The City of Santa Clara for years was a very well run city and the envy of other cities. Clean streets and sidewalks, efficient services, and neighborhoods that are respected. It still is a good city with some good services that could do a lot better than the way of the past. Many point to former City Managers Don Von Raesfeld and Jennifer Sparacino as the moral compass of good City Management.
The modern City Management history has been turbulent.
Just before Christmas 2012, Julio Fuentes was hired as Santa Clara’s city manager following Jennifer Sparacino’s retirement after 25 years. In 2015 and 2016, a personnel report on Fuentes was leaked to the San Jose Inside—then tied to Jude Barry—and to the Mercury News, citing a source familiar with details discussed in closed session. Fuentes had a turbulent relationship with Councilmember Lisa Gillmor, who had also clashed with Mayor Jamie Matthews over issues involving the San Francisco 49ers. After Matthews abruptly resigned the day after Super Bowl 50, Fuentes’s position became precarious.
When Gillmor became mayor in mid-February 2016, she quickly began “cleaning house,” targeting allies of Mayor Matthews, including Fuentes. Within a month, and amid the fallout from the leaked report, Fuentes resigned. The move fueled speculation that City Attorney Richard Nosky could be next. Ruth Shikada briefly served as acting city manager, followed by Rajeev Batra, who held the role for about a year before “retiring” in 2017.
The resignations of Jamie Matthews, Julio Fuentes came after rumors that Gillmor was going to the Civil Grand Jury. There was talk around town for months after their departures that the reason they left was because of the interviews with the civil grand jury, the 49ers influences and Mayor Mathews being at the Super Bowl in a luxury box. Just months after Matthews and Fuentes were gone, the civil grand jury report was released in June 2016 about the stadium and Measure J.
By late 2016 the city council had scheduled a third closed-session performance review City Attorney Richard Nosky. Remember this was the solid 4 vote majority of Mayor Lisa Gillmor–Teresa O’Neill, Kathy Watanabe and Debi Davis. Richard Nosky’s performance review was scheduled for January 3rd 2017, but Nosky resigned on December 30th 2016 before it could even take place. Nosky knew what was going to happen. He knew the Fearsome Four would terminate him. Nosky told everyone it was a new job. Gillmor and Teresa O’Neill at the time stated they must move quickly to fill the role in the interim.
Enter Civil Service Commissioner and St Justin’s ally Brian Doyle who was recommended by then Councilmember Teresa O’Neill to be the Interim City Attorney. Brian Doyle would be hired in January 2017 as the interim City Attorney before being installed as the permanent City Attorney by December 2017. All voted by Gillmor, O’Neill, Watanabe and Debi Davis.
Gillmor successfully purged city hall of the top staff and installed a handpicked City Attorney in Brian Doyle and forced the “retirement” of Rajeev Batra. This made room for the arrival of Deanna Santana in October of 2017. Santana herself was close to being fired by the City of Sunnyvale where employees were striking because of the conditions Santana brought to the city. Before Sunnyvale could fire her, Santa Clara hired her. Deanna Santana upon her hiring would become one of the highest paid city managers in the state with generous benefits and have a contract that if anyone tried to fire her would have some issues. Gillmor did all this by design to reinforce the power of the management and her council majority. If she should lose the majority which Gillmor did in 2020, the hirings of both Doyle and Santana’s contracts made it difficult for any possible removal. At the time it was the highest paid city manager’s office in Santa Clara history and in the state.
During the Santana and Doyle reign of terror it led to massive backlogs of infrastructure needs, massive debt, generous salaries to police and fire unions and costly litigation due to a voting rights lawsuit and with the 49ers. Santana paid out high salaries to top staff and hired multiple assistant managers at the same costs while forgetting the hardworking lower level employees. Similar management behavior she had in Sunnyvale. Santa Clara suffered during these years, losing so many revenue possibilities and lots of costly burdensome litigation. City Attorney Brian Doyle, Mayor Gillmor and Deanna Santana cost the city multiple millions of dollars fighting the CVRA lawsuit and trying to prevent individual city council districts.
In 2021 and 2022 the city council purged Brian Doyle and Deanna Santana by firing both of them and the entire time Gillmor and her machine complained it was not legal or some other looney accusations. Following their terminations, both disgraced Doyle and Santana made attempts to sue the city for wrongful termination. These efforts failed, but their efforts to sue was to influence Gillmor Machine narrative as well as the Civil Grand Jury reports. They claim they are whistleblowers for witnessing wrongdoing of current Councilmembers while ignoring their own wrongdoings which ultimately led to their terminations. Santa Clara was better off with Brian Doyle and Deanna Santana not in management of the city. Their celebratory exit led to some temporary uncertainty and a vacuum in management. Both the City Manager and City Attorney roles were vacant at the same time for a good period of time. In the short term the City Council hired a law firm where Steve Ngo served as the interim city attorney. Rajeev Batra who was City Manager for a year in 2016-17 was brought back as Interim City Manager for a hefty salary. Batra in his contract clearly took advantage of the Santana salary situation knowing the desperate need for a city manager.
