Manager Deborah Acosta McKeehan as assistant city manager/director of human resources. Tinfow’s position has been expanded to include oversight of the city clerk’s office and central services. Fialho also placed her in charge of the city’s newly-appointed Happy Valley Blue Ribbon Committee, which is seeking a bypass route to the Callippe Preserve golf course, and of a study considering the acquisition of the Pleasanton Memorial Gardens Cemetery, now owned by the Livermore Odd Fellows fraternal organization.
* Emily Wagner to the new position of economic development fiscal officer. She joined the city last May to assist both Fialho and Director of Economic Development Pamela Ott. Wagner’s current projects include the Bernal property financing, ACE train station location, permit streamlining and downtown parking improvements.
* Jacqui Diaz to the post of assistant to the city manager. She has worked in various capacities for the city for the last three years, including as interim city clerk during the recruitment of Karen Diaz. She also coordinates the refuse and recycling programs, serves as liaison to the Youth Master Plan Committee and assists Fialho on City Council initiatives.
“As a result of these changes, I now have only one assistant city manager, Steve Bocian, who is now freed up to work on City Council priority projects,” Fialho said. “These include the Staples Ranch development, major capital projects and affordable housing.”
