PublicCEO presents his Picking Up the Pieces:
After 32-years with Rancho Cucamonga, 22-years as City Manager, Jack Lam will retire August 31.
Campbell City Manager Daniel Rich, 47, is the new City Manager of Mountain View. Melissa Stevenson Dile has served as Mountain View Interim City Manager since City Manager Kevin Duggan retired.
Azusa City Manager Fran Delach will retire at the end of June. He is willing to serve part-time while a replacement is found.
Salinas Deputy City Manager Jim Pia, a city employee for some 30- years, has been appointed Interim City Manager when City Manager Artie Fields becomes the Inglewood City Administrator.
Retired La Verne City Manager Marty Lomeli was recently seen at the New York City Public Library.
Lincoln Regional Airport Manager Dave Daly is leaving his post to manage the Vacaville Nut Tree Airport. Lincoln City Manager Jim Estep credits Dave with doing successful work while in Lincoln. He saw to completion nearly $4.8 million in capital improvements.
Tracy Police Chief Janet Thiessen has resigned effective July 8.
La Quinta Assistant City Manager Bret Plumlee worked in La Mirada, Rolling Hills Estates and El Segundo before joining the La Quinta city staff in 2007.
Retired Coronado City Manager Mark Ochenduszko is the new Interim City Manager in Del Mar. City Manager Karen Brust is leaving Del Mar to be the San Juan Capistrano City Manager. Mark was previously Assistant City Manager in Temecula and City Manager in Campbell and Cypress.
Former Assistant Editor of The Malibu Times, Olivia Damavandi has been appointed to serve as the first Malibu Media Information Officer. Jim Thosrsen is the Malibu City Manager and Reva Feldman is Assistant City Manager.
Former California State Treasurer Mathew Fong, 57, died Wednesday, June 1 after a long battle with skin cancer. His mother, March Fong Eu, served five terms as the California Secretary of State. Matt is survived by his wife Paula and their two children, Jade and Matthew.
Gail Tierney has retired from Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe’s staff. Retired LASD Commander John Hammargren was among those at Gail’s retirement party on June 1st in the Hall of Administration in Los Angeles. Cerritos City Manager Art Gallucci was spotted in the crowd, as was retired California JPIA Executive Director Bill Holt and retired Transportation Deputy Ray Harris.
Modesto Bee writer J. N. Sbranti reports that Stanislaus Community Assistance Project (SCAP), a Modesto nonprofit agency, compensated its grant writer with more than $627,000 in incentives and salary last year. William Joe Gibbs, who is married to the agency’s Executive Director Denise Gibbs, received 4% of the revenue he helped generate, according to the report.
Retired long-time Rosemead City Manager Frank G. Tripepi, who later completed an Interim City Manager assignment in La Puente, and who has developed a Statewide reputation for his professional entrepreneurial and mentoring management style, has stepped away from the Willdan Financial Services President & CEO post, and will assume other duties with the parent Willdan organization. Word is that Senior Vice President Mark Risco will take the President & CEO position in an interim capacity.
Former 3-term Alhambra City Council Member Paul Talbot, 49, is the current Monterey Park City Manager. Paul and his wife Regina Talbot have a State Farm Insurance Agency in the San Gabriel Valley, and Paul is a founding partner of Gateway Consultants. Veteran retired City Manager Don F. McIntyre had served as Interim City Manager after former City Manager June Yotsuya left the post.
New Sand Springs, Oklahoma, City Manager Rocky Rogers previously was the Reedley City Manager in California. The Air Force veteran is an Oklahoma native. Currently, retired Visalia City Manager Raymond W. Forsyth is the Interim City Manager in Reedley.
An historic 1935 windmill structure currently on privately owned property at the Diamond Bar Towne Center is the subject of efforts by the city to preserve it as an historical structure. Jim DeStefano is the Diamond Bar City Manager.
Interim Police Chief Ed Wood is the new Burlingame Chief. Burlingame City Manager Jim Nantell reports that the San Mateo and Burlingame police departments will develop a joint police records system and dispatch operation, but not pursue a full department merger.
In Cerritos, where Art Gallucci is City Manager, a Walmart expansion has been approved for the Cerritos Town Center.
Santa Ana City Manager Dave Ream, 66, joined the City in 1976. He headed the RDA before becoming City Manager in 1986. He retired March 10, but stayed on as a consultant. He has now left office in Santa Ana for a well-earned retirement.
Former Folsom City Manager Martha Clark Lofgren is the new Interim President and Chief Executive of the Sacramento Metro Chamber of Commerce.
