William C. Norton










Council says it's looking for 'new blood' in city manager

By Kara Chalmers

The City Council wants to hire a new city manager with a lot of experience managing cities, but, according to one council member, Ann Waltonsmith, it's also important to have "new blood."

"Saratoga is a small city so we don't have a lot of turnover," she said. "So when we have a chance to bring a top person in, it can invigorate an organization and add new ways of looking at solutions. This is a good chance to bring someone in with new ideas."

The City Council needs to fill the shoes of former City Manager Larry Perlin, whom it asked to resign in January. The council decided at its March 1 meeting to hire a recruitment firm, rather than hiring from within the city staff. At a special March 6 meeting, the council hired Hughes Perry & Associates.

Mayor Stan Bogosian outlined what he would like to see in a city manager. He said it is important to find someone with good management skills who is able to go out into the community and listen to Saratogans. He said it is also important that the candidate understand the basic roles of the council versus the manager.

Waltonsmith agrees. She said it is important that the new city manager understand it is the City Council's job to make policy, prioritize and clearly state policy to the city manager. It is the manager's job to put the policy into action as soon as possible, and to keep the lines of communication open between council and city staff, she said.

"My hope is that we find somebody who is a good manager but also who understands the needs of Saratoga," Waltonsmith said. "We're not growing, we're not a city that has a lot of money in its coffers."

The city hired William C. Norton as the interim city manager on Feb. 25. He began work on March 1, the day after Perlin left. Norton said the recruitment process should take about four months or longer. But since he is retired, he can only stay on as interim manager for six months.

A resident of Alameda, Norton retired from the city manager post there in 1996. He had been manager for eight years. Since then, he has served as interim city manager for Calistoga in 1998 and for Los Altos Hills in 1999.

Hughes Perry has worked with the city before. The firm handled the recruitment for Saratoga's last two city managers, Harry Peacock in 1982 and the recruitment in 1997. In 1997, though, Perlin was hired from within the city (at the time, he was public works director). The firm is based in Sea Ranch, CA.

Bogosian said Hughes Perry knows which issues are important for a city manager to understand in Saratoga, such as the high real estate values. It is a small firm that will give the city focused attention, speed and quality.

Norton, who gained some recruiting experience at his prior posts, said that Hughes Perry has a lot of experience and contacts, but that all four companies the council interviewed could have done a good job.

"The firm they chose had some local experience, and handled some prior recruitments for Saratoga" Norton said. He said that recruiting a manager in-house rather than going through a firm would have taken a lot of the city staff's valuable time.

"There's a lot to do here," he said. "I've found the employees to be very helpful."

Norton said things are going well so far. On his third day on the job, the city settled its seven-month lawsuit against AT&T. "Saratoga is involved in an awful lot of projects," Norton said. "I had to start out running."

He said he is focusing on getting the recruitment process going. "I want to be real responsive to the City Council and to the citizens," he added.

Hughes Perry will next interview each council member directly. The council must approve a contract with the firm, after which the firm will offer candidates for council members to interview.

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