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David DeRoos, MPA, CMC
David DeRoos, MPA, CMC
President
Mr. DeRoos has nearly 30 years of state and local government consulting experience, including eight years with a “Big Six” firm. He also has five years of experience as a manager in the public sector. He served as the Deputy Director of the California Redevelopment Agency (CRA) from 1991 to 1997. In addition to managing the firm and ensuring that Citygate’s quality control standards are met on all engagements, Mr. DeRoos leads Citygate’s General Management Consulting practice, and specializes in performance audits. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science (Phi Beta Kappa) from the University of California, Davis, and an MPA degree from the University of Southern California. He is a Certified Management Consultant, and has taught graduate level courses for numerous universities.
Stewart Gary, MPA
Stewart Gary, MPA
Principal, Public Safety (Law Enforcement; Fire & Emergency Services)
Mr. Gary leads Citygate’s public safety practice areas of Law Enforcement and Fire & Emergency Services. He has recently directed the Rancho Cucamonga police services analysis, the Hesperia partners JPA feasibility study, a police and dispatch consolidation study for Brea and partners, and has been working on public safety studies of all types for over a decade. Chief Gary is the retired Fire Chief of the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department in Alameda County, California. Over the last fourteen years, he has performed over 200 organizational, staffing, and deployment studies and has worked with a variety of communities on staffing, master plan, and deployment studies. He has worked with The Omega Group, Citygate’s public safety data specialist, for over a decade and understands how to draw staffing and deployment conclusions from data.
Dwane Milnes, DPA
Dwane Milnes, DPA
Principal, General Government
Mr. Milnes has served as city manager in three California cities for 24 years. He retired as city manager of Stockton after serving for over 9 years, and he also served as city manager for more than 6 years each in Yuba City and Merced. During his public service career, Mr. Milnes also worked in Burbank and Santa Cruz, California. He was appointed to the California City Planning Commission and as Treasurer of the California City Community Health Clinic foundation. Mr. Milnes holds doctorate and master’s degrees in public administration from the University of Southern California, and has taught graduate level courses as a part-time instructor in public administration for USC and Golden Gate University. He received his undergraduate education from Occidental College with a bachelor’s degree in political science. Mr. Milnes specializes in public finance issues, organizational management audits, organizational system design/personnel allocation, analysis of methods of service delivery and the cost/advisability of programs.
Jay Corey, MPA
Jay Corey, MPA
Principal, Community Development
Mr. Corey has served as assistant city manager and city manager in California cities for over 28 years. He assembled and led the team of experts that developed the City of Richmond (CA) Financial Recovery Plan. The Plan, which embraces his “Simple Principles of Wealth Accumulation for Municipal Government,” set the course for the City to eliminate its massive operating deficit and cash flow problem even though the City was considered to be the most complex and difficult mid-size city (pop. 100,000) to manage in the State of California. As cited in The Bond Buyer in January, 2005: “Moody’s Investors Service restored Richmond, Calif.’s issuer credit rating to investment grade this week, citing a financial turnaround for the San Francisco Bay area city a year after it discovered a $35 million budget deficit.” Mr. Corey holds a Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree from the University of Southern California. He received his undergraduate education from the University of California, Davis, with a bachelor’s degree in political science. Mr. Corey specializes in public finance issues, community development in high-growth environments, and related performance audits. He began his association with Citygate in 1999, taking leave in 2002 to be of service to the City of Richmond as Assistant City Manager, Acting Finance Director and Interim City Manager.
William Sager, CFO
William Sager, CFO
Senior Associate
William R. Sager, Senior Associate, is a fire services specialist with more than 40 years in the fire service, in addition to his management and planning consulting work, he also serves as the Training Program Manager for Citygate’s Emergency Management and Operations Training. A retired Naval Officer, he graduated from the University of California with a Bachelor of Science degree in forestry, with a minor in landscape architecture. Mr. Sager’s last assignment with CAL FIRE was as the Butte Unit Chief, and the Butte County Fire Chief. He is recipient of the 1991 Executive Fire Officer (EFO) Outstanding Research Award. Mr. Sager has done course development work for the EFO curriculum and taught at the National Fire Academy, National Interagency Fire Center, the U.S. Coast Guard, and community colleges in California. He regularly lectures and teaches fire management at community colleges and conferences throughout California. He was the editorial consultant for Vision 2020, the Office of State Fire Marshal’s new statewide training plan for the California Fire Service. He has authored articles in Fire Engineering, Fire Chief, and Wildfire magazines.
Sam L. Spiegel, MA
Sam L. Spiegel
Senior Associate
Sam Spiegel retired as Chief of Police and Director of Emergency Services for the City of Folsom, California in November of 2010. He served in that capacity for over nine and a half years. During his tenure as Chief, he also served as the interim City Manager / Assistant City Manager. A 39-year veteran in law enforcement, he is recognized as a successful leader and problem solver with strong organizational and leadership development skills. He has proven experience working with community groups, labor unions, city departments, developers, city councils, and both state and federal legislators.
John B. Hester, MCRP, AICP
John B. Hester, MCRP, AICP
Senior Associate
Mr. Hester has over 30 years of experience in community development functions within local government, many as an executive. Mr. Hester is currently the Chief Operating Officer for the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA). John has a strong track record of process improvement and delivering customer-centric outcomes. At the TRPA, he removed an application review backlog of 150 applications, updated the 25-year-old Lake Tahoe Regional Plan (which won APA awards), and is currently completing a project where the strategic plan, annual work program, budget, and organizational unit and individual performance plans are all being linked, including providing quarterly performance reports to the Board. Prior to joining the TRPA, Mr. Hester was a Community Development Director and Redevelopment Agency Administrator for the City of Reno, Nevada. He later served as Assistant City Manager. During his tenure at Reno, he significantly streamlined processes in the Planning, Code Enforcement, and Building Divisions. He revamped the City of Reno’s systems to allow the City to process 50 planning cases per month, 10,000 building permits per year, and 4,000 code enforcement cases per year. It was during his tenure at Reno when he was introduced to Citygate during its management audit.
Jane Chambers, MPA
Jane Chambers, MPA
Senior Associate
Ms. Chambers is a Senior Associate with Citygate Associates. Ms. Chamber’s 25 years in local government includes executive leadership as a City Manager, Assistant City Manager, Human Resources Director, and Public Works Director in full-service urban, suburban, (Burbank, CA; Daly City, CA; San Bruno, CA; and Burnsville, MN; and Brooklyn Center, MN) and rural communities (Chico, CA; Ukiah, CA).
Ms. Chambers served as Ukiah, CA City Manager for seven years, retiring in June 2015, and then served as Interim Assistant City Manager for the City of Sunnyvale, CA during its permanent Assistant City Manager search process. Throughout her career, Ms. Chambers successfully implemented strategic realignment of service delivery systems, including financial resources, to achieve improved and sustainable programs for citizens. These efforts include addressing substantial budget deficits for various water, wastewater, recreation, public safety, streets, and general government projects and services, as well as for unique enterprise services such as historic event and conference centers. Ms. Chambers has expertise assisting elected officials, city staff, and community stakeholders identify and achieve desired goals in complex financial and operational environments, as well as operational and service delivery experience in budgeting, public safety police and fire, economic and community development, housing, human resources, parks and recreation, public works, water, sewer, and solid waste. Ms. Chambers is an ICMA Retired Credentialed Manager, having earned and maintained this recognition annually for more than a decade, and earned a Master’s of Public Administration Degree from UCLA, and an undergraduate degree in Political Science from California State University, Northridge. In addition to her work in local government, Ms. Chambers coordinated a multi-agency, county-sponsored homeless services project, and served as an administrator in a statewide public health project and School of Pharmacy.
James Davis
James Davis
Senior Associate
Chief Davis has more than thirty-four years of public safety experience. Having served in every capacity in the El Cajon Police Department, Mr. Davis retired in 2004. Mr. Davis led an organization of more 312 people with an annual budget of more than 24 million dollars. He went on to consult on regional, state, national and international issues and has led two successful Bond Measure campaigns. He accepted an appointment from the California Governor as the Chairman of the Board of Parole Hearings. He served the administration in that capacity until 2008. Mr. Davis has his Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Management. Among his many educational accomplishments, Mr. Davis is proud to be a graduate of the California Command College, Senior Management Institute for Police (Police Executive Research Forum and Kennedy School of Government) and the FBI National Academy. His professional associations include the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Police Executive Research Forum, California Police Chiefs Association and the California Police Officers Association. Mr. Davis is active in his community and was honored as the 2005 Citizen of the Year.
