S. Tahoe finance director a rookie in public sector
By Kathryn Reed
Experience with financial forecasting is one of the driving reasons why Michael Nakama has been hired to be South Lake Tahoe’s finance director.
Nakama begins the job that comes with a $130,000 paycheck on June 11.
The vacancy was created when Christine Vuletich left in February to work for Douglas County. She was making $140,000 when she departed.
Michael Nakama
Nakama was most recently working for Southern California Edison before being downsized earlier this year. When South Tahoe picked him up, Nakama was still unemployed.
City Manager Tony O’Rourke said on paper Nakama was one of the top three candidates. There was a large applicant pool, with a few candidates from the South Shore. However, no locals made it to the final round.
“Staff liked him the most. He is very analytical,” O’Rourke said of Nakama.
Assistant City Manager Nancy Kerry was also involved in the hiring because she will be his boss when O’Rourke leaves at the end of the month for a job in Washington. The City Council had also been kept in the loop during the hiring process because of the unique situation of a key department head being brought on by someone who will not be around for long.
“His forte is financial analysis and budgeting. He will be a huge asset for the city,” O’Rourke said.
While Nakama does not have experience in the public sector, O’Rourke sees this as a good thing. His experience with larger companies like UNIFI Companies and American Golf and Airport Corporation are seen as assets.
Like Vuletich, Nakama will also be in charge of overseeing the IT department and the airport. He has experience in both.
Another plus is Nakama has been involved with financial system conversions, according to O’Rourke.
The city is looking to overhaul its financial software because what is used now is like having an abacus. Nakama will be a key player is reviewing the request for proposals and picking what system the city goes with.
Between a software system that allows standard financial reports to be run and a finance guy who knows how to crunch numbers both in terms of understanding the meaning of the numbers and being able to produce answers based on what’s in the budget and what could be coming down the pike, O’Rourke is confident Nakama is the piece to the management team the city had been missing.
Even though Nakama is used to the flat land and warmth – being from Hawaii, getting an MBA from Stanford and living in the Los Angeles area — he likes the outdoors.
When he interviewed he spent an extra day in the area, on his own dime. He swam at the rec center, drove around the lake and went for a run.
“He is a triathlon type,” O’Rourke said in describing Nakama.
Nakama did not return phone calls.
This is something that’s been bothering me for a while now. After seeing all these articles about new or recently promoted city employees I am inclined to ask why they are making so much per year. I haven’t looked at stats but I can’t imagine that the median annual income for our town is any where close to even half of what some of these employees are making. That doesn’t even include any benefits they may receive. Most jobs in this town don’t come with benefits let alone the prospect of benefits. Would it be unreasonable to pay them under 100k/year? Just thinking out loud
Dude, the average income in the town doesnt matter. This guy can go right down the road and command the salary he is getting. Or probably more. A lot of people with advanced degrees and experience take a cut in pay to live here, but that doesnt mean they are going to be below $100k. Remember, unemployment for people with his education and experience is running somewhere between 2% and 3%. You certainly have the ability to take advantage of this in your own life, just get a technical degree in a college and then get a masters degree and then get a decade or more experience in the private sector.
Dude, yes it would be unreasonable. You’re mixing up a lot of things. This guy’s competition is not the lift operators, or the dime-a-dozen contractors in town. Therefore you can’t say, “hey those guys are making less than 100K, so should you.” If anything, I’m surprised he’s only making 130K. Must be a sign of the times.
Just because a person has an advanced degree, shouldn’t mean that he gets to make so much more than the community he lives in. City of SLT, like many cities, use comparison and class studies to boost their salaries – they did this 3 years ago for upper management. And this is where the city needs to ‘adjust’ the budget by reducing the Managers’, Directors’. Chiefs’ and Department Heads salaries.
I believe they get paid less than their counterparts in larger cities, and there has to be an incentive to spending all the time, effort and money to acquire the skills needed, otherwise, if the income was the same, they’d rather take a more chill job with less responsibility ;)
I could do it for less, but Oh what a mess I would make! lol
Tahoan, you are missing the point. He doesn’t “get to make” so much. Agencies have to pay what he is getting in order to attract a person with his qualifications. Its basic supply and demand. So if the city offers less then they get less. What the community makes is completely irrelevent. Most people dont invest in themselves the way this guy did.
If he works out he is worth every penny.
Who would want this job at any price?
Vultich leaves with one week notice and the budget calls for an increase in property tax receipts when values are going through the floor.
Two city managers have left, anyone who looks at the numbers leaves.
“like having an abacus” (?). . .Most who are proficient with an abacus (calculating quite often faster than some computers) could handle SLT financials.
Its’ the quality of the decisions that are at stake, as in ‘garbage in, garbage out’, not any computer software that he may suggest. . .what you get out is going to be no better than what you put in. . .
Here, even supply is better than the demand required. . .as most don’t really understand the numbers they are dealing with. . .otherwise, maybe they wouldn’t have borrowed $ 5,000,000, to pay back 10,000,000. . .just to fix a few roads. . .
