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New Fresno Assistant City Manager Brings Political Battle Scars From Tracy
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By David Taub, Senior Reporter
Published 12 months ago on
November 28, 2023

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A new assistant city manager hired by Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer’s administration left his prior position in Tracy under acrimonious circumstances.

Michael Rogers served as Tracy city manager from 2021 until May 2023, when he resigned as part of a settlement with the city. Several news reports said Rogers was likely going to be fired by the city council.

SF Gate reported in June that “the councilmembers alleged that Rogers played favorites with members of the council; was hostile to city staffers; had ‘inappropriate’ communications with individuals who had contracts with the city, which included accepting gifts; failed to inform the council of a medical procedure that would leave him absent for reportedly 10 weeks; and abused the authority granted to him to resolve the city’s homelessness issue.”

Nick Mascia

The city of Fresno announced the hiring of two assistant city managers on Monday — Rogers, and Nick Mascia, formerly the assistant city manager in Visalia.

“As our city grows, it’s important that our team grows to meet those needs,” Dyer said in a news release. “Both Nick and Michael bring experience, leadership, and vision to their new roles in the City Manager’s Office, and I look forward to working with them to continue creating a better Fresno for all.”

Rogers and Mascia start on Monday, Dec. 4.

GV Wire’s attempts to speak with Rogers and Fresno City Manager Georgeanne White on Monday were not successful.

Rogers Resigns After Tracy Council Meeting

Rogers resigned shortly after a Tracy City Council meeting on May 23 at which the council initially lowered the bar for removing a city manager.

A vote of four of the five city councilmembers previously was required to fire the city manager; at the May meeting, the city council preliminarily approved reducing the threshold to a simple majority — or three votes.

Documents supporting the change accused Rogers of “repeatedly prioritized development items and items proposed by select Councilmembers onto the City Council agendas and delayed and/or ignored items raised by other members of the City Council” among other grievances.

Also at issue was a contract Rogers administered with a Texas company to provide shipping containers to be used as homeless shelters. There were problems with the containers, as reported by the Tracy Press.

“(The) decision will lead to a loss of approximately $600,000 of public funds due to defects as well as ongoing delays in providing additional available beds for the homeless population,” a city council document said.

Rogers alleged racial discrimination in a proposed lawsuit against the city. In the settlement to drop the litigation, he resigned and accepted a $265,000 severance.

After the resignation, the city council dropped the plan to reduce the votes needed to fire a city manager.

Tracy City Councilmember Eleassia Davis — who supported a change to make it easier to fire the city manager — declined to comment on Monday and referred GV Wire to the public record. Other members of the Tracy City Council, including Mayor Nancy Young, did not return messages.

The move divided the community and the city council. Young supported Rogers. The Tracy Press reported that Young said in a news release that the efforts to remove Rogers were “a power grab and a ‘blatant racial attack’ on Rogers.”

Both Young and Rogers are Black.

Others came to Rogers’ defense, including former San Francisco 49ers offensive lineman Bubba Paris, now a minister and homeless advocate in Tracy. Paris helped bring some modular units to the city.

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David Taub,
Senior Reporter
Curiosity drives David Taub. The award-winning journalist might be shy, but feels mighty with a recorder in his hand. He doesn't see it his job to "hold public officials accountable," but does see it to provide readers (and voters) the information needed to make intelligent choices. Taub has been honored with several writing awards from the California News Publishers Association. He's just happy to have his stories read. Joining GV Wire in 2016, Taub covers politics, government and elections, mainly in the Fresno/Clovis area. He also writes columns about local eateries (Appetite for Fresno), pro wrestling (Off the Bottom Rope), and media (Media Man). Prior to joining the online news source, Taub worked as a radio producer for KMJ and PowerTalk 96.7 in Fresno. He also worked as an assignment editor for KCOY-TV in Santa Maria, California, and KSEE-TV in Fresno. He has also worked behind the scenes for several sports broadcasts, including the NCAA basketball tournament, and the Super Bowl. When not spending time with his family, Taub loves to officially score Fresno Grizzlies games. Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, Taub is a die-hard Giants and 49ers fan. He graduated from the University of Michigan with dual degrees in communications and political science. Go Blue! You can contact David at 559-492-4037 or at Send an Email

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