During the tenure of both Batra 2.0 and Steve Ngo they were weak against the Gillmor Machine. Batra knew how Gillmor operated and she voted against his appointment. Batra really didn’t have to win over the heart of Gillmor. He worked for the City Council as a whole. However Batra played Stanley Baldwin by keeping to the status quo and was laissez faire on changes while appeasing the Gillmor Machine aggression who was really in the minority on the city council. Batra was hands off and had the let it be attitude making no changes in the city staffing. Interim City Manager Rajeev Batra kept the hires of Deanna Santana knowing the changes that needed to be made. While Batra was considered just a hold over till the new City Manager arrived one would think he would have made some drastic changes to help a new city manager. This also is questionable considering how Batra was pushed out into “retirement” in 2016 then later denied his benefits by a Gillmor majority. One would think he had the courage and will to make the changes but none came. Steve Ngo on the other hand played a weak city attorney by cashing his checks and checking the boxes. Ngo got the job done but was not a good parliamentarian by the out of control Gillmor tactics. Ngo was better than disgraced Brian Doyle but lacked the courage and intelligence to take on the Gillmor Machine. Steve Ngo knew politics well, he was elected before, he served as a Councilmember himself in South San Francisco so he knew the game. Steve Ngo chose to play apathetic to the Gillmor threat. The tenure of Rajeev Batra 2.0 and Steve Ngo was not memorable with no real controversy or no real fanfare. The only major positive under their watch was ending litigation with the 49ers that ultimately proved costly to the city from Gillmor’s vendetta. The main negative under their watch was management’s mishandling of the Gillmor election–timed grand jury report, taking a month to respond—by which point it no longer mattered.
The City Council in 2023 hired Glen Googins as City Attorney relieving Steve Ngo of his interim duties while Jovan Grogan was hired as City Manager replacing Rajeeve Batra of his interim duties. With the hires of Grogan and Googins there was lots of hope, expectations, and excitement. Both Grogan and Googins were hired with high salaries, something that was concerning to voters in 2020 and 2022 elections, issues that were used against Gillmor and Gillmor candidates. High salaries are something that made many pause about when Deanna Santana was in power. City Manager Jovan Grogan and City Attorney Glen Googins earn less than their disgraced predecessors, Deanna Santana and Brian Doyle, and their compensation lacks many of the added perks. However, their salaries remain high in a city marked by significant inequities for non-management employees. Gillmor herself and her personal blogger Robert Haugh are now using the narrative of the “highest paid city manager’s office in Santa Clara history”. The irony and hypocrisy of Gillmor to flip the script by now saying this council is giving out the highest paid city managers office. This is something Mayor Gillmor started and the root cause. Gillmor, Kathy Watanabe, Debi Davis and Teresa O’Neill all voted to give these generous packages to Deanna Santana as well as Brian Doyle the City Attorney. Now they claim this council has given the highest salaries. This is coming from the same individuals (Gillmor, Watanabe, O’Neill) who always generously took care of the police and fire unions in return for campaign support. For Gillmor to claim high salaries issues is revisionist history.
Since the honeymoon of Grogan and Googins things have changed. Lately has felt more like a rerun of the Santana-Doyle days with a sprinkle of the “let it be” holdover mentality of the Batra 2.0 and Ngo. Current City Manager Jovan Grogan continues to keep some of the same city staff that former City Manager Deanna Santana hired to replace long tenured employees. Not only did City Manager Jovan Grogan keep some of those staff members but promoted them into higher positions. Those kinds of moves raised lots of eyebrows especially to those looking to turn the page on the influence of Deanna Santana and ultimately Mayor Gillmor. The same could be said in many ways in the City Attorney’s office.
Grogan and Googins continue to play Neville Chamberlain and Édouard Daladier by giving into the aggressive politics of Mayor Gillmor. It is noticeable during council meetings and noticeable in the city’s messaging. Grogan and Googins must have some sort of concern of what Gillmor could do to them based on her record. The recent Charter Review is to strengthen the Charter in favor of what Gillmor wants, just look at who is on the charter review and its subcommittees like the Police Union President Jeremy Schmidt, a topic for a letter for another day. Grogan and Googins always reference the charter when it comes to anything related to the Mayor, so in this case it will be the same thing by reinforcing charter language that favors Gillmor’s future agenda plans. These changes must be in order for a future rule of Gillmor influence through Kathy Watanabe to be Mayor, or even David Kertes Gillmor’s runner up to Watanabe. These are clear signs Gillmor is sticking around.
So the big pink elephant in the room is, Did Grogan and Googins make a deal with Gillmor? Is City Management compromised?
Meeting after meeting, Grogan and Googins don’t have the chutzpah to stand up to Gillmor. Instead they are passive aggressive in allowing Gillmor to abuse them from the dais. While on the other hand Grogan or Googins will state their concerns with Councilmember Kevin Park’s or others criticisms. They don’t have an issue with calling out Park but not with Gillmor. There is a difference that many can see watching from home. A difference of abuse by Gillmor and criticism by Kevin Park that is often flipped. This is apparent in the grand jury reports in 2022 and 2024 where staff is placed as a victim to anti-Gillmor council, and that includes Deanna Santana and Brian Doyle. Does current management help fuel that fire and narrative?