Mr. Nakama won’t be able to help thinking like that. . . (or, ?)
Dude and Tahoan, you are both correct! Plain & simple, we overpay. And that’s why, even with a high tax burden, our City is broke, has lousy roads, and yet keeps wanting to raise our taxes!
If the City bureaucracy is worth every penny, then let’s see them earn it-Fix our roads without further sticking us with even more tax increases!!
Here is a thought, well a couple of thoughts …. If the city was focused on maintaining roads and protecting the citizens and issuing business licenses instead of building empty holes and using eminent domain to evict businesses from areas to put the empty hole… and creating concerts for heroin addicts that the tax payers don’t want …. and building ice skating rinks that they are not capable of managing …
… well, I just am wondering if the city would need a over paid financial modeler.
(by the way, none of your financial models have worked, but that is another story)
Parker and Pubworks agree. I guess it was bound to happen at some point. I wonder if there are earthquakes and tsunamis happening somewhere?
Welcome to South Lake Tahoe Michael. I hope you get a chance to settle in and enjoy our beautiful area before hitting the books.
Most of the people in this town are nice, hospitable and would do anything to help a friend.
I don’t envy you and the job you have to do, nor anyone in the public sector, because every i dotted and t crossed will be debated by people that don’t understand your job, or the process. It will be much different than working in a private firm but it looks like you’re up to the task.
How about this benifit: You can’t get fired for just about anything you do, including breaking the law.
Be nice if all these people were required to at least live in the South Tahoe area. Some of those making really good salaries from us don’t even spend it here.
Why is Tony O’ripusoff still making any decisions,as Tom Davis should know from his ties to the casinos, they have the right idea,when someone gives notice security walks them to clean out there desk or locker and out to there car.That way they cant screw anything up on there way out the door. Good quaqlified candidates where overlooked for another flatlander.Please council dont let former city manager make any more stupid decisions.Put Nancy Kerry in charge NOW.
30yrlocal,
There is an another point of view, a reasoned point of view that government is over stepping its bounds and it’s effectiveness – Americans have a right to stand up to the oppression that is causing.
Above there were no personal attacks against the new hire. There are criticisms of the proven ineffective government that many believe overpays it’s employees and is part of what is at the heart of the cancer that is destroying this country.
Not Obama though, he just said this morning that the ‘private sector is doing fine’…
What more proof does anyone need that this man is out of touch with the plight of Americans.
Welcome to our town Mr. Nakama. Not unlike many municipalities of our size in California, and from sea to shining sea, we are suffering from the decades long effort by the cancerous reasoned teabirchers to transfer governance to privateers. There are some horribly greedy characters in this battle to save Lake Tahoe from short-term profit vulture capitalists and they are the enemy of sustainable growth and generational prosperity. Some of the worst failures and negative drains on our city have thankfully left town. Good luck and be aware that there are more of “us” than “them”.
WOW –
Do you have any idea how much investment and risk a small business person has to accept to make half that amount of money?
No wonder why this place looks like a ghost town…
No matter what happens some people will never be happy. If someone living in this community had this person’s education & qualifications and been hired for this position people would be screaming “cronyism” and would be critical that a wide-ranging recruitment process was likely not performed. Then you have all those people who criticize that government is always “business as usual” and run by career employees, yet when someone is hired from outside that scope there is criticism that the individual has no government experience.
It’s a pretty sad state of affairs that this person hasn’t even started his job but is already standing against a wall facing a firing squad because some people don’t like how much money he’ll be paid. Maybe he can do some good things for this town and everyone will be better off but we won’t know that until he actually does some work. Should we try giving him a chance and a little community support before hanging him in effigy?
As was demonstrated in Wisconsin this past week, the America taxpayer is waking up to the damage done by the excessive, unionized government employee system.
Taxpayers deserve a better government and we have a right to say so.
I have said nothing personal against the new Finance Dir!! Nothing at all!
And I’ll be very happy with his performance, and others, if he/they can get our City to perform its most basic functions. You know, like maintaining our streets. Keep us solvent by amongst other things confronting our retirement obligations. And stop expecting the taxpayer to bail them out in the process!
My hope is that this finance individual with an extensive education and experience in the private sector will recognize that this community’s economic driver being limited to tourism only is way too volatile and there needs to be an effort toward some type of diversification. As soon as there is any type of nationwide or statewide economic decline we get slammed because people stop spending money on vacations/travel so they can pay their utility/house/car/food/etc. bills and we have no alternative economic generator to help pick up the slack. It’s like owning only one stock that has a very high value so that asset is worth a lot, but if that one stock’s value tanks so does your entire asset value. Diversification is needed to level out the low periods so the economic suffering in this community can be lessened during those bad economic times.
Wow, no kidding?
Now if we could just figure out how turn water to wine!
Reading all of the above, one has to think back a few years. Changes in administration, a Grand Jury report caused a couple changes in leadership. However Cole stays Davis is back another may quit for a good reason.
Recalling the words of a great lady reporter “and so it goes”