James Evans, Ph. D
James Evans, Ph. D
Senior Associate
Mr. Evans served in city management in five California cities for over thirty years, and he served as City Manager and Executive Director of Redevelopment for fifteen of those years. Since retirement, he has served as the part-time Executive Director of the Southern California Institute for Local Government, and has served as a management consultant and workshop provider with SCILOG and as an independent consultant. He has also taught business and public administration as a part-time instructor at California State Long Beach, California State Fullerton, and California Polytechnic University Pomona. Mr. Evans holds a Ph.D. in Executive Management from the Claremont Graduate University. He also holds an EMBA degree and MA degree in Executive Management from C.G.U., and an MA degree in Political Science (Public Administration) from San Jose State University. His Bachelor of Science degree is in Industrial Technology from California Polytechnic University San Luis Obispo. He has also completed postgraduate work in Information Science at the Claremont Graduate University and is completing a certificate program in Web Site Design and Administration from the University of California Irvine. Mr. Evans is certified as a Peer Assessor for the Fire Accreditation Commission International.
Samuel Mazza, EFO
Samuel Mazza, EFO
Senior Associate
Mr. Mazza is a Senior Fire and Emergency Services Specialist with over 40 years of fire service experience. He recently retired as Fire Chief from the City of Monterey, California where he oversaw a successful consolidation of fire services with the City of Pacific Grove. Prior to his service with Monterey, Chief Mazza spent over 30 years with CAL FIRE in numerous assignments spanning state, county, and fire and special district services. He has extensive collaborative and command experience, including appointment as the Incident Commander of a statewide Type-1 Incident Command Team. Chief Mazza is an Executive Fire Officer and National Fire Academy instructor.
Robert Meyer, CFO, EFO
Robert Meyer, CFO, EFO
Senior Associate
Chief Meyer has over twenty years of public fire protection experience. He recently retired as Fire Chief for the City of SeaTac, Washington, where he was responsible for leading a Fire Department of 53 employees serving a diverse community with a daily population of 96,000 out of three fully staffed fire stations providing fire, EMS, and technical rescue services. Prior to joining the SeaTac Fire Department in 2000, he served as the Division Chief for the Santa Maria Fire Department; Senior Code Enforcement Officer for the City of West Hollywood; and Battalion Chief for the San Clemente Fire Department. Chief Meyer is a Certified Emergency Manager, Certified Chief Fire Officer, and Peer Assessor/Team Leader for Commission on Fire Accreditation International.
Michael Dyer, MPA
Michael Dyer, MPA
Fire Services Specialist
Fire Chief Michael W. Dyer began his public safety career over 36 years ago. This career has taken him through various assignments that afforded him the opportunity to gain invaluable experience in many different disciplines, either as a direct participant, supervisor, or manager.
Chief Dyer has served as an Ocean Lifeguard Specialist, Firefighter, Firefighter Paramedic, Firefighter Specialist, Fire Captain, Battalion Chief, Assistant Fire Chief, Deputy Chief, and Chief Deputy in the Los Angeles County Fire Department, and is the recently retired Fire Chief of the Santa Barbara County Fire Department.
Chief Dyer previously held the #2 ranking position in the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
Chief Dyer holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Physical Education and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from California State University, Northridge. Chief Dyer recently completed the Executive Leadership Program at the Naval Postgraduate School. In addition to his formal education, he is also certified as a Hazardous Materials Specialist, Paramedic, and achieved the certification of Fire Chief from the California State Fire Marshal.
Chief Dyer recently served on several state wide committees. He served on the California Joint Apprenticeship Management Board, Chair of CALFIRE Contract Counties, and the Chair of the FIRESCOPE Board of Directors.
Scott Pearson
Scott Pearson
Fire Services Specialist
Chief Pearson has over 28 years of public fire protection experience. He retired as Deputy Fire Chief of Administrative Services from Snohomish County Fire District 1, which is responsible for 12 fire stations, 250 employees, and protects a population of 200,000 residents. As Deputy Chief of Administrative Services, he assisted in policy writing and development, and managed the following District functions: self-assessment process; hiring, promotion, and discipline of staff; labor relations; annual evaluation of standards; implementation of a self-funded health care plan; and supervision of the office, finance, payroll, human resources, and health and safety personnel. His proudest achievements include combining resources of four departments to create cost- and delivery-effective service while maintaining positive relations with labor, and serving as a peer assessor for the Commission on Fire Accreditation International.
Julee Conway, MBA, CPRP
Julee Conway, MBA, CPRP
Parks and Recreation Specialist
Ms. Conway has over 25 years of municipal and county government experience in Oregon and Nevada. Her career focus has been the professional management of service-oriented municipal and county parks, recreation, and community service departments. Drawing on her prior career experience in commercial banking and her post-graduate business degree, she has applied knowledge of how to successfully utilize sound fiscal management practices in the government setting.
These practical skills proved invaluable during the 2008-2011 recession as she, serving as Director, resourcefully guided the City of Reno Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department that resulted in a more sustainable service model. In addition, her nationwide involvement and awareness of fitness and wellness trends in the parks and recreation industry led to the City of Reno receiving regional and national recognition for its programs, services and creative funding initiatives.
Having worked for the cities of Corvallis and Gresham in Oregon, and Washoe County and the City of Reno in Nevada, she has extensive exposure and insight related to all facets of community engagement and consensus building associated with creating, developing, managing, and promoting a sustainable and nimble parks, recreation and community services agency.
Matt Morgan
Matt Morgan
Senior Associate
Matt Morgan was hired by the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department in March of 1989. He served the community for more than 27 years before retiring from the Department at the rank of Captain. During his tenure with the Department, he held assignments at all ranks in the areas of corrections, patrol, investigations, and administration.
Serving as the Captain of Professional Standards, Captain Morgan was integral in the Department’s efforts to bring together the areas of recruiting, pre-employment, academy, training, risk management, and Internal Affairs into one command. The desired outcome was to create a system whereby the best candidates could be identified, hired, trained, and guided through productive careers. Matt’s final assignment was Captain of the North Area Station. He oversaw a budget of $43 million and the work product of more than 175 sworn officers and support staff. He was responsible for the retooling of Internal Affairs, bringing global perspective to the Division. By uniting Recruiting, Pre-Employment, Academy, In-Service Training, Internal Affairs, Legal Affairs, and Risk Management under his command, the department vastly improved its ability to identify, hire, train, and retain the most qualified personnel.
During his career, Captain Morgan was on the boards of numerous civic and law enforcement related charitable groups, the most rewarding of which was serving as the first President and founder of the Rancho Cordova Police Activities League. Matt has a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature, and is a graduate of California P.O.S.T. Command College.
Dallas “Denny” Neville Jr.
Dallas “Denny” Neville Jr.
Public Safety Communications Specialist
Mr. Neville is a 44-year veteran of the fire services and public safety communication professions. He served as Director for two multi-agency Fire/EMS dispatch centers. He is a retired Deputy Fire Chief for the Rancho Santa Fe Fire Protection District of San Diego County. In Rancho Santa Fe, Mr. Neville accumulated 18 years of chief officer experience, and served as an Interim Fire Chief, Fire Marshal, Operations Deputy Chief, and Battalion Chief. Mr. Neville has led many cooperative groups within the County of San Diego, all in the name of collaboration within the service. He is a founding member of the International Fire Code Institute, and has participated in many state- and nation- wide groups, including the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), Associated Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO), and the International CAD Consortium. He has also served on the California State Citizen’s Corps Council, and was a State Advocate for the National Fire Corps program. He has also served on two state Type I Incident Management Teams, and more than 50 assignments under Federal Emergency Management Administration’s (FEMA) Incident Command System (ICS).
Eric Lind, MA
Eric Lind, MA
Associate, Statistics and Operations
Eric’s 18 years of experience spans several industries, including two years in municipal government as a performance improvement analyst. His municipal government experience has largely focused on public safety performance improvement projects, including a fire facilities location study, alternative fire service delivery modeling, and an administrative performance assessment of civilian police staff. Eric has used performance improvement and business transformation techniques throughout his career across the globe. He is skilled with developing and conducting statistical research to answer operations questions. He is equally comfortable with survey research. Eric has two published survey research papers, including one he developed for Rotary International. Eric is a Lean Six Sigma Certified Black Belt and has a Bachelors and two Masters Degrees in International Business, each from a different country.
