A new consultant report is putting St. Helena City Hall on the hot seat, painting a bleak portrait of how the small city is run and how its money is managed. The 171-page draft, made public only after a records request, blasts inconsistent budget reports, weak management systems and chronic understaffing, warning that the combination has left St. Helena at heightened fiscal risk. The study criticizes boardroom decisions and unusually high executive pay while still offering a roadmap of staffing and technology fixes to get the city back on track.
How the review began
The City Council hired the Blackberg Group to conduct what it called an “Efficiency and Business Transformation” review and signed off on a professional services agreement not to exceed $100,000 to examine non–public-safety operations. The consultant’s scope covered staffing, technology and process improvements, and Blackberg was directed to deliver preliminary findings this spring, according to a City of St. Helena staff report.
Payroll numbers under scrutiny
One number in particular has become a lightning rod in the broader discussion over city management. Public payroll records list City Manager Anil Comelo’s total reported pay for 2024 at $394,002. That figure comes from Transparent California’s 2024 salary listings for St. Helena, which separate out regular pay from other one-time or supplemental pay items (Transparent California).
Draft flags governance and staffing gaps
The draft report, released after a public records request, lays out a long list of problems. It cites conflicting budget reports that make it hard to pin down the city’s true shortfall and notes the lack of a strategic plan that, in the consultant’s view, causes spillover issues across departments. The review points to widespread gaps in minimum qualifications for non-safety staff and warns that governance, change management and asset management are all weak enough to create a ripe environment for procurement or financial impropriety.
The draft also zeroes in on managerial compensation, calling it well above typical small-town averages, and pairs that criticism with specific proposals. Among the suggestions: reorganizing senior roles, reshaping HR and IT functions and bringing in a dedicated fraud, waste and abuse specialist, according to the Napa Valley Register.
Separate pay study already in motion
At the same time, the council has already initiated a second track. It approved a separate classification and compensation study with PublicPay to generate defensible market comparisons for pay and benefits and to guide any potential overhaul of salary ranges. That engagement was approved as a professional services agreement with a not-to-exceed cost in the mid-$40,000s, according to the city’s contract paperwork for the study (City of St. Helena staff report).
What comes next
For now, city officials are stressing that the consultant’s document is still a draft. Staff say the final report will fold in conclusions, recommended staffing adjustments and a cost-and-savings analysis for the proposed transformation work before any formal council action is taken. Council members and staff are expected to weigh those recommendations alongside the separate classification and compensation study as they craft budgets and staffing plans for the coming fiscal year.
