Scott Mozier is back to being Fresno’s fulltime Public Works director.
Mozier decided the assistant city manager’s job wasn’t for him.
Mozier was named an ACM by Wilma Quan-Schecter in June. Quan-Schecter at the time had already been promoted to city manager by Mayor Lee Brand, but was waiting until Bruce Rudd left the office on his way to retirement.
Both Quan-Schecter and Mozier started their new jobs at City Hall on July 10.
I got the heads-up from a City Hall source on Friday that Mozier was back in his fourth-floor Public Works office. City Hall Communications Director Mark Standriff confirmed Mozier’s career U-turn.
Mozier was kind enough to meet with me.
“It’s purely due to personal and family reasons,” Mozier said. “I think we have a tremendous city manager in Wilma Quan-Schechter. She and I get along great. I had no issues in doing that job. Again, for personal and family reasons, this is a really good fit (at Public Works). I’m glad to be here. I love Public Works and I love serving the community.”
Rudd in July didn’t retire in the sense that you and I think of retirement. He’s back at City Hall in a trouble-shooting role. He’s interim Parks Director. He’s interim Transportation Director. He’s now what city officials are calling a “temporary” assistant city manager.
I wrote about Mozier’s promotion to ACM on June 8. I made two points.
First, being an effective assistant city manager is hard. There’s a steep learning curve because the ACM has to know about everything from the sewer farm to the comprehensive annual financial report. The job can make or break careers.
Second, Mozier is a superb Public Works director.
I’m sure Quan-Schecter will find someone else to sit next to her on the Council dais and, when necessary, comment with style on sewage sludge, debt-service policy and everything in-between.
More importantly, Fresno is blessed to have Mozier, an engineer with long experience in the trenches, leading the department that handles so much of the city’s basic infrastructure.
As I left Mozier’s office on Friday, I recalled a comment that Council Member Luis Chavez made to me recently when reviewing all the progress being made in his District 5.
“And, of course, we’re continuing to repave the streets, fill the potholes and fix the street lights,” Chavez said.
That’s the stuff loved by voters in every council district. And that’s the stuff handled so well (as long as the money holds out) by Mozier and his Public Works team.
I asked Standriff if the Brand Administration had a comment on Mozier’s return to Public Works.
Standriff: “We’re happy if he’s happy.”