Nicholas Pinhey, DPA
Nicholas Pinhey, DPA
Senior Associate
Dr. Pinhey has over 33 years experience in the management of municipal utility and public works departments and has served as a Director of Public Works or Assistant Public Works Director for the majority of his career. He recently served as Interim General Manager for the Stanislaus Regional Water Authority. Dr. Pinhey has managed full-service public works departments in cities serving populations of 45,000 to 215,000. Dr. Pinhey has experience in water and wastewater utility operation and management, direct experience in all aspects of Public Works maintenance activities, and has directed engineering functions and major capital projects. He is certified by the State of California as a wastewater treatment plant operator Grade 4, surface water treatment plant operator Grade 3, and a water distribution system operator Grade 3. He is also certified as a wastewater collection systems maintenance technician Grade 3 and an environmental compliance inspector Grade 1 by the California Water Environment Association. Dr. Pinhey is also a frequent speaker at water/wastewater conferences and professional training events. He has extensive experience in the training of professional and technical competencies in public utilities. He is also an adjunct teacher in the Graduate Public Administration Program at California State University, Stanislaus.
Keith Clarke, CBO
Keith Clarke, CBO
Senior Associate
Mr. Clarke has over thirty years of experience in Building Department administration. Mr. Clarke retired on March 31, 2009 as the Building Department Director for the City of Corona, after serving that city for over 27 years. Since his retirement, Mr. Clarke has been the Building Official for the City of Norco, City of Costa Mesa and the City of Eastvale. Mr. Clarke is currently working as the Community Improvement Director for the City of Costa Mesa, where he supervises the Code Enforcement staff. Mr. Clarke is a Certified Building Official and was an instructor for California Building Officials (CALBO) for 10 years where he also served on the Board of Directors from 2005 to 2009. Mr. Clarke is currently a code instructor for the Orange Empire chapter of the International Code Council (ICC). Mr. Clarke earned an AS degree in Engineering from Cypress College and studied Civil Engineering for 1.5 years at UCLA and 1.5 years at California State University, Long Beach. In 2004, Mr. Clarke received the Building Official of the Year Award. In 2003, his department received the Building Department of the Year Award and in 2009 he received the Hall of Fame Award from the CALBO organization.
Kevin Tobeck, MBA
Kevin Tobeck, MBA
Senior Associate
Mr. Tobeck has served for over 31 years in public works and related functions. He has served as a Public Works Director and Deputy Director of Maintenance and Operations for the City of Tracy, which maintained a peak of 151 employees and a $51 million annual operating budget. The Department consisted of 31 operational programs. Mr. Tobeck has direct, hands-on experience with all facets of public works management and leadership, including critical fiscal, maintenance and operations, utilities, and solid waste functions.
Ray Bechler
Ray Bechler
Senior Associate
Ray Bechler retired as a Captain with the Oceanside Police Department, in San Diego County, in July 2015 after serving over 28 years in law enforcement. Ray considers managing the department’s $58 million budget, purchasing and installing a new Police CAD system, and enhancing the Crime Analysis and Intelligence Unit by adding additional personnel and purchasing cutting-edge software programs as his biggest successes. Ray is also proud of his Crimes of Violence Investigations Unit which, under his leadership, successfully closed arrests for all eighteen homicides that occurred over a two year period.
Ray has served on many boards and commissions, such as the Oceanside Boy’s and Girl’s Club Board, the Oceanside Police and Fire Commission, the Sacramento County Alcohol and Drug Advisory Board, and the Sacramento County Law Enforcement Chaplaincy Board. Ray earned a Master of Science Degree in Professional Studies – Emergency Services Management, and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Occupational Studies, both from CSU-Long Beach. Ray is a graduate of California POST Command College and the FBI National Academy.
James E. Lewis
James E. Lewis
Senior Associate
Undersheriff James (Jamie) Lewis was hired by the Sacramento County Sheriff’s department in April 1985. Serving more than 30 years with Sacramento County, James has held assignments in virtually every division of the Department, including commands in air operations, patrol, and security services. Currently serving as the Undersheriff, James is responsible for day to day operation of a staff of approximately 2100 employees, 1390 of which are sworn, serving a population of 1.2 million citizens in a jurisdiction covering more than 700 square miles. James’ expertise spans the myriad of law enforcement functions with an emphasis on corrections, public relations, and patrol operations.
Serving for more than 6 years as the Chief Deputy in charge of Corrections and Court Security, James was responsible for managing two traditional incarceration facilities with an average daily population of 4100 inmates and a jail staff of more than 600, in addition to an alternative to traditional custody operation with an average daily population of more than 2000, which includes Work Project, Home Detention, and alternative sentencing.
James was on the forefront of implementing the department’s response to realignment, and for the first four years following the passage of AB-109, served as the Co-Chair to the region’s Community Corrections Partnership (CCP). As the Co-Chair, James oversaw an influx to the Sheriff’s Department of more than 68 percent of the CCP allocation to enhance existing and establish new inmate programs directed at reducing recidivism. These educational, vocational, and rehabilitative programs, which exist today, maximize opportunities for offenders to successfully reintegrate back into the community.
James has a Bachelor’s degree in Law Enforcement Management, and is a graduate of the LAPD West Point Leadership program.
Eric R. Carlson
Eric R. Carlson
Senior Associate
Mr. Carlson is a veteran Fire Marshal and retired from the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department. He was the Fire Marshal under Chief Gary for 11 years and was instrumental in the Livermore Permit Center development and operation, as well as the design of new prevention systems into the two cities after the fire departments consolidated.
In addition to his deep experience, he is current on all the latest code certifications. He will review the applicable fire code aspects of the project and be the lead for all technical code development processes, check lists and internal bureau processes. Mr. Carlson and Chief Gary worked together in these roles for years, and as such, are used to jointly problem solving from an integrated fire code and customer service perspective.
Michael Ross, MA
Michael Ross, MA
Senior Associate, Animal Care and Control Specialist
Mr. Ross is a Senior Associate with Citygate Associates. He has over forty-five years of public management experience and served with the Contra Costa County Animal Services Department as its Administrative Officer and Director for over twenty years. He is a specialist in all aspects of animal care and regulation including program management, staff development, budgeting, labor relations, personnel administration, supervision, and training. Mr. Ross served as President of the California Animal Control Directors Association. He also served as Chairman of the Association’s Legislative Committee. Mr. Ross earned his bachelor’s and master’s degree at Sacramento State University and holds a Community College Teaching Certificate in Government and Business Administration. Mr. Ross has directed the technical analysis on every animal services project Citygate has performed.
Evelyn DeRoos, MA
Evelyn DeRoos, MA
Personal Leadership Effectiveness Coach
Ms. DeRoos is a Personal Leadership Effectiveness coach with Citygate Associates. She supports the process of personal growth and development by assistance with uncovering, understanding and overcoming blocks to desired change. She teaches workshops on personality, temperament and relationships. With a BA degree from UC Davis in Rhetoric, focusing on interpersonal communication, and an MA degree in Clinical Psychology, Ms. DeRoos is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. She has worked with individual clients from large private sector corporations, as well as staff from state and local government offices. In addition to her clinical work, she has been mentoring and coaching for 25 years. Ms. DeRoos is a lifelong learner and especially enjoys the integration of current research in neurobiology with the understanding of human behavior.
Caryn Tilton
Caryn Tilton
Organizational Development and Leadership Effectiveness Coach
Caryn Tilton has 33 years of experience working with local governments across the country. She has trained newly-elected officials for state leagues, been a frequent speaker at local government conferences, and been hired for a variety of training and development purposes. Caryn has written over 40 training and leadership programs for frontline employees and mid-level managers. She has trained boards, managers, and administrators and she has designed programs for local government including process reengineering, organizational value development, organizational development, performance management, and strategic planning. Caryn coaches executives around the country in her virtual conference room. She has administered assessments to thousands of employees measuring work satisfaction, and providing comprehensive leadership analysis and recommendations. Caryn has led frontline and executive recruitment efforts for local governments and supported many other human resources processes such as personnel policy development, procedure writing, corrective action, goal planning, performance indicator development, and employee performance evaluations.
Richard Carson, MPA
Richard Carson, MPA
Senior Associate, Organizational Development
Richard Carson has 30 years of experience working at the county, city, regional, and state level of government in the Pacific Northwest. He has served Senior Policy Analyst for three Oregon governors on economic and environmental policy. He was also Planning Director for METRO, the Portland metropolitan area regional authority covering 3 counties, 24 cities and encompassing a population of 1.5 million. His most recent experience was as the Director of Clark County’s Community Development Department, where he managed 165 staff and a $17 million budget. Mr. Carson held this position for almost 10 years. Mr. Carson joined Citygate Associates in 2007 and has subsequently worked on organizational development assessments in Sacramento, San Diego, and Solano Counties in California; the city of Ogden, Utah; and the cities of West Linn and Cascade Locks in Oregon. He most recently completed an organizational development assessment for the Organizational Development Network. Mr. Carson is currently a doctorate candidate at Washington State University specializing in public sector organizational development.
