By Robert Haugh
Santa Clara residents responding to a recent survey overwhelmingly believe City Manager Jovan Grogan should not have received a raise without a performance review.
According to a survey by Stand Up for Santa Clara, 92 percent said yes, three (3) percent said no, and five (5) percent said the issue was not important.
The survey followed a Stand Up report that Grogan received a two percent raise even though the City Council did not complete a performance evaluation.
Grogan’s compensation total is approximately $630,000 annually.
Grogan has expanded the City Manager’s office to become the most expensive in Santa Clara history.
The Stand Up survey respondents’ comments focused largely on basic management and accountability. Many said performance should be evaluated before compensation is increased.
Others questioned why the Council failed to complete the review and suggested Santa Clara consider requiring evaluations before top executives receive raises.
Several respondents also pointed to the contrast with Santa Clara firefighters, who received raises earlier this year but were denied retroactive pay. Grogan received both an automatic raise and retroactive compensation.
The survey did not ask residents to rate Grogan’s job performance. It asked a simpler question: should the City Manager be evaluated before taxpayers give him a raise?
For 92 percent of respondents, the answer was yes.
For the three (3) percent who said no, maybe they work in the City Manager’s office.
The thing that bothers so much about this I’ll timed paycraise is rgst arrogant has done much to deserve it.
How about our police chief making $904,815!
Santa Clara is top heavy across the board.
It would be different if the City was running better, there was not a need for $1 Billion in defferred capital maintenance, had a working swim center, stadium didn’t take up nearly 1/2 of council’s/staff’s time, had a municipal golf course or a development that brings benefits or even a Downtown . . . Etc.
. . . But we have a mountain of issues a huge financial liability for things that were not managed properly and some of the TOP paid public employees in the state.
Is this the new “Santa Clara Way”?
This salary list is from 2024. There is a different police chief who makes significantly less.
Thanks for pointing this out. We uploaded Santa Clara 2025 a couple months ago but then transitioned to a new site, apparently that data was not transferred.
That problem has been fixed, 2025 Santa Clara is now at:
https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/2025/santa-clara
No. Jovan should not have received a raise. There’s NO reason a city manager in a city of about 120,000 people should be compensated this much to begin with. What should also be investigated is that while Jovan was interviewing for this position, he was holding private meetings with Rahul Chandhok and Jihad Beachman of the 49ers. Jovan has been playing both sides the moment Deanna Santana was fired and the search for a new city manager began. He’s another one that’s been plucked by that organization to work for the city.
Would appreciate seeing the survey? How the question was asked. How many people were actually polled etc et.
https://www.standup4santaclara.com/post/copy-of-santa-clara-residents-speak-about-the-city-manager-no-review-no-raise
There’s more information here.
Go back to the February 2023 council meeting and see who approved cm contract.
Great reporting, as always.
Anyone who wants to see the full list of compensation for Santa Clara city employees (including those that work in the City Manager’s office!) can view that at https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/2024/santa-clara.
Funny how he never wants to give other groups their raises in a timely fashion nor their retro, but he always makes sure he gets his money.
He runs our City terribly. People need to keep an eye on him and these land swap deals he keeps trying to push through. Or deals with developers that bring no benefit to our citizens (even when they claim they will).