Trackdown Management’s City Manager Newsletter: Volume No. 20: Issue No. 17
For over 15 years, Jack Simpson’s Trackdown Management has published the City Manager Newsletter. Jack is a retired city manager and former Willdan executive. His newsletter content weaves together the personal side of the profession in California and helps keep the city manager community, especially retired city managers, connected with each other.
Picking up the Pieces
Santa Monica City Manager Oliver Chi has been dealing with a planned conversion of the longtime Main Street Victorian restaurant and nightclub into a family-centered membership club in the historic cityowned building. The Victorian will close after its annual Halloween Party and reopen as The Santa Monican, a membership club with dining, recreation, wellness, and children’s programing.
Ernest N. “Ernie” Reyna is the new City Manager of Hemet. He succeeds former City Manager Mark Prestwich, who retired in May 2026. He will officially take over from Interim City Manager Noah Rau on November 2, 2026. He has served as Assistant City Manager for the city of Perris, and previously was the Finance Director and City Treasurer for Eastvale. He was Chief Financial Officer for more than 7- years for the Western Riverside Council of Governments, and he worked 13-years for the Morongo Band of Mission Indians. Ernie earned a BS from the University of California, Riverside and an MPA from California Baptist University. He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA).
Daniel Padilla is the new Arvin city manager. His first day on his new job is set for November 16. He is replacing City Manager Jeff Jones. Since 2019, Daniel has worked as the Director of Engineering and City Engineer for Ceres, City Engineer and Acting Public Works Director for Gilroy, and Public Works Director and City Engineer in Baldwin Park.
San Fernando City Manager Kanika Kith has been selected to serve as the next Rosemead city manager, replacing the retired City Manager Ben Kim. Kanika came to San Fernando to replace City Manager Nick Kimball, who went to work with South Pasadena as Assistant City Manager. It is reported that Kanika has not yet resigned her San Fernando position.
In June 2026, Turlock, on a 5-0 vote hired Dr. John J. “J.J.” Murphy as the city’s new city manager with a five-year contract paying an annual base salary of $269,100. Turlock residents have pushed back questioning the hiring based on “J.J.’s” termination as Palmdale’s city manager in 2022. Following his departure, the legal fallout cost Palmdale nearly $7.5 million in settlements. J.J is a U.S. Air Force veteran.
On September 28, 2026, the City of Indio, California officially appointed Maria Aliotti as the city’s new Assistant City Manager starting on October 5, 2026. She will be working with Indio City Manager Jonathan Nicks. She most recently served as the Assistant City Manager for the city of Pittsburg, where she also filled roles as Interim City Manager, Finance Director, Director of Community Services, and Redevelopment Manager. Previous to working in Pittsburg, Maria worked for the city of Antioch. She earned a BA from Saint Mary’s College of California.
Hercules hired Mike Futrell to serve as city manager. Mike is a former Riverside city manager, who accepted and then withdrew as the new city manager for the city of Pasadena. He said that he would return to Riverside but resigned from there in July following a city controversy involving his wife, Susan Freeman. Mike took the Riverside city manager position in January 2023 after serving as the South San Francisco city manager for nearly nine years.
Pico Rivera, where Steve Carmona is the city manager, has received a statewide award from the Institute for Local Government as the 2026 Beacon Leadership and Innovation Award winner. The city is being recognized in the innovation in energy category. Fresno, Sacramento, San Luis Obispo, and Costa Mesa also received Leadership and Innovation Awards. Pico Rivera is honored for the city’s PRIME program, Pico Rivera Innovation Municipal Energy. It is a community choice program established to give the city greater control over energy decisions, while pursuing cleaner electricity, provide competitive rates and programs tailored to local customers.
San Clemente City Manager Andy Hall reports that his city’s beaches face a sand deficit of about 3 million cubic yards and getting that much sand to the San Clemente beach will require 300,000 trucking trips. The expected super El Niño will be responsible for flooding and landslides after years of erosion. El Niño is a temporary warming of parts of the equatorial Pacific Ocean that warps normal weather patterns worldwide. The city is challenged to find a way to pay for restoring the critical sand buffer along the coastline.
Anaheim Mayor’s Chief of Staff Berenice Ballinas has issued several claims against Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh E. Aitken regarding alleged drinking, harassment, including talk with sexual content, and political corruption. She claims that the Mayor called her “a dirty Mexican” in front of former Anaheim city manager Jim Vanderpool. The Mayor has denied the claims, and that she made racist or homophobic remarks. Ashleigh is the first female Mayor in the city of Anaheim’s 167-years history. Assistant City Manager Greg Garcia is currently serving as Interim City Manager for Anaheim.
Shorts:
- Catherine Hill, Jennifer Quan, and Deanna Sessums were recognized alongside David Mullinax of the League of California Cities’ Regional Public Affairs staff as 2026 recipients of the prestigious National League of Cities John G. Stutz Award.
- Former Tulare County Supervisor, Kuyler Crocker, the fourth Lindsay city manager in less than three years, resigned in July 2026, and Public Works Director Dario Dominguez was appointed Acting Lindsay city manager.
- Former Dallas, Texas Assistant City Manager, Carl Simpson, in order to be near his Granite Bay home, left the Jackson city manager job he held since February 2024, to take the Town Manager position in Loomis in May 2026.
- Jonathan Blackstone, who has served as the Interim Police Chief since January 2026, is the new Chief of Police for the Imperial Valley community of Brawley.
- Anne Ambrose, who worked for the city of Palmdale for more than 24 years, currently resides in the city of Cathedral City where she served as Interim City Manager, succeeding retired city manager Charles McClendon. With the hiring of City Manager Andrew “Andy” Firestine, she has transitioned back to her role as Assistant City Manager.
- Andrea Dransfield is the city of Goleta’s new Environmental Services Manager, focusing on waste management and oversight of the Creek and Watershed Management Plan.
- John Paul Maier is the Interim City Manager for California City, since Sean Grayson stepped down from the job on August 32, 2026, for personal reasons.***