Bruce McClendon, FAICP
Bruce McClendon, FAICP
Senior Associate
Mr. McClendon retired as the Director of Planning for Los Angeles County, California. Previously, Bruce has served the following Florida counties at the Director level: Orange and Hillsborough Counties. Additionally, he has served as the Director of Planning for the following cities in Texas: Galveston, Beaumont, Arlington, and Forth Worth. Bruce has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Missouri and a Master of Regional and City Planning degree (Emphasis on Economic Development) from the University of Oklahoma. Bruce has served two terms as the National President of the American Planning Association and is a charter member of the American Institute of Certified Planners. Bruce is an accomplished author with over one hundred articles currently in print in over fifty different publications.
Patricia Comarell, MA, AICP
Patricia Comarell, MA, AICP
Senior Associate
Ms. Comarell has over 30 years experience in general government, organizational development, long-range and current planning and historic preservation. Ms. Comarell served nine years as the Executive Director for the Ogden City, UT, City Council. Ms. Comarell was recently under contract with Salt Lake City, UT for implementation support in the Planning Department. Previously, she served as the Ogden Assistant Community Development Director, as the President of the Utah Chapter of the American Planning Association, and on numerous national APA, AICP committees. She also has taught as an adjunct professor of urban planning at the University of Utah and served as a member of the Regional/Urban Design Assistance Team (RUDAT), a program sponsored by AIA. Ms. Comarell also has extensive experience with decision makers and community groups that involved facilitating and consensus building, which she gained while serving as a planner in various community development roles.
William Carlson
William Carlson
Senior Associate
Mr. Carlson has 28 years of local government experience in northern and southern California. Until June 2002, he served as the Executive Director of the California Redevelopment Association and the CEO of Citygate Associates, LLC. Bill served as Dave DeRoos’ mentor starting from the time Dave was an undergraduate, and continuing over the next 30 years through their partnership together in business.
Chad Jackson, MBA
Chad Jackson
Consultant Team Member
Mr. Chad Jackson, MBA, manages Citygate’s Marketing and Reporting Department, is one of Citygate’s leadership consultants, and is a certified MERIT consultant. Mr. Jackson has been providing leadership training and consulting for nearly ten years, and frequently advises clients with important recruitment decisions based on application of the MERIT Profile to specific organizational cultures. Mr. Jackson earned his MBA from University of California, Davis, with a focus on organizational management and leadership. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication Studies from California State University, Sacramento.
Staff
Staff
From left to right: Chad Jackson (Project Administrator); Terri Crawford (Administrative Assistant); Lois Standley (Financial Services Manager).
David DeRoos, MPA, CMC
David DeRoos, MPA, CMC
President
Mr. DeRoos has nearly 30 years of state and local government consulting experience, including eight years with a “Big Six” firm. He also has five years of experience as a manager in the public sector. He served as the Deputy Director of the California Redevelopment Agency (CRA) from 1991 to 1997. In addition to managing the firm and ensuring that Citygate’s quality control standards are met on all engagements, Mr. DeRoos leads Citygate’s General Management Consulting practice, and specializes in performance audits. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science (Phi Beta Kappa) from the University of California, Davis, and an MPA degree from the University of Southern California. He is a Certified Management Consultant, and has taught graduate level courses for numerous universities.
Stewart Gary, MPA
Stewart Gary, MPA
Principal, Public Safety (Law Enforcement; Fire & Emergency Services)
Mr. Gary leads Citygate’s Fire Services practice. Chief Gary has more than 40 years of experience in the fire service, including 5 years as a paramedic. In 1994 he was appointed Chief of the Livermore Fire Department, in Alameda County, California, and in 1996, he successfully designed and led the implementation of the Livermore-Pleasanton fire department consolidation, which subsequently won a California League of Cities Helen Putnam award. The Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department today is one of the few successful city-to-city fire mergers in California. Chief Gary retired as Chief of the combined department. For the past 16 years, he also has been a lead instructor and program content developer for the Standards of Coverage process. For many years he annually taught a 40-hour course on this systems approach for fire deployment at the California Fire Academy and he consults across the United States and Canada on the Standards of Response Coverage process.
Dwane Milnes, DPA
Dwane Milnes, DPA
Principal, General Government
Mr. Milnes has served as city manager in three California cities for 24 years. He retired as city manager of Stockton after serving for over 9 years, and he also served as city manager for more than 6 years each in Yuba City and Merced. During his public service career, Mr. Milnes also worked in Burbank and Santa Cruz, California. He was appointed to the California City Planning Commission and as Treasurer of the California City Community Health Clinic foundation. Mr. Milnes holds doctorate and master’s degrees in public administration from the University of Southern California, and has taught graduate level courses as a part-time instructor in public administration for USC and Golden Gate University. He received his undergraduate education from Occidental College with a bachelor’s degree in political science. Mr. Milnes specializes in public finance issues, organizational management audits, organizational system design/personnel allocation, analysis of methods of service delivery and the cost/advisability of programs.
William Sager, CFO
William Sager, CFO
Senior Associate
William R. Sager, Senior Associate, is a fire services specialist with more than 40 years in the fire service, in addition to his management and planning consulting work, he also serves as the Training Program Manager for Citygate’s Emergency Management and Operations Training. A retired Naval Officer, he graduated from the University of California with a Bachelor of Science degree in forestry, with a minor in landscape architecture. Mr. Sager’s last assignment with CAL FIRE was as the Butte Unit Chief, and the Butte County Fire Chief. He is recipient of the 1991 Executive Fire Officer (EFO) Outstanding Research Award. Mr. Sager has done course development work for the EFO curriculum and taught at the National Fire Academy, National Interagency Fire Center, the U.S. Coast Guard, and community colleges in California. He regularly lectures and teaches fire management at community colleges and conferences throughout California. He was the editorial consultant for Vision 2020, the Office of State Fire Marshal’s new statewide training plan for the California Fire Service. He has authored articles in Fire Engineering, Fire Chief, and Wildfire magazines.
James Davis
James Davis
Senior Associate
Chief Davis has more than thirty-four years of public safety experience. Having served in every capacity in the El Cajon Police Department, Mr. Davis retired in 2004. Mr. Davis led an organization of more 312 people with an annual budget of more than 24 million dollars. He went on to consult on regional, state, national and international issues and has led two successful Bond Measure campaigns. He accepted an appointment from the California Governor as the Chairman of the Board of Parole Hearings. He served the administration in that capacity until 2008. Mr. Davis has his Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Management. Among his many educational accomplishments, Mr. Davis is proud to be a graduate of the California Command College, Senior Management Institute for Police (Police Executive Research Forum and Kennedy School of Government) and the FBI National Academy. His professional associations include the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Police Executive Research Forum, California Police Chiefs Association and the California Police Officers Association. Mr. Davis is active in his community and was honored as the 2005 Citizen of the Year.
Robert Meyer, CFO, EFO
Robert Meyer, CFO, EFO
Senior Associate
Chief Meyer has over twenty years of public fire protection experience. He recently retired as Fire Chief for the City of SeaTac, Washington, where he was responsible for leading a Fire Department of 53 employees serving a diverse community with a daily population of 96,000 out of three fully staffed fire stations providing fire, EMS, and technical rescue services. Prior to joining the SeaTac Fire Department in 2000, he served as the Division Chief for the Santa Maria Fire Department; Senior Code Enforcement Officer for the City of West Hollywood; and Battalion Chief for the San Clemente Fire Department. Chief Meyer is a Certified Emergency Manager, Certified Chief Fire Officer, and Peer Assessor/Team Leader for Commission on Fire Accreditation International.
Samuel Mazza, EFO
Samuel Mazza, EFO
Senior Associate
Mr. Mazza is a Senior Fire and Emergency Services Specialist with over 40 years of fire service experience. He recently retired as Fire Chief from the City of Monterey, California where he oversaw a successful consolidation of fire services with the City of Pacific Grove. Prior to his service with Monterey, Chief Mazza spent over 30 years with CAL FIRE in numerous assignments spanning state, county, and fire and special district services. He has extensive collaborative and command experience, including appointment as the Incident Commander of a statewide Type-1 Incident Command Team. Chief Mazza is an Executive Fire Officer and National Fire Academy instructor.
