California City Management Foundation’s (CCMF) Executive Director, Ken Pulskamp, recently joined Vicki Gonzalez on Insight to shed light on the pivotal role city managers play in local governance and the skill set required for success in city management.
Pulskamp described the multifaceted responsibilities of city managers, highlighting the necessity for adaptability and strategic thinking. “City managers need what I would call a tolerance for ambiguity,” he explained. “A city manager has to be comfortable in dealing with the gray area and coming up with recommendations that make the most sense for the community.”
Pulskamp also spoke on the essential qualities councils seek in city managers. “First and foremost is consensus building,” he noted. “They are responsible for taking many divergent opinions and trying to make sense out of all that.” This skill is vital as city managers work closely with elected officials, community stakeholders and staff to develop and implement policies that reflect the collective needs and priorities of their cities.
Leadership is another cornerstone of effective city management. “A city manager has to have strong leadership skills,” Pulskamp emphasized. “That can be someone the city staff looks up to, the community looks up to and feels that that person is making the correct business decisions for the city.”
As the leading organization dedicated to promoting excellence in professional city management, CCMF plays a critical role in creating successful local governance throughout California. “Our job is to promote and support excellence in professional city management all throughout the State of California,” Pulskamp shared. “We support statewide policies that make for successful and enduring cities in California. We also try to promote the profession, so that we can continue to attract the best candidates possible for these different positions.”
CCMF offers members resources and professional development opportunities to ensure that city managers are well-equipped to meet the challenges of their roles. CCMF also advocates for policies and practices that strengthen local government and enhance the quality of life for California residents.
For a larger understanding of the role of city managers and the skills required for this position, listen to the full interview with Ken Pulskamp on Insight: https://bit.ly/3WenLqW
Please see below for the full transcript:
Vicki Gonzalez: From Cap Radio in Sacramento, this is Insight. I’m your host, Vicki Gonzalez. Sacramento has a new interim city manager. At last night’s city council meeting, Leyne Milstein was appointed to replace Howard Chan, who resigned from that position in December, shortly after the City Council decided not to extend his contract. Mayor Kevin McCarty said he has full confidence in her.
Mayor Kevin McC…: I think it’s important to have one individual at the helm. And I have full confidence in Leyne Milstein. But this city is bigger than one person. It’s bigger than Leyne, it’s bigger than the mayor, bigger than all of us.
Vicki Gonzalez: Chan was among California’s highest paid city managers, second highest, actually, as of 2023, earning $600,000 a year, including benefits, and had become a polarizing figure by some for his decision-making.
As for Milstein, she has worked for the city since 2005. She now leads all city staff, while Sacramento conducts a nationwide search, a process that could take months, to find and hire a permanent position.
So that got us wondering, what does a city manager actually do and what skills does this kind of position require? Joining us now for a breakdown, City Management 101, is Ken Pulskamp. He’s the Executive Director of the California City Management Foundation, which provides resources for civic officials. And previously, he served as a city manager for Santa Clarita for a decade.
Ken, welcome to Insight.
Ken Pulskamp: Thank you for having me.
Vicki Gonzalez: So I am wondering, how does one become a city manager? I would imagine it’s not necessarily, when you’re a kid in elementary school, in the realm of wanting to be an astronaut or President. What does a career path look like to become a city manager?
Ken Pulskamp: You rarely run into a third-grader that aspires to be a city manager.
Vicki Gonzalez: Right.
Ken Pulskamp: That’s good. But typically, what a city manager has is certainly a college degree. And generally, a master’s degree in something like Public Administration or Public Management. And then they typically have worked for quite a few years in the public sector, learning about the different functions of a city, learning about leadership, learning about the finances of a municipal government.
Vicki Gonzalez: You were a city manager in Southern California for a good amount of years, a decade in Santa Clarita. What drew you to the position and to stick with it for that long?
Ken Pulskamp: I really got my start in Fresno, where I started as an intern. And worked there for a number of years. And it really fit who I was. It was an opportunity to have an impact on individuals, on families, on communities, and really make a difference. And now that I’m towards the end of my career, I can look back and see all the positive impacts of working with my various teams throughout the decades have had on community, and it’s something that feels good very deep.
Vicki Gonzalez: A city manager is a powerful position, especially, we’re talking just recently here in the City of Sacramento. It’s been a big topic of conversation, and debate, frankly. But it can be kind of unassuming, when you compare it to the city council or the mayor, which are elected offices. The city manager is not. So what is the role of the city manager? And how does it differ from these elected positions?
