City Manager Peter Zanoni Accomplishments After One Year with the City of Corpus Christi

CORPUS CHRISTI, TX – City Manager Peter Zanoni marks his one-year anniversary with the City of Corpus Christi on May 20, 2020. After a competitive recruitment process, Mr. Zanoni was unanimously appointed by City Council on April 23, 2019. He came with his family from the City of San Antonio with 22 years of government experience implementing major programs and projects city-wide.

The City Manager’s key focus areas have included building leadership at all levels, professionalizing the City organization, operational effectiveness, cutting waste, removing dysfunction, and engaging the community. After a thorough review of the organization, Peter has appointed 23 new executives representing about one-third of the city’s total leadership team with 14 being from minority classifications.

He developed a robust $1.1 Billion FY 2020 budget for the first time in City history. The results included:

  • Five additional police officers each year for the next five years
  • 16 new fire cadets for a record 50 cadet class
  • Creation of a Homelessness & Workforce Housing Division
  • Additional personnel for code enforcement and animal care
  • Eliminated contract services for a savings of $4 million annually by bringing wastewater line cleaning in-house
  • Pay for performance by eliminating automatic annual salary increases
  • Consumer driven health plan for employees with health savings account

Along with the City budget, Peter has moved the City forward on many projects including:

  • Over $128 Million in additional money for street maintenance and residential street reconstruction, implemented the pedestrian safety initiative Vision Zero, planning Bond 2020, and developed a plan to repave Ocean Drive from end to end
  • Parks and Recreation Master Plans, splash pads, free public pool access, beach nourishment, Cole Park Pier, and overall better park maintenance.
  • Continued focus on being the Coastal Bend regional water leader and moving desalination forward, transitioned back to Winter Quarter Averaging System, realigned utility billing office to the Utilities Department for better customer service
  • Finalized Police Collective Bargaining Agreement for 2019 - 2022 that was fair to employees and affordable to the taxpayer
  • Development and Planning to include North Beach, Downtown, London Area, Southside, Padre Island, Calallen, and Hillcrest
  • Lead the City to improve credit ratings with three major credit rating agencies

Most recently his efforts have focused on the disaster response for COVID-19 within the community. Under his leadership he has developed a proactive collaborative relationship with Nueces County and key stakeholders. Together they have been able to:

  • Work cooperatively with the State of Texas in implementation of executive orders
  • Conduct daily media briefings on Facebook, CCTV, YouTube and carried live by media outlets
  • Facilitated over $3 million in economic development funds to aid small businesses in the form of low interest loans
  • Developed a mortgage, rental, and utility assistance program totaling $1.6 million
  • Assisted with key community initiatives including food distributions and mobile testing sites
  • Provided a central clearing house of COVID-19 information for the community, businesses, and employers with the www.cctexas.com/coronavirus website
  • Engaged Texas A&M University Corpus Christi to provide predictive modeling and research-based information for responding locally to COVID-19.

Peter is looking forward to his next year as the City Manager of Corpus Christi. His next steps involve key issues including:

  • Bond 2020
  • FY 2021 Budget
  • North Beach Redevelopment
  • Stormwater Fee
  • Seawater Desalination Plant
  • Streets & Public Works
  • Fire Collective Bargaining
  • Corpus Christi International Airport Air Service
  • Convention and Visitors Bureau
  • Calallen Housing Plan
  • Trust Fund / Impact Fees
  • Development of Health Awareness Initiatives