Michael Dyer, MPA
Michael Dyer, MPA
Fire Services Specialist
Fire Chief Michael W. Dyer began his public safety career over 36 years ago. This career has taken him through various assignments that afforded him the opportunity to gain invaluable experience in many different disciplines, either as a direct participant, supervisor, or manager.
Chief Dyer has served as an Ocean Lifeguard Specialist, Firefighter, Firefighter Paramedic, Firefighter Specialist, Fire Captain, Battalion Chief, Assistant Fire Chief, Deputy Chief, and Chief Deputy in the Los Angeles County Fire Department, and is the recently retired Fire Chief of the Santa Barbara County Fire Department.
Chief Dyer previously held the #2 ranking position in the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
Chief Dyer holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Physical Education and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from California State University, Northridge. Chief Dyer recently completed the Executive Leadership Program at the Naval Postgraduate School. In addition to his formal education, he is also certified as a Hazardous Materials Specialist, Paramedic, and achieved the certification of Fire Chief from the California State Fire Marshal.
Chief Dyer recently served on several state wide committees. He served on the California Joint Apprenticeship Management Board, Chair of CALFIRE Contract Counties, and the Chair of the FIRESCOPE Board of Directors.
Scott Pearson
Scott Pearson
Fire Services Specialist
Chief Pearson has over 28 years of public fire protection experience. He retired as Deputy Fire Chief of Administrative Services from Snohomish County Fire District 1, which is responsible for 12 fire stations, 250 employees, and protects a population of 200,000 residents. As Deputy Chief of Administrative Services, he assisted in policy writing and development, and managed the following District functions: self-assessment process; hiring, promotion, and discipline of staff; labor relations; annual evaluation of standards; implementation of a self-funded health care plan; and supervision of the office, finance, payroll, human resources, and health and safety personnel. His proudest achievements include combining resources of four departments to create cost- and delivery-effective service while maintaining positive relations with labor, and serving as a peer assessor for the Commission on Fire Accreditation International.
Eric R. Carlson
Eric R. Carlson
Senior Associate
Mr. Carlson is a veteran Fire Marshal and retired from the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department. He was the Fire Marshal under Chief Gary for 11 years and was instrumental in the Livermore Permit Center development and operation, as well as the design of new prevention systems into the two cities after the fire departments consolidated.
In addition to his deep experience, he is current on all the latest code certifications. He will review the applicable fire code aspects of the project and be the lead for all technical code development processes, check lists and internal bureau processes. Mr. Carlson and Chief Gary worked together in these roles for years, and as such, are used to jointly problem solving from an integrated fire code and customer service perspective.
Dallas “Denny” Neville Jr.
Dallas “Denny” Neville Jr.
Public Safety Communications Specialist
Mr. Neville is a 44-year veteran of the fire services and public safety communication professions. He served as Director for two multi-agency Fire/EMS dispatch centers. He is a retired Deputy Fire Chief for the Rancho Santa Fe Fire Protection District of San Diego County. In Rancho Santa Fe, Mr. Neville accumulated 18 years of chief officer experience, and served as an Interim Fire Chief, Fire Marshal, Operations Deputy Chief, and Battalion Chief. Mr. Neville has led many cooperative groups within the County of San Diego, all in the name of collaboration within the service. He is a founding member of the International Fire Code Institute, and has participated in many state- and nation- wide groups, including the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), Associated Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO), and the International CAD Consortium. He has also served on the California State Citizen’s Corps Council, and was a State Advocate for the National Fire Corps program. He has also served on two state Type I Incident Management Teams, and more than 50 assignments under Federal Emergency Management Administration’s (FEMA) Incident Command System (ICS).
Eric Lind, MA
Eric Lind, MA
Associate, Statistics and Operations
Eric’s 18 years of experience spans several industries, including two years in municipal government as a performance improvement analyst. His municipal government experience has largely focused on public safety performance improvement projects, including a fire facilities location study, alternative fire service delivery modeling, and an administrative performance assessment of civilian police staff. Eric has used performance improvement and business transformation techniques throughout his career across the globe. He is skilled with developing and conducting statistical research to answer operations questions. He is equally comfortable with survey research. Eric has two published survey research papers, including one he developed for Rotary International. Eric is a Lean Six Sigma Certified Black Belt and has a Bachelors and two Masters Degrees in International Business, each from a different country.
Strategic Partners
Strategic Partners
Learn more about our excellent Fire & EMS strategic partners!
David DeRoos, MPA, CMC
David DeRoos, MPA, CMC
President
Mr. DeRoos has nearly 30 years of state and local government consulting experience, including eight years with a “Big Six” firm. He also has five years of experience as a manager in the public sector. He served as the Deputy Director of the California Redevelopment Agency (CRA) from 1991 to 1997. In addition to managing the firm and ensuring that Citygate’s quality control standards are met on all engagements, Mr. DeRoos leads Citygate’s General Management Consulting practice, and specializes in performance audits. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science (Phi Beta Kappa) from the University of California, Davis, and an MPA degree from the University of Southern California. He is a Certified Management Consultant, and has taught graduate level courses for numerous universities.
Stewart Gary, MPA
Stewart Gary, MPA
Principal, Public Safety (Law Enforcement; Fire & Emergency Services)
Mr. Gary leads Citygate’s Fire Services practice. Chief Gary has more than 40 years of experience in the fire service, including 5 years as a paramedic. In 1994 he was appointed Chief of the Livermore Fire Department, in Alameda County, California, and in 1996, he successfully designed and led the implementation of the Livermore-Pleasanton fire department consolidation, which subsequently won a California League of Cities Helen Putnam award. The Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department today is one of the few successful city-to-city fire mergers in California. Chief Gary retired as Chief of the combined department. For the past 16 years, he also has been a lead instructor and program content developer for the Standards of Coverage process. For many years he annually taught a 40-hour course on this systems approach for fire deployment at the California Fire Academy and he consults across the United States and Canada on the Standards of Response Coverage process.
William Sager, CFO
William Sager, CFO
Senior Associate
William R. Sager, Senior Associate, is a fire services specialist with more than 40 years in the fire service, in addition to his management and planning consulting work, he also serves as the Training Program Manager for Citygate’s Emergency Management and Operations Training. A retired Naval Officer, he graduated from the University of California with a Bachelor of Science degree in forestry, with a minor in landscape architecture. Mr. Sager’s last assignment with CAL FIRE was as the Butte Unit Chief, and the Butte County Fire Chief. He is recipient of the 1991 Executive Fire Officer (EFO) Outstanding Research Award. Mr. Sager has done course development work for the EFO curriculum and taught at the National Fire Academy, National Interagency Fire Center, the U.S. Coast Guard, and community colleges in California. He regularly lectures and teaches fire management at community colleges and conferences throughout California. He was the editorial consultant for Vision 2020, the Office of State Fire Marshal’s new statewide training plan for the California Fire Service. He has authored articles in Fire Engineering, Fire Chief, and Wildfire magazines.
Samuel Mazza, EFO
Samuel Mazza, EFO
Senior Associate
Mr. Mazza is a Senior Fire and Emergency Services Specialist with over 40 years of fire service experience. He recently retired as Fire Chief from the City of Monterey, California where he oversaw a successful consolidation of fire services with the City of Pacific Grove. Prior to his service with Monterey, Chief Mazza spent over 30 years with CAL FIRE in numerous assignments spanning state, county, and fire and special district services. He has extensive collaborative and command experience, including appointment as the Incident Commander of a statewide Type-1 Incident Command Team. Chief Mazza is an Executive Fire Officer and National Fire Academy instructor.
Additional Instructors
Too see a partial listing of our additional instructors,
David DeRoos, MPA, CMC
David DeRoos, MPA, CMC
President
Mr. DeRoos has nearly 30 years of state and local government consulting experience, including eight years with a “Big Six” firm. He also has five years of experience as a manager in the public sector. He served as the Deputy Director of the California Redevelopment Agency (CRA) from 1991 to 1997. In addition to managing the firm and ensuring that Citygate’s quality control standards are met on all engagements, Mr. DeRoos leads Citygate’s General Management Consulting practice, and specializes in performance audits. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science (Phi Beta Kappa) from the University of California, Davis, and an MPA degree from the University of Southern California. He is a Certified Management Consultant, and has taught graduate level courses for numerous universities.
