General plan consultant will replace retiring Lee Bowman
Curtis named community development director
By Jeff Kearns
Paul Curtis, an outside consultant working on the town's new general plan, will now be on the inside.
Curtis was named last week as the town's community development director, a new position created as a replacement for outgoing planning director Lee Bowman, who retires at the end of June.
Curtis starts work June 1. Town manager David Knapp, who made the final selection, announced the decision Monday afternoon.
By creating the new position, Knapp says he hopes to consolidate some functions of the planning, engineering and building departments under Curtis, who will supervise a staff of about 20. "We wanted a broader range of inspection functions because we're a small staff," Knapp said.
Curtis worked as manager of planning programs at the San Jose office of Irvine-based RBF Consulting, which consults on planning issues for local governments in three states.
Curtis had been working for the town for more than a year on its ongoing general plan revision process. Now, his former firm will be working for him--the general plan revision process is one of the first major tasks he'll be tackling when he starts work.
To replace Bowman, who's been the town's planning director for more than 25 years, Knapp started fielding names in February. Starting from an initial list of more than 50 applicants, Knapp and other town officials narrowed the field down to 28. After a written test further narrowed the field to just six applicants, those six came in for an all-day grilling by a special panel of current and former Town Council members, planning commissioners and other officials.
"It was one of the most difficult processes I've ever been through," said Curtis, who lives in Los Gatos.
Before he went to RBF, Curtis worked as community development director in Saratoga, and before that served as planning director of Chesapeake, Va., and West Covina. He's also worked in various capacities for Claremont, Livermore and Pasadena, and served as a planning commissioner for Claremont after he left his job with the city.
Base salary for the position is $86,228.
Los Gatos, California Since 1881
