The Fort Bragg City Council is pleased to announce that John Ford of McKinleyville, California has accepted their offer to serve as Fort Bragg’s next City Manager. Mr. Ford’s anticipated start date is July 5, 2022.
After the resignation of City Manager Tabatha Miller last December, the City retained the executive recruitment firm of Peckham & McKenney to conduct a nationwide search for a new city manager. Over 15 applications were received, and following an initial screening by the executive recruiter, the City Council selected four candidates for final interviews. A multiphased final interview process was conducted which included interviews with the City Council and selected members of the City management team. Mr. Ford was the unanimous choice of the City Council.
John Ford has years of experience in local government having worked for the City of Thousand Oaks, the City of Roseville, the County of Monterey and most recently as the Director of Planning and Building for the County of Humboldt. While at the County of Humboldt, Mr. Ford was responsible for the reorganization of the Planning and Building Department to accommodate the legalization of cannabis cultivation. The department not only developed a new permitting unit but was also assigned the Code Enforcement unit.
His background includes successful coordination with federal, tribal, state and local agencies, including the California Coastal Commission, Department of Fish and Wildlife, in addition to many others. He has overseen the processing of many large and complex projects and has developed creative solutions working with other agencies.
John is married to Bonnie and between them they have five children and six grandchildren with a seventh due any day. When not at work, John likes to be outside doing almost anything from gardening, to hiking, biking or playing golf.
In accepting the City’s offer, Mr. Ford stated, “One of the attractive characteristics about Fort Bragg is the teamwork shown in taking on projects. I look forward to working with the community to continue to enhance the City of Fort Bragg as a desirable place to live, work and do business.”
Mayor Bernie Norvell and the entire City Council believe that the community and staff will find that Mr. Ford is collaborative and likes working with the public. We hope you will join us in welcoming John Ford to Fort Bragg.