Twenty months ago, the City of Manteca was what one might call a hot mess.

The city had just terminated a city manager after 139 days on the job. At that point the city had gone through four city managers in 3 years and 3 months after the 2018 election.

A high rate of widespread turnover effectively had a revolving door in place in much of the city’s senior management staff offices. More than half of the city’s top positions had acting department heads

Manteca was still getting out from under a financial mess created by a combination of a failure to have a succession plan in place in the finance department and inadequate oversight from the city manager’s office coupled with chronic understaffing.

Staff morale was in the toilet.

In late 2020 weeks before a general sales tax measure was to be decided, then City Manager Miranda Lutzow dropped an October surprise on voters.

The city — she said — couldn’t accurately account for over $60 million.

While audits eventually have shown that no money was pilfered or used in an inappropriate manner, the finance department was clearly in disarray.

There were double budget entries on both the expense and revenue sides, departments were keeping track of their own expenses, outside audits weren’t being done in a timely manner, interfund borrowing wasn’t being paid back, fees for services such as water and sewer weren’t being adjusted to keep up with costs, and the general ledger was a disaster.

The city knew how much money it had but didn’t know where it legally belonged.

Today, it is a different story at 1001 West Center Street.

There is only one senior  vacancy — the director of human resources. And that is in the process of being filled.

The audits are all expected to be current during this fiscal year.

The financial department is back on track.

Employee morale has bounced back.

And in the city manager’s office is the person who stepped up in May 2000 when there was no one left on board with any experience to put together a city budget that was due in less than two months during Lutzow’s tumultuous watch — Toni Lundgren.

Lundgren’s elevation to acting finance director for four months from her position of deputy director of Parks & Recreation — a post she was promoted to in 2014 — was seen at the time by some as another zany move by city the leadership that earned the wrath of the Sann Joaquin County grand jury in scathing report a year earlier.

Lundgren was a Hail Mary pick, in a way, as city efforts to secure an outside acting interim  finance director went nowhere with the pandemic in full swing.

There were those willing to do so remotely, but the situation required someone on the ground  to sort out the mess.

Lundgren had a number of years of experience with the city’s budget  process. And it wasn’t just with recreation as her position of deputy director for parks and recreation required her to work with other city departments on financial matters.

Lundgren, who is now 45, also had gone back to school to earn a masters in public administration and at that point was a year away from securing it in 2021 from Long Beach State.

He goal was to eventually to be a city a manager, ideally by the time  she was 50.

What happened next, set in motion events that led Lundgren to accomplish her goal at least six years sooner than expected and in Manteca instead of in a smaller city.

Her task back in 2020 was daunting given there was no one left in the finance department with any knowledge of building a budget.

The city was able to obtain the services of a retired finance director who helped guide Lundgren in her search through financial records and the budget.

The immediate goal was to create a holding budget.

Given the retiree was old school he needed hard copies mailed to him instead of PDFs sent by email.

His feedback with the comments came via numerous Zoom meetings.

Several months later Lundgren was tapped to serve as the city’s deputy city manager — the No. 3 person on the management ladder.

Less than six months later, Lutzow abruptly resigned followed several months later by Assistant City Manager Lisa Blackmon.

That led to Lundgren’s first stint as an acting city manager from June 2021 through Sept. 21. That’s when retired Modesto Police Chief Mike Harden stepped in as interim city manager.

After he left, Toby Wells was hired as city manager.

Less than five months later, Wells was gone and Lundgren was back as acting city manager from Feb. 9, 2022 through March 15, 2022.

She was named interim city manager in mid-March 2022.

After applying for the top job that included a national search by an outside consultant and passed muster with a series of interview boards including citizens, employees and council members, Lundgren became Manteca’s city manager on July 1 of this year.

 Lundgren joined the City of Manteca in 2007 as a recreation coordinator, holding that title until 2009.

 In 2009, she was promoted to recreation supervisor. Lundgren served in that position for five years.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com