Stewart Gary, MPA
Stewart Gary, MPA
Principal, Public Safety (Law Enforcement; Fire & Emergency Services)
Mr. Gary leads Citygate’s Fire Services practice. Chief Gary has more than 40 years of experience in the fire service, including 5 years as a paramedic. In 1994 he was appointed Chief of the Livermore Fire Department, in Alameda County, California, and in 1996, he successfully designed and led the implementation of the Livermore-Pleasanton fire department consolidation, which subsequently won a California League of Cities Helen Putnam award. The Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department today is one of the few successful city-to-city fire mergers in California. Chief Gary retired as Chief of the combined department. For the past 16 years, he also has been a lead instructor and program content developer for the Standards of Coverage process. For many years he annually taught a 40-hour course on this systems approach for fire deployment at the California Fire Academy and he consults across the United States and Canada on the Standards of Response Coverage process.
Sam L. Spiegel, MA
Sam L. Spiegel
Senior Associate
Sam Spiegel retired as Chief of Police and Director of Emergency Services for the City of Folsom, California in November of 2010. He served in that capacity for over nine and a half years. During his tenure as Chief, he also served as the interim City Manager / Assistant City Manager. A 39-year veteran in law enforcement, he is recognized as a successful leader and problem solver with strong organizational and leadership development skills. He has proven experience working with community groups, labor unions, city departments, developers, city councils, and both state and federal legislators.
Dwane Milnes, DPA
Dwane Milnes, DPA
Principal, General Government
Mr. Milnes has served as city manager in three California cities for 24 years. He retired as city manager of Stockton after serving for over 9 years, and he also served as city manager for more than 6 years each in Yuba City and Merced. During his public service career, Mr. Milnes also worked in Burbank and Santa Cruz, California. He was appointed to the California City Planning Commission and as Treasurer of the California City Community Health Clinic foundation. Mr. Milnes holds doctorate and master’s degrees in public administration from the University of Southern California, and has taught graduate level courses as a part-time instructor in public administration for USC and Golden Gate University. He received his undergraduate education from Occidental College with a bachelor’s degree in political science. Mr. Milnes specializes in public finance issues, organizational management audits, organizational system design/personnel allocation, analysis of methods of service delivery and the cost/advisability of programs.
Matt Morgan
Matt Morgan
Senior Associate
Matt Morgan was hired by the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department in March of 1989. He served the community for more than 27 years before retiring from the Department at the rank of Captain. During his tenure with the Department, he held assignments at all ranks in the areas of corrections, patrol, investigations, and administration.
Serving as the Captain of Professional Standards, Captain Morgan was integral in the Department’s efforts to bring together the areas of recruiting, pre-employment, academy, training, risk management, and Internal Affairs into one command. The desired outcome was to create a system whereby the best candidates could be identified, hired, trained, and guided through productive careers. Matt’s final assignment was Captain of the North Area Station. He oversaw a budget of $43 million and the work product of more than 175 sworn officers and support staff. He was responsible for the retooling of Internal Affairs, bringing global perspective to the Division. By uniting Recruiting, Pre-Employment, Academy, In-Service Training, Internal Affairs, Legal Affairs, and Risk Management under his command, the department vastly improved its ability to identify, hire, train, and retain the most qualified personnel.
During his career, Captain Morgan was on the boards of numerous civic and law enforcement related charitable groups, the most rewarding of which was serving as the first President and founder of the Rancho Cordova Police Activities League. Matt has a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature, and is a graduate of California P.O.S.T. Command College.
James E. Lewis
James E. Lewis
Senior Associate
Undersheriff James (Jamie) Lewis was hired by the Sacramento County Sheriff’s department in April 1985. Serving more than 30 years with Sacramento County, James has held assignments in virtually every division of the Department, including commands in air operations, patrol, and security services. Currently serving as the Undersheriff, James is responsible for day to day operation of a staff of approximately 2100 employees, 1390 of which are sworn, serving a population of 1.2 million citizens in a jurisdiction covering more than 700 square miles. James’ expertise spans the myriad of law enforcement functions with an emphasis on corrections, public relations, and patrol operations.
Serving for more than 6 years as the Chief Deputy in charge of Corrections and Court Security, James was responsible for managing two traditional incarceration facilities with an average daily population of 4100 inmates and a jail staff of more than 600, in addition to an alternative to traditional custody operation with an average daily population of more than 2000, which includes Work Project, Home Detention, and alternative sentencing.
James was on the forefront of implementing the department’s response to realignment, and for the first four years following the passage of AB-109, served as the Co-Chair to the region’s Community Corrections Partnership (CCP). As the Co-Chair, James oversaw an influx to the Sheriff’s Department of more than 68 percent of the CCP allocation to enhance existing and establish new inmate programs directed at reducing recidivism. These educational, vocational, and rehabilitative programs, which exist today, maximize opportunities for offenders to successfully reintegrate back into the community.
James has a Bachelor’s degree in Law Enforcement Management, and is a graduate of the LAPD West Point Leadership program.
Ray Bechler
Ray Bechler
Senior Associate
Ray Bechler retired as a Captain with the Oceanside Police Department, in San Diego County, in July 2015 after serving over 28 years in law enforcement. Ray considers managing the department’s $58 million budget, purchasing and installing a new Police CAD system, and enhancing the Crime Analysis and Intelligence Unit by adding additional personnel and purchasing cutting-edge software programs as his biggest successes. Ray is also proud of his Crimes of Violence Investigations Unit which, under his leadership, successfully closed arrests for all eighteen homicides that occurred over a two year period.
Ray has served on many boards and commissions, such as the Oceanside Boy’s and Girl’s Club Board, the Oceanside Police and Fire Commission, the Sacramento County Alcohol and Drug Advisory Board, and the Sacramento County Law Enforcement Chaplaincy Board. Ray earned a Master of Science Degree in Professional Studies – Emergency Services Management, and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Occupational Studies, both from CSU-Long Beach. Ray is a graduate of California POST Command College and the FBI National Academy.
James Davis
James Davis
Senior Associate
Chief Davis has more than thirty-four years of public safety experience. Having served in every capacity in the El Cajon Police Department, Mr. Davis retired in 2004. Mr. Davis led an organization of more 312 people with an annual budget of more than 24 million dollars. He went on to consult on regional, state, national and international issues and has led two successful Bond Measure campaigns. He accepted an appointment from the California Governor as the Chairman of the Board of Parole Hearings. He served the administration in that capacity until 2008. Mr. Davis has his Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Management. Among his many educational accomplishments, Mr. Davis is proud to be a graduate of the California Command College, Senior Management Institute for Police (Police Executive Research Forum and Kennedy School of Government) and the FBI National Academy. His professional associations include the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Police Executive Research Forum, California Police Chiefs Association and the California Police Officers Association. Mr. Davis is active in his community and was honored as the 2005 Citizen of the Year.
Dallas “Denny” Neville Jr.
Dallas “Denny” Neville Jr.
Public Safety Communications Specialist
Mr. Neville is a 44-year veteran of the fire services and public safety communication professions. He served as Director for two multi-agency Fire/EMS dispatch centers. He is a retired Deputy Fire Chief for the Rancho Santa Fe Fire Protection District of San Diego County. In Rancho Santa Fe, Mr. Neville accumulated 18 years of chief officer experience, and served as an Interim Fire Chief, Fire Marshal, Operations Deputy Chief, and Battalion Chief. Mr. Neville has led many cooperative groups within the County of San Diego, all in the name of collaboration within the service. He is a founding member of the International Fire Code Institute, and has participated in many state- and nation- wide groups, including the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), Associated Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO), and the International CAD Consortium. He has also served on the California State Citizen’s Corps Council, and was a State Advocate for the National Fire Corps program. He has also served on two state Type I Incident Management Teams, and more than 50 assignments under Federal Emergency Management Administration’s (FEMA) Incident Command System (ICS).
David DeRoos, MPA, CMC
David DeRoos, MPA, CMC
President
Mr. DeRoos has nearly 30 years of state and local government consulting experience, including eight years with a “Big Six” firm. He also has five years of experience as a manager in the public sector. He served as the Deputy Director of the California Redevelopment Agency (CRA) from 1991 to 1997. In addition to managing the firm and ensuring that Citygate’s quality control standards are met on all engagements, Mr. DeRoos leads Citygate’s General Management Consulting practice, and specializes in performance audits. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science (Phi Beta Kappa) from the University of California, Davis, and an MPA degree from the University of Southern California. He is a Certified Management Consultant, and has taught graduate level courses for numerous universities.
