RESPECT MUH AUTHORITAH!
Make sure you do not forget this logo (in particular the crown). Nothing sums up the current leadership of Corona better. This amounts to nothing more than an ego-fueled rampage by someone who should have never been put in a position of responsibility. Don’t forget, Ellis recently renegotiated his contract to include a 9 month salary severance package!
Jacob Ellis , working as City Manager, was employed by Corona in 2024, and received regular pay of $344,157, other pay of $43,458, total pay of $387,615, benefits worth $67,014, total compensation of $457,896 including pay and benefits. This compensation was 330 percent higher than the average and 423 percent higher than the median in Corona.
Corona records show Jacob Ellis held job of City Manager from 2019 to 2024.
In year 2024 Jacob Ellis’s total compensation was 32 percent higher than average City Manager total compensation in the state of California.
According to the public records employee’s total compensation increased by $15,999 from 2023 to 2024, which is a 3.6 percent rise. Since 2019, the total compensation has increased by $425,368, a total rise of 1,307.7 percent.
Jacob Ellis based, on my research and interviews with people, has zero tolerance for disagreement and comes across condescending and rude when he thinks you disagree with him. Beyond just this video, I’ve had reports from people on the ground about his superiority complex. Add in that he is repeating the same mistakes from his reign of terror in Gilbert, AZ, which has become worse Corona… you can add in a complete lack of self awareness to the mix too. (Click here to learn more about what Ellis did to the City of Gilbert and draw the parallels to Corona)
Since his original date of hire, Ellis has gotten raises totaling 1,300 percent to wreck the City of Corona, including their “New Logo”, which itself precipitated a rampage by Mr. Ellis.
Last summer, the City of Corona embarked on a journey to find and express our identity through a new City brand. It took a lot, a lot of effort, a lot of listening, a lot of teamwork, some creative juices, and a little bit of soul-searching. (Omitted: people in Corona hate the logo and think it is idiotic)
Councilwoman Jacque Casillas put it like this, “it’s almost like therapy…we need to do some inner work, we need to discuss and find out…how we feel about ourselves, why we feel that way about ourselves and how we can be a better us.” (Yes, those that created the logo need therapy and a lot of inner work)
Because a brand is more than a logo, tagline, and some colors. It’s our story. It’s our heart. It’s the personality of our city. And an honest brand can help unite our community around who we aspire to be. (And the city paid $500,000 or more for this “logo”, that residents resent)
Insert Barfy emojis here.
Which brings us to “Corona’s Logogate”. The aforementioned Ellis was soooo determined to reshape the personality of Corona that he issued a Fatwah from City hall dictating that everything with the old logo be immediately re-done to the cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars. There was no phase-out, no transition period. NOW! demanded Ellis.
Most of the senior City Staff have been hired by the Willardson-Ellis axis. I’m told that those involved in the rebranding had no real say and all decisions were made by Ellis. Taxpayer dollars went to new uniforms bearing the Ellis logo. Across the board, everyone including Utility employees, Law Enforcement, Firefighters and City Hall staff who were forced to immediately purchase new uniforms and shirts. Ellis even resorted to ripping out concrete monument signs at parks just so his new logo could be installed. This fits right into the rampant waste we’ve chronicled of the new Measure X tax money he helped pass.
It is clear that Ellis’ pattern of bullying and conflict resolution has reverberated throughout City Government as Ellis’ rampage sidelined every vehicle in the City fleet for a couple weeks at a time so they could all be re-done to have the mandated logo on them.
The inefficiency of the demanded all-at-once changes cost the debt ridden city of Corona tens of thousands of dollars and affected public service levels for months while the Ellis Fatwah was being carried out.
Logogate did not stop at the maniacal demand for everything – the Ellis rampage was so complete he issued another Fatwah about the lettering on the undershirts of public safety staff. He said specifically that they needed “Less Masculine Lettering and Coloring“.
Ellis is so proud of his new brand he has attempted to privatize the brand and turn it into a new revenue stream for the city. See the new corona shop here https://www.shop.coronaca.gov/collections/t-shirts
“And an honest brand can help unite our community around who we aspire to be”. You know, Less Masculine, the Jacob Ellis way.
Logogate, piles of cash burning, redevelopment resembling a crime scene, spending millions to make traffic worse, and a $500K+ re-branding and logo. This is the legacy of Chad Willardson, Jacob Ellis and their patsy rubber-stamp City Council.
To be continued.
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