Two of Morgan Hill’s top-level staff members who have become
fixtures in the city
– Police Chief Bruce Cumming and public works Director Jim
Ashcraft – will enjoy the end of the summer in the beginning of
retirement.
Two of Morgan Hill’s top-level staff members who have become fixtures in the city – Police Chief Bruce Cumming and public works Director Jim Ashcraft – will enjoy the end of the summer in the beginning of retirement.
Ashcraft, who has held his current position for about 15 years, will retire as of July 29. And retiring for the second time in his 42-year law enforcement career, Cumming’s last day will be Aug. 26. Both announced their retirements earlier this month.
Both directors have overseen dramatic transitions and changes in their respective departments while working for the city, according to City Manager Ed Tewes.
In his six years with the city, Cumming has faced ongoing challenges with the city’s deteriorating financial situation and lower than preferred staff levels in the police department.
“In his six years (as MHPD chief), he’s evaluated the need for new staffing, including Measure G (which would have used a utility tax to hire more officers in 2008) , and responding to changing patterns of criminal activity, including gangs,” Tewes said
Most recently, Cumming directed the city’s response to potential public safety issues arising out of the May 5 Live Oak High School incident, and helped prevent an escalation, Tewes said.
Cumming first retired from law enforcement as Chief in Menlo Park in 1999. He was hired as interim chief in Morgan Hill in 2004, and appointed to the city’s top law enforcement job later that year.
“They asked me to stay four years, and I stayed six – and I’ve enjoyed virtually every minute of it,” Cumming said.
In his 42-year law enforcement career, Cumming has worked in departments throughout Northern California – including San Carlos, Palo Alto, and as interim chief in Fort Bragg.
“The time is right” to retire, Cumming, 64, said. He and his wife are looking forward to traveling the country and spending time with their grandchildren.
Some of his accomplishments as chief in Morgan Hill include getting through the budget the city council approved earlier this month that will lead to lower service, especially on local school campuses.
He has also overseen changes within the department, which he described as “a little disorganized” when he started. Since then, MHPD’s special operations are more organized, and its emergency preparedness division has grown from “almost nothing” to earning recent accolades from the American Red Cross as Santa Clara County’s “most prepared city” for disasters.
“I’m most proud of the fact I’ve hired and promoted some really good people,” Cumming said. “The overall work the police department does is exceptional. People are held accountable moreso than they were six years ago.”
Morgan Hill police Cmdr. Joe Sampson, who has worked with Cumming the past six years, described the chief as “legendary” for his long career and years of expertise.
“He’s well respected, and it’s great to be mentored by someone with his capabilities, and his willingness to help bring up the next generation of law enforcement leaders,” Sampson said.
Ashcraft has operated more behind the scenes as the city’s public works director for the last 15 years, engineering upgrades and to public infrastructure and facilities as the city has grown.
“(Ashcraft) has shown active leadership in several public utility projects, and has had to deal with unusual challenges such as the perchlorate contamination discovered in the groundwater in the earlier part of this decade,” Tewes said. “And he has demonstrated a professional, can-do problem-solving approach with high attention to ethical standards throughout his career.”
Before accepting a job as public works director and city engineer in Morgan Hill, Ashcraft held similar jobs in other cities throughout his 33-year public service career. He has worked for the cities of Chino, Norco and Pismo Beach.
Ashcraft said Morgan Hill has been his favorite city he has worked for, but he plans to spend his retirement in the central coast region near Pismo Beach.
He said he has been thinking about retiring “a couple years.”
“I think it’s time to move on to retirement while I’m young enough,” Ashcraft, 61, said.
An avid fisherman, Ashcraft wants to spend his retirement traveling and angling.
Ashcraft, who is married and has two grown children, described how he has spent the last 15 years overseeing increasingly complex and frequent projects as the city grew. When he started, the city was working on the Dunne Avenue-U.S. 101 interchange, and now his department is in the midst of a Tennant Avenue-U.S. 101 overcrossing.
“Butterfield Boulevard was only about a mile long, and now it’s six miles long,” he said.
Perhaps his biggest accomplishment in his local career has been his involvement in the construction of recreational facilities, especially the Centennial Recreation Center, the Aquatics Center, the public library and the Community and Cultural Center.
The city manager’s office has not yet determined whether or not, or when to replace the two departing department heads. Deputy public works director Karl Bjarke will be appointed as interim director of that department, Tewes said.
The position of police chief will require an interim occupant as well, but whether or not the city appoints a permanent chief could hinge on a potential contract with an outside law enforcement agency to cover the city limits, Tewes said.
City staff have said that any time an employee retires, it allows the city to consider possibilities to reorganize or consolidate job tasks.
“We will be evaluating reorganization opportunities before we recruit any management positions,” Tewes said.