Dwane Milnes, DPA
Dwane Milnes, DPA
Principal, General Government
Mr. Milnes has served as city manager in three California cities for 24 years. He retired as city manager of Stockton after serving for over 9 years, and he also served as city manager for more than 6 years each in Yuba City and Merced. During his public service career, Mr. Milnes also worked in Burbank and Santa Cruz, California. He was appointed to the California City Planning Commission and as Treasurer of the California City Community Health Clinic foundation. Mr. Milnes holds doctorate and master’s degrees in public administration from the University of Southern California, and has taught graduate level courses as a part-time instructor in public administration for USC and Golden Gate University. He received his undergraduate education from Occidental College with a bachelor’s degree in political science. Mr. Milnes specializes in public finance issues, organizational management audits, organizational system design/personnel allocation, analysis of methods of service delivery and the cost/advisability of programs.
Jay Corey, MPA
Jay Corey, MPA
Principal, Community Development
Mr. Corey has served as assistant city manager and city manager in California cities for over 28 years. He assembled and led the team of experts that developed the City of Richmond (CA) Financial Recovery Plan. The Plan, which embraces his “Simple Principles of Wealth Accumulation for Municipal Government,” set the course for the City to eliminate its massive operating deficit and cash flow problem even though the City was considered to be the most complex and difficult mid-size city (pop. 100,000) to manage in the State of California. As cited in The Bond Buyer in January, 2005: “Moody’s Investors Service restored Richmond, Calif.’s issuer credit rating to investment grade this week, citing a financial turnaround for the San Francisco Bay area city a year after it discovered a $35 million budget deficit.” Mr. Corey holds a Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree from the University of Southern California. He received his undergraduate education from the University of California, Davis, with a bachelor’s degree in political science. Mr. Corey specializes in public finance issues, community development in high-growth environments, and related performance audits. He began his association with Citygate in 1999, taking leave in 2002 to be of service to the City of Richmond as Assistant City Manager, Acting Finance Director and Interim City Manager.
John B. Hester, MCRP, AICP
John B. Hester, MCRP, AICP
Senior Associate
Mr. Hester has over 30 years of experience in community development functions within local government, many as an executive. Mr. Hester is currently the Chief Operating Officer for the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA). John has a strong track record of process improvement and delivering customer-centric outcomes. At the TRPA, he removed an application review backlog of 150 applications, updated the 25-year-old Lake Tahoe Regional Plan (which won APA awards), and is currently completing a project where the strategic plan, annual work program, budget, and organizational unit and individual performance plans are all being linked, including providing quarterly performance reports to the Board. Prior to joining the TRPA, Mr. Hester was a Community Development Director and Redevelopment Agency Administrator for the City of Reno, Nevada. He later served as Assistant City Manager. During his tenure at Reno, he significantly streamlined processes in the Planning, Code Enforcement, and Building Divisions. He revamped the City of Reno’s systems to allow the City to process 50 planning cases per month, 10,000 building permits per year, and 4,000 code enforcement cases per year. It was during his tenure at Reno when he was introduced to Citygate during its management audit.
Jane Chambers, MPA
Jane Chambers, MPA
Senior Associate
Ms. Chambers is a Senior Associate with Citygate Associates. Ms. Chamber’s 25 years in local government includes executive leadership as a City Manager, Assistant City Manager, Human Resources Director, and Public Works Director in full-service urban, suburban, (Burbank, CA; Daly City, CA; San Bruno, CA; and Burnsville, MN; and Brooklyn Center, MN) and rural communities (Chico, CA; Ukiah, CA).
Ms. Chambers served as Ukiah, CA City Manager for seven years, retiring in June 2015, and then served as Interim Assistant City Manager for the City of Sunnyvale, CA during its permanent Assistant City Manager search process. Throughout her career, Ms. Chambers successfully implemented strategic realignment of service delivery systems, including financial resources, to achieve improved and sustainable programs for citizens. These efforts include addressing substantial budget deficits for various water, wastewater, recreation, public safety, streets, and general government projects and services, as well as for unique enterprise services such as historic event and conference centers. Ms. Chambers has expertise assisting elected officials, city staff, and community stakeholders identify and achieve desired goals in complex financial and operational environments, as well as operational and service delivery experience in budgeting, public safety police and fire, economic and community development, housing, human resources, parks and recreation, public works, water, sewer, and solid waste. Ms. Chambers is an ICMA Retired Credentialed Manager, having earned and maintained this recognition annually for more than a decade, and earned a Master’s of Public Administration Degree from UCLA, and an undergraduate degree in Political Science from California State University, Northridge. In addition to her work in local government, Ms. Chambers coordinated a multi-agency, county-sponsored homeless services project, and served as an administrator in a statewide public health project and School of Pharmacy.
James Evans, Ph. D
James Evans, Ph. D
Senior Associate
Mr. Evans served in city management in five California cities for over thirty years, and he served as City Manager and Executive Director of Redevelopment for fifteen of those years. Since retirement, he has served as the part-time Executive Director of the Southern California Institute for Local Government, and has served as a management consultant and workshop provider with SCILOG and as an independent consultant. He has also taught business and public administration as a part-time instructor at California State Long Beach, California State Fullerton, and California Polytechnic University Pomona. Mr. Evans holds a Ph.D. in Executive Management from the Claremont Graduate University. He also holds an EMBA degree and MA degree in Executive Management from C.G.U., and an MA degree in Political Science (Public Administration) from San Jose State University. His Bachelor of Science degree is in Industrial Technology from California Polytechnic University San Luis Obispo. He has also completed postgraduate work in Information Science at the Claremont Graduate University and is completing a certificate program in Web Site Design and Administration from the University of California Irvine. Mr. Evans is certified as a Peer Assessor for the Fire Accreditation Commission International.
Eric Lind, MA
Eric Lind, MA
Associate, Statistics and Operations
Eric’s 18 years of experience spans several industries, including two years in municipal government as a performance improvement analyst. His municipal government experience has largely focused on public safety performance improvement projects, including a fire facilities location study, alternative fire service delivery modeling, and an administrative performance assessment of civilian police staff. Eric has used performance improvement and business transformation techniques throughout his career across the globe. He is skilled with developing and conducting statistical research to answer operations questions. He is equally comfortable with survey research. Eric has two published survey research papers, including one he developed for Rotary International. Eric is a Lean Six Sigma Certified Black Belt and has a Bachelors and two Masters Degrees in International Business, each from a different country.
Nicholas Pinhey, DPA
Nicholas Pinhey, DPA
Senior Associate
Dr. Pinhey has over 33 years experience in the management of municipal utility and public works departments and has served as a Director of Public Works or Assistant Public Works Director for the majority of his career. He recently served as Interim General Manager for the Stanislaus Regional Water Authority. Dr. Pinhey has managed full-service public works departments in cities serving populations of 45,000 to 215,000. Dr. Pinhey has experience in water and wastewater utility operation and management, direct experience in all aspects of Public Works maintenance activities, and has directed engineering functions and major capital projects. He is certified by the State of California as a wastewater treatment plant operator Grade 4, surface water treatment plant operator Grade 3, and a water distribution system operator Grade 3. He is also certified as a wastewater collection systems maintenance technician Grade 3 and an environmental compliance inspector Grade 1 by the California Water Environment Association. Dr. Pinhey is also a frequent speaker at water/wastewater conferences and professional training events. He has extensive experience in the training of professional and technical competencies in public utilities. He is also an adjunct teacher in the Graduate Public Administration Program at California State University, Stanislaus.
Keith Clarke, CBO
Keith Clarke, CBO
Senior Associate
Mr. Clarke has over thirty years of experience in Building Department administration. Mr. Clarke retired on March 31, 2009 as the Building Department Director for the City of Corona, after serving that city for over 27 years. Since his retirement, Mr. Clarke has been the Building Official for the City of Norco, City of Costa Mesa and the City of Eastvale. Mr. Clarke is currently working as the Community Improvement Director for the City of Costa Mesa, where he supervises the Code Enforcement staff. Mr. Clarke is a Certified Building Official and was an instructor for California Building Officials (CALBO) for 10 years where he also served on the Board of Directors from 2005 to 2009. Mr. Clarke is currently a code instructor for the Orange Empire chapter of the International Code Council (ICC). Mr. Clarke earned an AS degree in Engineering from Cypress College and studied Civil Engineering for 1.5 years at UCLA and 1.5 years at California State University, Long Beach. In 2004, Mr. Clarke received the Building Official of the Year Award. In 2003, his department received the Building Department of the Year Award and in 2009 he received the Hall of Fame Award from the CALBO organization.
