I am hearing that the Santa Ana City Council has settled on their next City Manager and despite a supposed national search and calls for transparency they are going with the Santa Ana Public Works director, Raul Godinez II, who was designated in September as a Public Works Leadership Fellow by the American Public Works Associate. Godinez lives in Orange with his wife Deidra Simon de Godinez and their kids.
This really should not come as a surprise to anyone. Godinez left the Public Works Director position in Oakland, where he oversaw over 800 employees, to come to Santa Ana where he has been leading less than two hundred Public Works employees. You don’t make a move like that unless there is a good shot to move up at some point. Continue reading