220122 1243 Fwd_ City Manager's Friday UpdateFrom:Frances Marquez
To:Fred Galante
Subject:Fwd: City Manager"s Friday Update
Date:Saturday, January 22, 2022 12:42:50 PM
Fred,
Good afternoon! This is an FYI.
Sincerely,
Frances
Begin forwarded message:
From: Peter Grant <pgrant@cypressca.org>
Subject: City Manager's Friday Update
Date: January 21, 2022 at 2:35:15 PM PST
To: Peter Grant <pgrant@cypressca.org>
Happy Friday Team Cypress!
Only 10 days to go for those of us “enjoying” Dry January! My wife, Emily, insisted I
convert to Damp January - it’s not much easier
On a more serious note, when I agreed to become Cypress’ City Manager almost eight
years ago I was humbled and intimidated. Humbled, because the City Council chose me
to lead the city after a nationwide search and because your collective reputation as a
workforce was so impressive (it still is). I was intimidated because Cypress was
regarded as one of the region’s best run cities and because, for 34 years is was led by
Darrell Essex, someone whose image would appear on the Mount Rushmore of
California City Managers.
Working with countless Council Members, Darrell built and protected the city’s
Charter, operating policies, organizational culture, and political stability. A fundamental
part of every Cypress City Manager’s job since Darrell is to protect and enhance
Cypress’ Charter, culture, and organization. It is your City Manager’s job to ensure that,
no matter what else is happening in the community, our organization performs at a
high level, that our wonderful corporate culture is protected, that we continue to
provide residents great service, and that Cypress remains Orange County’s most
successful city.
As many of you have remarked to me during the last couple of weeks, Cypress’ local
politics are a bit tough at the moment and the threat of a lawsuit against the city by a
Council Member was the topic of a special meeting last week and is on Monday’s City
Council agenda. Please don’t let this rough patch discourage or distract you. This sort of
thing happens in local government and it is, unfortunately, common in some cities. I am
confident, especially based on Cypress’ history, that we will emerge unscathed. Please
trust that I will do everything I can to protect the organization and your good works. My
door, email box and phone are always open if you want to talk.
As promised, here is a link to more information about the California Voting Rights
Act/Election System challenge the City Council is assessing. The first community forum
was Wednesday night. I HIGHLY recommend watching this explainer video. It’s about
15 minutes long and it does an excellent job explaining a state law that is dramatically
changing California’s local governments and the industry we’ve all chosen to work in.
Have a great weekend!
Pete
Peter Grant
City Manager
City of Cypress
Office 714-229-6680
Cellular 714-335-1685
pgrant@cypressca.org