Ken Pulskamp: It’s supposed to be unassuming. I’m glad you see it that way. Because really, the way the system works is that the city council, the mayor, they’re the ones that are intended to be up front. And the city manager’s more behind the scenes.
They implement the policy that’s set by the city council. They’re essentially the CEO of the organization. So they’re the boss over all of the city employees, from the lowest level positions, up to and including the fire chief and the police chief. They’re responsible for preparing the budget. They’re in charge of the city during emergencies. And then they represent the city as appropriate. So it really depends on what the city council wants. But typically, it’s standard that the city council would be out in front quite a bit more than the city manager would.
Vicki Gonzalez: Is the city manager’s authority, does it differ from one city to the next? Because you have some cities, like Los Angeles or San Francisco, where the mayor has more executive authority, they can hire and fire city employees. Whereas, versus here in the City of Sacramento, the mayor doesn’t really have much formal authority outside the city council.
Ken Pulskamp: Right, it varies quite a bit. Actually, neither Los Angeles nor San Francisco have a city manager. So it does vary from city to city, depending on what the charter says, depending on what the local ordinances are. But typically, the city manager is the one that is responsible for dealing with all the day-to-day functions of the city operations.
Vicki Gonzalez: You did run through this a little bit, but if we can dive a little deeper, what qualifications does a city manager need to be successful in this position?
Ken Pulskamp: Well, at the end of the day, it’s whatever the city council says they need, because they have the authority to hire and fire. But some of the skills that typically councils look for in a city manager, I would say first and foremost is consensus building, that they are responsible for taking many divergent opinions and trying to make sense out of all that.
Typically, whatever the city manager recommends to the city council is not going to make everybody happy. Those types of solutions typically don’t exist. And so somehow or other you got to accept all of that input and figure out what is the best way to move forward for the city.
Second, I think they’re looking for a city manager that is very comfortable with finance and budget. They are obligated to submit and recommend a budget to the city council. They’re ultimately responsible for the investment and accounting of all city finances.
They need to have strong people skills that you’re out in the community, you’re dealing with important people, with all the different council members and their different personalities. So you have to have somebody who’s comfortable dealing with a lot of different people.
And then also, I think city managers need what I would call is a tolerance for ambiguity. Typically, in cities, there’s no right answer. There’s a whole bunch of answers. And oftentimes, it is not black or white. So a city manager has to be comfortable in dealing with the gray area and coming up with recommendations that make most sense for the community. And then finally, I would say that a city manager has to have somebody that has strong leadership skills, that can be somebody that the city staff looks up to, the community looks up to, and feels that that person is making the correct business decisions for the city.
Vicki Gonzalez: Yeah, I find that ambiguity aspect pretty interesting, because, when you’re working in that gray area, and you’re a numbers person, and in a powerful position, that can make things complicated, but also controversial as well, and not put you in a popular position. So I think attached to that, you would need a certain temperament to be a city manager as well.
Ken Pulskamp: Yeah, you need to be cool under fire, for sure. And I think people need to understand, that if the decision was black and white, it would be made at a level in the organization far below the city manager. The decisions that elevate to the city manager’s desk, really by definition, are the decisions that are important and don’t have real clear answers.
Vicki Gonzalez: Given that you were a city manager for 10 years, what did you learn about the role of civic engagement? What actually gets people to show up to city council meetings, to participate in this civic process?
Ken Pulskamp: Well, first and foremost, it’s to ask them. Ask them to come, ask them to participate. And then really what they want is they want to feel heard. You don’t necessarily have to do what they ask you to do, but you need to listen to them and consider it strongly. I think people really have moved from a representative form of democracy to more of a participatory form of democracy. That it used to be you elect a leader and you just let them go do their thing. Now, people want to be involved in the process. And I think it’s incumbent on political public leaders to give them opportunities to be involved at all the different levels of government.
Vicki Gonzalez: You’re listening to Insight here on CAP Radio, and if you’re just joining us, we’re talking with Ken Pulskamp, Executive Director for the California City Management Foundation, about the role of a city manager. Sacramento appointed an interim city manager last night at the city council meeting, to replace Howard Chan, whose last day was December.
So your foundation, the California City Management Foundation, is niche, I would say. It’s very specific for this position. How do you help these roles across the state?
Ken Pulskamp: Well really, our job is to promote and support excellence in professional city management all throughout the State of California. So we support statewide policies that make for successful and enduring cities in California.
We also try and promote the profession, so that we can continue to attract the best candidates possible for these different positions. One of the things we’re always concerned about is, it’s so popular now to run down government that we don’t want to get to a position where we take really bright, hard-working people and have them feel like, “Well, I don’t want to spend my career in local government. I want to go do something else.”
