Saratoga News

Wants job: Larry Perlin

Perlin seeks manager's job

Interim city manager sends in résumé for council consideration

By Sarah Lombardo

Interim City Manager Larry Perlin has thrown his hat in the ring in a bid to be the next permanent city manager of Saratoga.

Perlin's résumé was one of about 40 turned in for consideration by the City Council before the closing date last Monday.

Perlin has been the acting and interim city manager, in addition to being public works director, for Saratoga since February after the City Council fired former manager Harry Peacock.

Perlin said he decided early on in his stint as manager that he enjoyed the job.

"After less than a month on the job, I found that it did interest me," Perlin said. "It's been exciting and fun, and I'm learning and growing from it."

Perlin, who came to Saratoga from a job with the city of Capitola seven years ago, said he knew he could do the job, but wasn't sure about the issue of job security, pointing out that the average tenure of California city managers is about five years.

"City managers are not the most stable of employed individuals," Perlin, 37, said. "And at my age, and my point in my career, that's not very encouraging."

"If I were to take this job or be offered this job, I would expect to be doing it for quite some time," Perlin said. "I feel like [my family and I] have established roots here. ...We want to remain here and are not looking to move."

But Perlin said he's aware that the length of his stay as city manager, should he get the job, will not be up to him. Still, he said, he finds the job rewarding enough to give it a shot.

"I guess I've concluded that if you're not willing to take chances and take risks, you are never going to reach your full potential," Perlin said.

"I find the job a challenge and I find it enjoyable. ... I'm a resident of this community, and I have a vested interest in this community. These things outweigh maybe the concerns and uncertainty that go along with the job. I've come to the realization that, yeah, I do want to do this job."

Peacock, who was hired to be city manager of Malibu shortly after his ousting, was with Saratoga 12 years, virtually a record by city manager standards.

The council said at the time that they decided to fire Peacock, 55, because he no longer fit the city's direction for the future. With the overwhelming support of the limited-initiative Measure G and the failure of the city's utility-users' tax, councilmembers said they felt Saratoga residents wanted the city to spend less and halt growth. It wasn't the first time, however, that councilmembers had tried to get rid of Peacock. Former councilmember Vic Monia led a campaign to remove Peacock in 1991.

Perlin, as acting city manager, stepped into the middle of strained budget hearings, with the city facing the loss of $1.4 million and desperate to make cuts and still maintain certain services.

Perlin said he is proud of the job he and other city staffers did during the budget crunch.

"I feel pretty satisfied with how things have worked out and the direction that we are moving, and given all the turmoil we've have and potentially could have had, I think things have come out pretty darn good," he said.

Perlin said he wants to have the chance to see through to completion some of the projects the city started in his time as the city manager.

"I'm very very enthusiastic about some of the changes that we've made over the last six months, and I guess I would like to implement these changes and basically build the best city organization that we can have."

The fact that he is applying for the job himself shouldn't have an effect on the city's search for a new city manager, Perlin said. "My involvement in the recruitment has not been that great," he said. The recruitment firm hired by the city, Hughes, Perry & Associates, works directly with the City Council.

The firm is scheduled to have a list of candidates ready for councilmembers by October. Perlin said that no salary has yet been determined for the new city manager; but Peacock's salary and compensation package was about $93,000 a year.

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