Kevin Tobeck, MBA
Kevin Tobeck, MBA
Senior Associate
Mr. Tobeck has served for over 31 years in public works and related functions. He has served as a Public Works Director and Deputy Director of Maintenance and Operations for the City of Tracy, which maintained a peak of 151 employees and a $51 million annual operating budget. The Department consisted of 31 operational programs. Mr. Tobeck has direct, hands-on experience with all facets of public works management and leadership, including critical fiscal, maintenance and operations, utilities, and solid waste functions.
Julee Conway, MBA, CPRP
Julee Conway, MBA, CPRP
Parks and Recreation Specialist
Ms. Conway has over 25 years of municipal and county government experience in Oregon and Nevada. Her career focus has been the professional management of service-oriented municipal and county parks, recreation, and community service departments. Drawing on her prior career experience in commercial banking and her post-graduate business degree, she has applied knowledge of how to successfully utilize sound fiscal management practices in the government setting.
These practical skills proved invaluable during the 2008-2011 recession as she, serving as Director, resourcefully guided the City of Reno Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department that resulted in a more sustainable service model. In addition, her nationwide involvement and awareness of fitness and wellness trends in the parks and recreation industry led to the City of Reno receiving regional and national recognition for its programs, services and creative funding initiatives.
Having worked for the cities of Corvallis and Gresham in Oregon, and Washoe County and the City of Reno in Nevada, she has extensive exposure and insight related to all facets of community engagement and consensus building associated with creating, developing, managing, and promoting a sustainable and nimble parks, recreation and community services agency.
Michael Ross, MA
Michael Ross, MA
Senior Associate, Animal Care and Control Specialist
Mr. Ross is a Senior Associate with Citygate Associates. He has over forty-five years of public management experience and served with the Contra Costa County Animal Services Department as its Administrative Officer and Director for over twenty years. He is a specialist in all aspects of animal care and regulation including program management, staff development, budgeting, labor relations, personnel administration, supervision, and training. Mr. Ross served as President of the California Animal Control Directors Association. He also served as Chairman of the Association’s Legislative Committee. Mr. Ross earned his bachelor’s and master’s degree at Sacramento State University and holds a Community College Teaching Certificate in Government and Business Administration. Mr. Ross has directed the technical analysis on every animal services project Citygate has performed.
Richard Carson, MPA
Richard Carson, MPA
Senior Associate, Organizational Development
Richard Carson has 30 years of experience working at the county, city, regional, and state level of government in the Pacific Northwest. He has served Senior Policy Analyst for three Oregon governors on economic and environmental policy. He was also Planning Director for METRO, the Portland metropolitan area regional authority covering 3 counties, 24 cities and encompassing a population of 1.5 million. His most recent experience was as the Director of Clark County’s Community Development Department, where he managed 165 staff and a $17 million budget. Mr. Carson held this position for almost 10 years. Mr. Carson joined Citygate Associates in 2007 and has subsequently worked on organizational development assessments in Sacramento, San Diego, and Solano Counties in California; the city of Ogden, Utah; and the cities of West Linn and Cascade Locks in Oregon. He most recently completed an organizational development assessment for the Organizational Development Network. Mr. Carson is currently a doctorate candidate at Washington State University specializing in public sector organizational development.
Bruce McClendon, FAICP
Bruce McClendon, FAICP
Senior Associate
Mr. McClendon retired as the Director of Planning for Los Angeles County, California. Previously, Bruce has served the following Florida counties at the Director level: Orange and Hillsborough Counties. Additionally, he has served as the Director of Planning for the following cities in Texas: Galveston, Beaumont, Arlington, and Forth Worth. Bruce has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Missouri and a Master of Regional and City Planning degree (Emphasis on Economic Development) from the University of Oklahoma. Bruce has served two terms as the National President of the American Planning Association and is a charter member of the American Institute of Certified Planners. Bruce is an accomplished author with over one hundred articles currently in print in over fifty different publications.
Patricia Comarell, MA, AICP
Patricia Comarell, MA, AICP
Senior Associate
Ms. Comarell has over 30 years experience in general government, organizational development, long-range and current planning and historic preservation. Ms. Comarell served nine years as the Executive Director for the Ogden City, UT, City Council. Ms. Comarell was recently under contract with Salt Lake City, UT for implementation support in the Planning Department. Previously, she served as the Ogden Assistant Community Development Director, as the President of the Utah Chapter of the American Planning Association, and on numerous national APA, AICP committees. She also has taught as an adjunct professor of urban planning at the University of Utah and served as a member of the Regional/Urban Design Assistance Team (RUDAT), a program sponsored by AIA. Ms. Comarell also has extensive experience with decision makers and community groups that involved facilitating and consensus building, which she gained while serving as a planner in various community development roles.
David DeRoos, MPA, CMC
David DeRoos, MPA, CMC
President
Mr. DeRoos has 30 years experience as a consultant to local government, preceded by 5 years as an assistant to a local government administrator. Mr. DeRoos has extensive involvement with Citygate’s Leadership Training and Team Development program and has performed numerous leadership training engagements for public sector clients. He earned his undergraduate degree in Political Science/Public Service (Phi Beta Kappa) from the University of California, Davis and holds a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Southern California. Prior to becoming a Principal in Citygate in 1991, he was a Senior Manager in the local government consulting division of Ernst & Young in the Los Angeles Office. He is a Certified Management Consultant, and has taught graduate level courses for numerous universities.
Chad Jackson, MBA
Chad Jackson
Consultant Team Member
Mr. Chad Jackson, MBA, manages Citygate’s Marketing and Reporting Department, is one of Citygate’s leadership consultants, and is a certified MERIT consultant. Mr. Jackson has been providing leadership training and consulting for nearly ten years, and frequently advises clients with important recruitment decisions based on application of the MERIT Profile to specific organizational cultures. Mr. Jackson earned his MBA from University of California, Davis, with a focus on organizational management and leadership. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication Studies from California State University, Sacramento.
Evelyn DeRoos, MA
Evelyn DeRoos, MA
Personal Leadership Effectiveness Coach
Ms. DeRoos is a Personal Leadership Effectiveness coach with Citygate Associates. She supports the process of personal growth and development by assistance with uncovering, understanding and overcoming blocks to desired change. She teaches workshops on personality, temperament and relationships. With a BA degree from UC Davis in Rhetoric, focusing on interpersonal communication, and an MA degree in Clinical Psychology, Ms. DeRoos is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. She has worked with individual clients from large private sector corporations, as well as staff from state and local government offices. In addition to her clinical work, she has been mentoring and coaching for 25 years. Ms. DeRoos is a lifelong learner and especially enjoys the integration of current research in neurobiology with the understanding of human behavior.
Caryn Tilton
Caryn Tilton
Organizational Development and Leadership Effectiveness Coach
Caryn Tilton has 33 years of experience working with local governments across the country. She has trained newly-elected officials for state leagues, been a frequent speaker at local government conferences, and been hired for a variety of training and development purposes. Caryn has written over 40 training and leadership programs for frontline employees and mid-level managers. She has trained boards, managers, and administrators and she has designed programs for local government including process reengineering, organizational value development, organizational development, performance management, and strategic planning. Caryn coaches executives around the country in her virtual conference room. She has administered assessments to thousands of employees measuring work satisfaction, and providing comprehensive leadership analysis and recommendations. Caryn has led frontline and executive recruitment efforts for local governments and supported many other human resources processes such as personnel policy development, procedure writing, corrective action, goal planning, performance indicator development, and employee performance evaluations.
Richard Carson, MPA
Richard Carson, MPA
Senior Associate, Organizational Development
Richard Carson has 30 years of experience working at the county, city, regional, and state level of government in the Pacific Northwest. He has served Senior Policy Analyst for three Oregon governors on economic and environmental policy. He was also Planning Director for METRO, the Portland metropolitan area regional authority covering 3 counties, 24 cities and encompassing a population of 1.5 million. His most recent experience was as the Director of Clark County’s Community Development Department, where he managed 165 staff and a $17 million budget. Mr. Carson held this position for almost 10 years. Mr. Carson joined Citygate Associates in 2007 and has subsequently worked on organizational development assessments in Sacramento, San Diego, and Solano Counties in California; the city of Ogden, Utah; and the cities of West Linn and Cascade Locks in Oregon. He most recently completed an organizational development assessment for the Organizational Development Network. Mr. Carson is currently a doctorate candidate at Washington State University specializing in public sector organizational development.
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