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With the departure of Menlo Park City Manager Alex McIntyre imminent, the city announced Oct. 25 that a candidate for interim city manager has been selected: Starla Jerome-Robinson, a former assistant city manager who lives in Menlo Park.
The City Council will hold a special meeting to formally consider hiring her Monday, Oct. 29, starting at 5:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers at 701 Laurel St. That day is also McIntyre’s last day before he leaves to begin work as Ventura’s new city manager.
Jerome-Robinson worked as assistant city manager in Menlo Park from 2008 to 2015 before she retired, and has over 30 years of experience in local government work, according to the city’s announcement. In addition to her role as assistant city manager, she worked as finance director and in other senior management positions. She recently worked in interim management positions in Redwood City and Portola Valley, and holds a bachelor’s degree in political science with an emphasis in urban studies from the University of California at Santa Cruz.
The two council members who were tasked with helping to find an interim manager both said positive things about Jerome-Robinson. In the city’s announcement, Mayor Peter Ohtaki said, “I’m very excited to have Starla back as interim city manager. Her breadth of experience and deep knowledge of the community will serve our residents well during this time while the City Council searches for a new permanent city manager.”
Vice Mayor Ray Mueller said in the statement that Jerome-Robinson “is not only a talented professional and administrator, she has also been a resident and member of the community for over 35 years. She raised her family here and deeply loves the city and understands the concerns, hopes and aspirations of its residents. I’m looking forward to working with her again.”
Under rules set by the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) for retired government employees, Jerome-Robinson is only permitted to work 960 hours in any fiscal year, and may not earn more than the published salary schedule for the position or any extra benefits or compensation, according to a staff report. The plan is for her to work until she has accrued 960 hours or until April 30, 2019, whichever comes first. If a permanent city manager hasn’t been selected by then, the council will have to decide whether to extend her contract or get another interim manager.
Moving forward
Once an interim manager is in place, the city will begin its work to search for and select a permanent city manager. On Oct. 23, the council voted unanimously to contract with the professional recruiting firm Peckham and McKenney on the search at a proposed cost of $28,000. The council received and considered other proposals from Bob Murray and Associates, with a proposed cost of $25,000, and Ralph Anderson and Associates, with a proposed cost of $28,750. It received a proposal from GovHR USA, with a proposed cost of $24,500, but the council subcommittee did not interview the firm based on a lack of local recruiting experience, according to a staff report.
Council members expressed preference for Peckham and McKenney based on the firm’s local experience. In the firm’s proposal, firm president Bobbi Peckham described working with cities in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties to recruit city managers and others for council-appointed positions, and said the firm recently participated in the recruitment for the county manager position for San Mateo County and general manager position for the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District.
The firm is expected to begin the search process for a new Menlo Park city manager in earnest at the start of the new year.
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She’s a good choice and was respected by City Staff when she last worked for the City of Menlo Park. She’s going to have a tough time though with the toxic workplace environment outgoing City Manager Alex Mcintyre created, and the equally toxic managers he hired/promoted. I trust she’s up to the task.
I’m expecting a Lynne Bramlett post about how this decision is Quite Prejudicial And An Impermissible Favor To Incumbents, Actually… but- it seems like a good call? Starla overlapped with McIntyre, but never seemed like part of his #AlexBros (and they are always Bros) inner circle. I think she’ll be good at this, and I’m glad she’s up for it!
I think Starla is a great choice for interim; she lives here and knows the community from her work as Asst. City Manager (and other cities) and can keep the operation going.
Ada Hall — Your jab at me makes no sense for this article. Your anonymous snipe must refer to my email to council regarding MP’s unfair practice of holding State of the City addresses right before an election. Clearly Ohtaki’s recent talk would favor the two incumbents. http://ccin.menlopark.org/19085.html Ohtaki gave this speech shortly before ballots began arriving. As my email points out, a fairer practice would be to join other progressive cities and hold these speeches at the beginning of the year. As staff helped to put on the event, this practice could be considered a violation of the government code prohibiting political activity by staff. Our town is not served by council members (and their supporters) who resist good government reforms.