That is a disaster for the state. So we try and make sure that people are paid appropriately, that they have the authority, that they’re not always getting beat up, so that we can continue to go into graduate schools and have people that are studying in this field, who want to be city managers.
I know that the issue you guys had in Sacramento, with people descending on the City Manager’s house, we took a position on that, and said, “Hey, whatever happens in the council chambers, that’s fair play. But leave the person’s family out of it, leave his residents out of it.” And we saw that as really stepping over the line. So when push comes to shove, we do whatever we can to promote and support professionals in city management.
Vicki Gonzalez: Well, I mean, as Sacramento is now getting ready for this nationwide search for a permanent city manager, I mean, we can look back to Howard Chan’s tenure. He was city manager for eight years. This position became controversial in the City of Sacramento. Is that rare? Or do you see this happen elsewhere across the state?
Ken Pulskamp: It certainly isn’t rare. It varies from city to city. But all of the positions in government now seem to be getting more controversial. So I think what the City of Sacramento experienced is probably the far end of the spectrum, but more and more cities are having contentious city council meetings, and having those types of struggles throughout the state.
Vicki Gonzalez: At the crux of this issue, or the controversy surrounding this position was, the salary. According to the State Controller’s Office, from 2023 data, showed that Howard Chan’s base salary was $400,000. With benefits, nearly $600,000, making him the second highest paid city manager in California that year. Does that salary stand out to you?
Ken Pulskamp: It’s towards the top of it, but Sacramento is one of the most important cities in the state, so it somewhat stands to reason. And I would also say, that of all the places in the budget to save money, I would encourage the city council not to try and save money on the salary of the city manager, but go out and find the best city manager for Sacramento, somebody that can work with the community, work with the city council, and get the absolute best and brightest. That’s what the City of Sacramento deserves. And if you save a few dollars, or spend a few extra dollars, it’s really inconsequential, in terms of the impact a very strong and positive city manager can have in a community.
Vicki Gonzalez: Would your city management foundation have a role or collaborate with the City of Sacramento as it conducts a nationwide search for a new city manager?
Ken Pulskamp: Typically, no. That is left to the individual council. And the council has a lot of… They can do whatever they want, in terms of selection of a city manager. So it’s really up to them, and they can do whatever they see fit. They have that authority.
Vicki Gonzalez: If you are a listener in the City of Sacramento, and you have a vested interest in who becomes the next city manager, permanently in Sacramento, how involved should they be in this process?
Ken Pulskamp: Again, that’s up to the city council. But it’s not unusual for them to involve the community and find out what types of characteristics they’re looking for in a city manager. It’s not unusual for them to include them at some level in the selection process. And I think at the end of the day, the community needs to have a lot of confidence in whoever the city manager is, so that that person can be successful in their performance at their job.
Vicki Gonzalez: Given that the city council carries a great deal of weight in this process, what are some of the best practices the Sacramento City Council should follow?
Ken Pulskamp: Well, typically, they would go out and hire an executive recruitment firm. They would figure out how to include the public. They would sort through the applications, develop a process to figure out what is the best way to narrow it down to maybe six or seven candidates, and then conduct interviews. It’s certainly important to do background checks on candidates for a city manager.
And then ultimately, they would enter in the negotiations with their selected candidate, and come up with a compensation package that both sides see as fair and equitable.
Vicki Gonzalez: Finally, we’re at the start of the year. It’s January and this search is going to launch. How long could this process potentially take, with your experience?
Ken Pulskamp: It could easily take six months. It’s not a process that should be rushed. I think it’s one of the things, you don’t need it fast, you need it done well. And so, like I said about the money, the most important thing is that at the end of the entire process, the City of Sacramento has somebody that the council has full confidence in, the community has full confidence in, and that the candidate is ready to work with all those people, and move forward, and start addressing the issues that face the citizens of Sacramento now.
Vicki Gonzalez: Ken, thank you so much for joining us.
Ken Pulskamp: My pleasure.
Vicki Gonzalez: Ken Pulskamp is the Executive Director of the California City Management Foundation, discussing the role of, you guessed it, a city manager. Sacramento appointed and interim city manager at last night’s city council meeting. Leyne Milstein is replacing Howard Chan, who resigned and stepped down from that position in December, shortly after the city council decided not to extend his contract.
Up next, we have a new class of lawmakers that have entered the state legislature. We’ll meet freshman assembly member Maggy Krell, a Democrat elected to serve a large part of Sacramento, and learn more about her priorities in her first year in office.
You’re listening to Insight on CAP Radio, where facts matter and stories inspire. I’m Vicki Gonzales.