Whether it’s sidewalk repair, employee retention, or cyber security, the goal is to prevent problems rather than react to them. Ryan’s approach to resource management is proactive, collaborative, and data-driven.
In addition to vigorously defending city resources when the city gets sued, the office of the City Attorney plays an important role in helping manage city resources on an ongoing basis.
The City of Oakland's most important resource - bar none - is its incredible employees. Ryan knows firsthand that the office of the City Attorney can only provide top-notch services if it successfully recruits and, most importantly, retains top-notch professionals. The same is true for every other office and department in the city. As the son and step-son of four public educators, and a proud former member of IFPTE Local 21, Ryan knows that for our city works best when we center working people. And as someone who’s practiced labor and employment law for decades (on both the employee and management sides of the table), and someone with years of experience helping manage an office with an annual budget of over $33 million, Ryan knows how to thoughtfully resolve complex personnel issues, innovate workplace procedures in partnership with employees and employee unions, and provide the training and support that keep valued staff protected and engaged. He’ll maintain this philosophy and focus for the office of the City Attorney, and he’ll continue advising leaders throughout the City to help them do the same.
We also have to thoughtfully manage our fiscal resources, and that often means managing risk. Ryan is interested in identifying ways that the City Attorney's office, in partnership with City Administration, can better track, analyze, and utilize data from the more than 500 claims and more than 150 lawsuits the office handles each year. Ryan infuses into the office a curiosity, solution-oriented approach, and penchant for leveraging technology that have served the office well, and will continue to serve Oakland well if you help him get elected. With a reasonable investment to upgrade the office’s case-management software, and some thought-partnership and curiosity, the City Attorney's office and City Administration can undoubtedly find some valuable lessons hiding in all this data. For example:
- Are there commonalities in pothole-related accidents that can help us better prioritize street repairs?
- When officers are sued for unreasonable force, are there obscure patterns in the data that can help us revise OPD policies?
- If we study workplace harassment claims and lawsuits, what can we learn about the types of supervisor and manager training that may be most effective?
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