January 27, 2006

CITY HALL NEWS BRIEFS

Mayor Gonzales to give ‘State of City’ Feb. 8

San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales will deliver his final annual “State of the City” address and the San Jose City Council will present “Good Neighbor” and “Pride of San Jose” recognition awards at the annual event at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 8, in the Rotunda of the new City Hall, 200 E. Santa Clara Street.

The event is free to the public, but complimentary tickets are required for entry. Public tickets may be obtained by calling (408) 554-2972. Complimentary public parking will be available nearby at the San Jose Fourth Street Garage and the City Hall Garage (entrance on South 6th Street between Santa Clara and San Fernando streets).

City appoints new department heads

John Stufflebean was named last month the new director of the city’s Department of Environmental Services. He has been serving as acting director of environmental services since Carl Mosher resigned to take a job in Sacramento.

Stufflebean first started work with the city as an assistant director of environmental services in August of 2005.

Before he came to San Jose, he served the first environmental management director for Kansas City, Miss., a position he assumed in 1995.

In Phoenix, Ariz. he led the Maricopa County Solid Waste Management Department. Prior to that, he held various positions with the Wastewater Management Department in Pima County, Ariz.

“I am looking forward to dealing with the challenging environmental issues facing San Jose, such as improving our garbage recycling program and planning for the future infrastructure needs and new regulatory requirements at the wastewater treatment plant,” Stufflebean said. “I’m also focused on expanding the recycled water system, improving the health of our watersheds in the South Bay and exploring ways to build greener and more energy efficiently.”

San Jose’s Department of Environmental Services has about 450 employees and is responsible for an operating budget of $150 million and a capital budget of more than $60 million.

The city has also appointed Peter Jensen as the new director of general services. Jensen has been serving as acting director of general services since June of last year. He’s been employed by the city since 1989.

“I’m proud to have the opportunity to continue leading a staff that does a great job managing the city’s infrastructure,” Jensen said. “Their work is vital in helping the city deliver services to our residents.”

As director of general services, Jensen oversees a department of nearly 200 employees with an annual operating budget of more than $37 million. General services provides a number of services to the city organization, including facility maintenance and fleet management.

The appointments were effective Dec. 6.

The city has not yet chosen permanent replacements for City Manager Del Borgsdorf, who will officially step down Feb. 3; John Bjurman, director of the city’s Department of Information Technology and Stephen Hasse, former director of the city’s Department of Planning, Building and Code Enforcement. In the interim, Steve Turner and Joe Horwedel are leading the latter departments, respectively.

—By Sheila Sanchez