City fortunate to have Roeder

When James Ruth -- then the widely respected city manager of Anaheim -- announced his retirement in October of 2001, two things happened in Costa Mesa. Allan Roeder became the dean of city managers in Orange County. And, for a tense moment, Costa Mesa worried that its revered administrator would be lured away to take the helm in Anaheim.

The city’s worry wasn’t without cause. In a Daily Pilot report, Roeder went on the record expressing interest in the job were it offered to him. It wasn’t. Anaheim missed a plum opportunity, and Costa Mesa began breathing again.

Four years removed, and to the month, Roeder marks his 20th year as Costa Mesa’s city manager.

What Roeder is to Costa Mesa is not easy to characterize, much less describe. The simple out is to cast him as the captain of our municipal ship of state. But that belies his style and understates his relevance.

Captains are most often imposing figures, storefront authoritarians who set a heading with a flair for ceremony and the dramatic. City councils are often like that. Roeder, however, exudes nothing in the way of bravado or self-importance. His stride is short and quiet, punctuated only by the trademark way he cups one hand in the other as he approaches to begin a conversation. His manner is deferential and calm. His speech is always couched in careful thought, and delivered with flawless diplomacy. Roeder is central casting’s idea of a church deacon, not a captain.

Rather, Roeder is Costa Mesa’s ballast; unadorned, below the waterline, but massive in its presence and essential to the city’s seaworthiness. Absent ballast, any vessel -- with or without even the most capable of captains manning the bridge -- will surely roll over.

What explains Roeder’s remarkable and enduring tenure as Costa Mesa city manager is his deft ability to manage and administer the city’s vital public services and financial affairs through the always-shifting political seas that come with each new city council. That he’s been able to command the respect -- and, clearly, the trust -- of every city council since 1985 is proof of that.

Through my observations of Roeder in my capacity as a journalist, and through my work with him in my role as a Parks and Recreation Commissioner, I’ve come to understand what it is about the man that earns the deep respect of his colleagues, the city councils who employ him, and the vast majority of Costa Mesans who pay attention to city government.

Roeder is fundamentally a man of principle with an abiding respect for the people of Costa Mesa, the democratic process they employ to elect their leaders, and the choices they make in the voting booth as to who those leaders will be.

It’s an important virtue, and also one that makes his job harder. For while his obligation is to fulfill the mandate of the people of Costa Mesa as expressed through their elected leaders, it’s also his job to ensure that no one city council (regardless of its political composition) steer the city into the shallows or, worse, run it aground. It’s a dicey balancing act that most city managers fail long before 20 years have raced by. But that Roeder has been able to pull it off for that long -- and, certainly, longer -- simply underscores the effectiveness of his amiable style, his vast institutional knowledge, his limitless connections and his deft management skills.

Costa Mesa has sailed upright for the two decades -- even as various city council’s have changed its course -- precisely because of Allan Roeder.

* BYRON DE ARAKAL is a public affairs consultant and chairman of the Costa Mesa parks and recreation commission. Readers may leave a message for him on the Daily Pilot hotline at (714) 966-4664 or contact him by e-mail at byronwriter@comcast.net.

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