Richard Keit, who joined the San Jose Redevelopment Agency staff in 1986 as a Development Officer, is the new Managing Director of the Agency. He most recently was the RDA’s Director of Business Development.
Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski introduced AB 506 to require local governments to seek the permission of a “mediator” to seek Federal Bankruptcy protection. The League of California Cities is urging opposition to AB 506. Assembly Member Bob is a former member of the Fremont City Council.
San Juan Capistrano Accounting Manager Laura Roha, 45, joins City Manager Paul Malone’s management team as the new San Marcos Finance Director replacing the retiring Liliane Serio.
Veteran City Manager Lyle W. Alberg passed away on Friday, May 20, 2011 of congestive heart failure at the Eisenhower Medical Center in Ranch Mirage. Lyle was 81-years old. Lyle began his public service career in 1957 as the Personnel Officer in Monterey Park. In 1958 he was appointed Assistant City Administrator in Montebello, where he became City Administrator in 1960. In 1968 Lyle was recruited to be the City Manager in Independence, Missouri, and he served there until January, 1978 when he returned to California to become the City Manager in Arcadia. Lyle was appointed Hemet City Manager in March, 1981 and retired from the position…sort of…in 1988. Following retirement Lyle served in a number of “Interim City Manager” assignments, including: Indian Wells (twice), Desert Hot Springs, Calimesa, Yucca Valley, La Habra Heights and San Jacinto. Lyle also served on the Hemet City Council. He had a BS from USC and an MA from Central Michigan University. Lyle is survived by his wife of 56- years, Denise Julia Farrell Alberg and six children, three sisters and 17-grandchildren. He will be missed. Calimesa City Manager Randy Anstine notes that there are many residents in his community that are saddened by Lyle’s passing. Lyle was the first Calimesa City Manager. Retired City Manager Lauren Wasserman says that he remembers Lyle hosting meeting with area City Managers and his police department psychologist to help the managers cope with the stresses of the job. American Canyon City Manager Richard Ramirez remembers Lyle as a mentor and a boss during Rich’s time as Hemet City Manager. Lyle is remembered by many of us as a “real” City Manager who was always willing to counsel his colleagues who needed help.
Vallejo Councilman Marti Brown recently wrote that California State government has no business dictating the terms of local government bankruptcy.
Paramount Mayor Tom Hansen and City Manager Linda Benedetti-Leal note that the Governor’s budget plans make “little economic sense.”
Milpitas, where Tom Williams is City Manager, will install solar panels to help power many City-owned facilities.
Bob Murray has been retained by St. Helena to help recruit a new City Manager.
San Juan Bautista City Manager Steve Julian has resigned.
Riverside City Manager Brad Hudson derides Governor Jerry Brown’s proposal to end RDAs and enterprise zones. Brad points to Riverside’s efforts to retain jobs by working to keep business from moving out-of-State.
Salinas City Manager Artie Fields is the new Inglewood City Administrator. Artie has been the Salinas City Manager for about 3-years. Prior to that he was Assistant City Manager in West Covina. He has also worked in Beverly Hills, Manhattan Beach, Pasadena, Pomona and San Leandro. He has a BA and MPA from USC. His last day in Salinas is June 30.
Stockton City Manager Bob Deis is reported to consider it intimidation that the local police union in Stockton is purchasing the home next to his. Bob lives near the University of the Pacific. The home next door is in foreclosure. He is quoted as saying, “It feels like I’m living in Chicago in the 1930s. It’s classic, oldschool intimidation.”
According to Gene Ghiotto of The Press-Enterprise, the State Mining & Geology Board is unhappy with Lake Elsinore’s efforts to oversee surface mines in the City. Lake Elsinore City Manager Bob Brady is addressing the appropriate issues.
With the retirement of City Manager Stephen L. Hollister, Assistant City Manager Lianne Marshall has been asked to step into the San Leandro City Manager post in an Interim capacity during the recruitment for a successor.
Manteca City Manager Steve Pinkerton previously served as the Redevelopment Director in Stockton. Prior to that he worked for the Cities of Long Beach and Redondo Beach. He has a Master’s Degree in Economics from USC.
Stephen Dunn is the new Upland City Manager. He served as Interim City Manager following the termination of City Manager Robb Quincey. Steve is the City’s former Finance Director.
Indio City Manager Dan Martinez said that he has been informed that Indio’s City Attorney for almost a decade Edward Kotkin is no longer with the City’s legal firm of Woodruff, Spradlin & Smart. Omar Sandoval, who is with the firm and has served as Assistant City Attorney will step up to the City Attorney post.
We welcome Clay Curtin of Manhattan Beach and Mindy Jacobs of Intellibridge Partner to the Trackdown Posse.