Long gone are the days of Don Von Raesfeld and Jennifer Sparacino. The bar was set really high for those who followed the tenures of Von Raesfeld and Sparacino. Jennifer Sparacino knew when to stand up to Gillmor and her agenda. In 1994 a civil grand jury took up the Gillmor chamber of commerce mismanagement accusations. The Civil Grand Jury released a report that upset Gillmor when they found no mismanagement from Gillmor’s looney accusations. Sparacino made sure to put Gillmor in her place by citing that Gillmor’s unfounded accusations are damaging to the city of Santa Clara’s reputation and future business. You never hear City Manager Jovan Grogan (or never will) put Gillmor in her place the way Sparacino would, even City Manager Julio Fuentes could. Between Von Raesfeld and Sparacino they never used the term overworked or understaffed as an excuse but as a challenge they thrived on while delivering consistent quality city services. Both Von Raesfeld and Sparacino were transparent and didn’t play politics in letting time kill progress. Since the Von Raesfeld-Sparacino dynasty years, the tenures of City Managers have been short due to the political winds of virtue.
Current management should wise up and know they are being played by Gillmor Machine. Grogan and Googins played politics in the 2024 election by pausing the Related Project vote and some other items till after the election because they were worried of council shifts. Googins knew politics the best of the two because he was elected City Attorney in Chula Vista. The shifts didn’t technically happen however it is a silent subtle shift of a Gillmor-flex majority where Albert Gonzalez and Karen Hardy will supply and deliver the pivotal votes for Gillmor. Makes one wonder what promises were made? Too Convenient for Albert to jump to run for Council and not really campaign while Kathy Watanabe wins his school board seat while Karen Hardy votes in favor of the Related project changes and other Gillmor issues in exchange for what, support for Mayor from Gillmor? What is Karen Hardy smoking if she thinks the Gillmor Machine will support her?
City Manager Grogan and City Attorney Googins should be on high alert because change can come in various forms in the 2026 elections. Grogan and Googins know this, because the seats can change very quickly. If Kathy Watanabe becomes Mayor, someone Gillmor supported wins Districts 2 and 3 and Kelly Cox stays on council or switches with Gillmor herself, that is a solid majority. That majority in turn will terminate Grogan and Googins at the first chance they get despite any appeasements or victories Grogan and Googins may have given to Gillmor’s machine. On the other hand, Grogan and Googins know that it takes 4 votes to fire them and know they won’t get votes from Suds Jain, Karen Hardy and Raj Chahal to do that. Kevin Park is another story based on his recent clashes with Grogan and Googins. Sometimes Kevin is right and wrong. Suds, Karen, Raj, are oftentimes taken advantage of by the City Manager and City Attorney by believing their advice and duped into something. Sometimes Grogan and Googins are not right. Yes staff is there for those recommendations and advice, but Council does have the privilege to disagree or change things. Recently on the issue of reconsideration for the Peregrine contract the council was split when Councilmember Park presented the Rosenbergs rules of order something that Glen Googins successfully converted the city to from the former Roberts Rules of Order. Karen Hardy followed through on listening to Googins despite Kevin Park being right due to Rosenberg’s rules, something Googins failed to see.
Maybe the 2026 elections outcome will be the turning point or breaking point for both City Manager Jovan Grogan and City Attorney Glen Googins. The successful allocations of bond measure money to rebuild the swim center, the Super Bowl and the World Cup are going to be accomplishments on both Grogan and Googins resumes. They could leave voluntarily to their next role before Gillmor removes them. Or, both Grogan and Googins stick around and wipe clean the appearance of being in Gillmor’s pocket. Hopefully Gillmor loses all the 2026 elections and Santa Clarans send her a clear message. Maybe then Grogan and Googins can do more good without the threat of the Gillmor Machine lingering.
City Council needs to push back on management when it is clear that Mayor Gillmor is pulling the strings and this is quite obvious based on body language and certain staff explanations. Councilmember Kevin Park is the most aggressive in trying to expose this, though his efforts often fall flat. Both Grogan and Googins need to push back on Gillmor’s aggressive bullying including the lies from her and those written by her blogger Robert Haugh.
Yet, a tale as old as time, Gillmor runs Santa Clara and seemingly runs management for the last decade.
City Manager and City Attorney Tenures
Don Von Raesfeld: 27 years (1960-1987)
Jennifer Sparacino: 25 years (1987-2012)
Julio Fuentes: 3 years 3 months (2012-2016)
Rajeev Batra: 1 year (2016-2017)
Deanna Santana: 4 years, 4 months (2017-2022)
Rajeev Batra 2.0: 10 months (2022-2023)
Jovan Grogan: 3 years (2023- )
Elizabeth Silver: (2011)
Richard Nosky: 5 years (2011-2016)
Brian Doyle: 4 years 7 months (2017-2021)
Steve Ngo: 1 year (2022-2023)
Glen Googins: 3 years (2023- )
-Roger Kint