Ryan Gohlich takes office as our new City Manager on July 1, and I thought that we should get to know him better. I first got to know Ryan in 2016-7 when he was a leader of the planning group in the Community Development Department and I was among a group of residents opposing some hillside developments. I found Ryan to be an affable and formidable adversary with an encyclopedic knowledge of land use laws, rules and practices. In the years since, Ryan has enhanced his scope of understanding and responsibility. I think that he is an excellent choice for the increasingly challenging job of City Manager. First, his background. Ryan is from southern California and graduated from Hart H.S. in Valencia. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in City and Regional Planning from California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo and a Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership from Woodbury University. He is also professionally certified through the American Institute of Certified Planners and is a member of the American Planning Association. Before coming to the City, Ryan worked for a planning consulting firm in SLO. He decided that he wanted to work for the City because it was, in his view, a world renowned City with lots of interesting aspects and prospects. He joined the City in 2007 as an Assistant Planner and has served successively as an Associate Plan-

ner, City Planner, then Assistant Director of Community Development and was named Director of Community Development in 2021. Ryan has done everything about land use in the City except windows. He was appointed Assistant City Manager in 2023. A youthful 43, the City recently announced that Ryan would become City Manager. No City Manager in recent memory has had a planning background as extensive as Ryan’s. It is also fair to observe that no one can match Ryan’s institutional knowledge about the development and planning of the City. Ryan described the job of City Manager as responsible for the overall operations of the City and the implementation of the City Council’s policies and objectives. His personal priorities are ensuring that the City performs its core services, safety, security and infrastructure at the highest level. We discussed land use issues at some length. He explained that the current Regional Housing Needs Assessment which resulted in an allocation to the City of 3100 housing units presented challenges for the City and every other City that were unprecedented. The challenges were particularly acute for cities like Beverly Hills that do not have vacant space. For Cities with substantial vacant land, certification of a new General Plan Housing Element was relatively easy. For our City, it was not. He pointed out that we hired the best consultants and involved very talented City planners. I agree with that. My principal criticisms of the City’s approach are

that there was no individual person who was responsible the Certification and that the Council did not receive regular (i.e. every six weeks or so) status reports from that person. This may not have made a difference but it is essential for sound management of an important project. Looking forward to the next RHNA cycle commencing in 2029, we both agreed that the City and others push for a change in current law to provide that the results of increased units due to use of Density Bonuses and other rules count toward satisfaction of our allocation. Currently, while almost all multifamily projects include additional units through use of density bonuses, only the number of units provided for by current zoning without such bonuses “count.” I recommended that we have more active Council management and hire someone to be in charge with a record of success in achieving certification in a City comparable to Beverly Hills in terms of little, if any, open space. Ryan was non-committal about this. He pointed out that we won’t know the magnitude of our task until new allocations are announced and the effects of new laws and rules are clear. For example, he said that it is possible that the application of SB79 providing for increased density around the Metro stations will result is sites for 15,000 dwelling units. He repeated what other City leaders have said about public safety, that BHPD is doing a great job and can confidently state that if someone commits a crime in the City, that person will be apprehended and prosecuted. He pointed out that the Real Time Watch system and drones are great tools. BUT City leaders have for a number of months touted the fact that the Council has authorized the hiring of eight new sworn police officers. This is true but not the whole truth. The current BHPD authorized force is 154 sworn officers after

the addition of the eight new positions. And the City budget provides sufficient increased expenses to allow for that number. However, the actual number of BHPD sworn officers is approximately 135 and has generally been at or around that number for several years perhaps with occasional brief spikes. And that includes officers who are on disability due to injuries, officers in training (who cannot go on patrol without supervision) and officers who have been hired but are at the Police Academy. Ryan argued that we actually budget for the authorized number and have increased the budget to reflect the newly authorized eight officers, but “virtual” additional officers are not officers on the street. He said that we make up for the staff shortfall by adding overtime shifts. Actually, the City does benefit from authorizing more officers and budgeting for hires that are not accomplished. At the end of the year, because the City does not expend budgeted funds for officers who were not hired, we have a surplus of unexpended funds that help to achieve a balanced budget. I take no comfort from authorizing additional unfilled positions. Increasing the number of open positions from ten to fifteen or so does not put more police officers on patrol. I fully appreciate that it is very difficult to hire additional police officers at a time when everyone else is trying to do the same. I am hopeful that somehow we can be more successful in hiring officers than we have in the recent past. In the meantime, it would enhance the credibility of our elected officials it they would state only that we have budgeted for additional officers rather than prematurely claim that we have actually hired more officers. On the subject of a new police chief, Ryan would say only that there will be an announcement shortly. Ryan Gohlich, you have taken on a very challenging position. I wish you great success.