Mayoral candidate and former San Diego police Chief Jerry Sanders today unveiled his preliminary plans to overhaul city bureaucracy.

Sanders argued the city was guilty of "massive duplication of effort."

He proposed cutting 50 of the more than 300 existing management positions.

"The city of San Diego's management structure has grown into a costly, inefficient bureaucracy which is often unresponsive to the residents it is supposed to serve," he said.

Sanders proposal called for the:

— elimination of the assistant deputy director classification;

— elimination of the senior management analyst classification;

— elimination of the program manager classification;

— consolidation of staff and centralization of public information functions;

— consolidation of staff and centralization of human resources and financial management functions;

— automation the city's hiring process;

— consolidation of staff and centralization of information technology functions.

"These changes will dislocate the lives of some city employees and result in an overall reduction of management staff," Sanders said. "But, it will also contribute to making senior management directly accountable for the quality of service we provide to our customers."

Sanders was formerly with the local United Way and is credited with turning around the American Red Cross of San Diego and Imperial Counties.

"I know what must be done to restore our city's reputation for excellence, and I'm prepared to do it," he said.

Sanders pledged to release additional proposals for fixing San Diego's financial problems during the course of his campaign.

Sanders and Councilwoman Donna Frye are running to replace Mayor Dick Murphy, who recently announced he will step down on July 15.

A special election is scheduled for July 26, and the winner would serve out the rest of Murphy's term through December 2008. If no candidate receives a majority, there will be a runoff between the top two vote-getters.