Meetings set on new Vallejo City Manager
The CIty of Vallejo and recruiters will be hosting a pair of virtual and in-person meetings and surveys this week to discuss Vallejo's next city manager.
The first meeting will be by Zoom on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. At the meeting, and in an effort to uphold transparency and foster community involvement, the City has enlisted Executive Recruiting firm Bob Hall & Associates to aid in the identification of the most suitable candidate for this pivotal role.
The other meeting will be held in person on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. at City Council Chambers located at 555 Santa Clara St.
According to a Vallejo news release, “Thoughts and opinions will help us identify the qualities you want in your next City Manager.”
The new salary for the as-yet-to-be-determined new City Manager will be $302,574. According to a city staff report, the salary range for the position was developed to ensure internal consistency with city positions requiring similar skills and a salary comparison was conducted evaluating similar positions in neighboring cities which are equivalent in size and demographics, consistent with Vallejo's past practice.
Last October Assistant City Attorney Laura Zagaroli said in a staff report to the Architectural Heritage and Landmarks Commission that Mike Malone had announced that he plans on leaving the city in April — two years year after council members formally named him city manager.
Malone became interim city manager in a 5-2 council vote in April 2022, with Councilmembers Cristina Arriola and Mina LoeraDiaz opposing. He served in that position for six months before formally assuming his role of overseeing all departments in the city of Vallejo.
Arriola cast the sole vote against that decision.
Malone previously served as the city's water director starting in April 2017.
The next Vallejo City Manager will be the fourth one since 2021. Greg Nyhoff became the city manager in 2018 and was set to have his term expire after 60 months in January of 2023, but in July of 2021 an “approval of a resignation and separation agreement” between the city and the embattled city manager was made. It was estimated at the time that the cost to the city of letting Nyhoff go would be at least $577,536.
From there, Anne Cardwell took over as interim city manager in July of 2021. After just a month, however, Cardwell gave her 45-day notice, saying the job was “very challenging in any city — but particularly in Vallejo.” She also pointed to “false and negative statements about various city employees” from a vocal opposition “providing inaccurate information” as “demoralizing” staff members.