Sources inside city government have confirmed that Los Banos Public Works Director Chuck Bergson will be leaving city employment.
While Bergson has not yet resigned, sources say he is reviewing separation documents and considering his options. Officially, no details about his departure have been made public.
Bergson was hired by former city manager Josh Pinheiro in February 2024 a few weeks after former public works director Nirorn Than quit unexpectedly. During Pinheiro’s tenure as city manager, five of the city’s seven department heads resigned – including the fire chief, finance director, police chief, public works director and a second finance director.
On Jan. 10, Pinheiro was forced to resign following a voter revolt that swept away three of the four city council members who hired and supported him. The fourth member, Kenneth Lambert, resigned on Jan. 15 just five days after joining in the 3-0 vote to remove Pinheiro.
Lambert’s District 1 city council seat remains open, but a special election to fill it will be conducted Aug. 26. The filing deadline for that election closed Friday with two women stepping forward– business owner Kalid “Virriy” Sanchez and finance manager Mitzy Perez.
Bergson was the city’s most prominent new hire during Pinheiro’s time as city manager. His departure brings an end to a two-year period during which five employee unions submitted a letter of no-confidence in Pinheiro, the city endured a grand jury investigation into irregularities in how it disbursed federal funds, accusations of favoritism, a controversial $1.8 million payment to Pinheiro, and the reclassification of 13 mid-level management jobs to “at-will,” a move that discouraged qualified candidates from applying.
Bergson’s hiring was controversial from the start. Pinheiro hired Bergson at a salary of $16,500 per month with full benefits, bringing his total compensation to $22,730 per month or $272,760 per year.
Before arriving in Los Banos, Bergson had been city manager of the tiny city of Isleton in Sacramento County — a city that remains on the verge of financial collapse. According to openpayrolls.com, Bergson was paid around $47,000 a year while in Isleton. There was no indication he received any additional benefits.
According to the Sacramento Bee and NBC television affiliate KCRA, Isleton never recovered from mismanagement that predated Bergson’s arrival, remained unresolved while he was there, and continued after he left.
The city is said to be $4 million in debt, and in January it laid off its six remaining staffers. The city is now managed by a crisis team contracted through an accounting firm.
Adam Cox, a member of that team, said the city suffered from years of mismanagement and now faces “an existential crisis. … By that, I mean, literally, can the city continue functioning as a city? Can it continue existing?”
A former Isleton council member told CBS13, “It’s been a bad situation for a very, very long time.”
In 2022, during Bergson’s tenure, the Sacramento County Grand Jury issued a scathing report about the city’s refusal to fill a city council seat as required by state law when it was left empty after a council member died.
In 2023, when the January atmospheric rivers hit the region, two of the city’s nine wastewater settling ponds overflowed, and an estimated 3 million gallons of partially treated sewage ran into the Mokelumne, San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers. Bergson estimated repairs to both the ponds and the city’s failing stormwater system would cost around $3 million – money the city of 850 clearly did not have.
“We need to staunch the immediate bleeding,” said Cox when taking over management of the city. “We need a tourniquet yesterday,”
Los Banos Mayor Michael Amabile would not comment on Bergson’s departure but pointed out that until recently the city had always employed both a public works director and a city engineer. He said combining the two jobs in a city the size of Los Banos was, basically, a bad idea.
Another bad idea, said Amabile, was allowing a city manager to hire without council input. “This is a perfect example of why the city council has to be in charge of the city engineer and public works director. …
“They’re both very important jobs and they both take a lot of work. … We need to not only have an engineer, but we need to have someone who is able to contract for services, plan and manage – all that. Everything is so specialized today. If you’re doing water, you need a water guy; if you’re doing land-use, you need someone with skills in that.”
Since Bergson’s departure was not confirmed, there is no timetable for appointing a replacement.
