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Dan Rich
Assistant to the city manager moving on
Dan Rich takes new position in Belmont after nine years in city
By Gretchen Knaup
Dan Rich, Sunnyvale's assistant to the city manager, is departing to take a new job as assistant city manager for the city of Belmont. After nine years of service with the city management of Sunnyvale, Rich is moving on to show Belmont how it's done.
Rich had his last day on the job July 18. Though he's excited about the future, he also regretted having to say goodbye.
"Sunnyvale is a great organization and community," Rich said. "I'll miss it, and I'll miss the people. But it's time to move on and tackle new challenges."
Rich has held several different positions in city government; all have had management in common. Rich said Sunnyvale has a more advanced system of management than most cities, and he hopes his experience in developing a variety of projects for Sunnyvale will benefit the city of Belmont.
"I want to take the systems and communication tools that we have developed here and bring them to Belmont," he said. "I want to help improve the trust of their citizens to reach the level of trust we have here."
According to Rich, one of the most in-depth and innovative projects he has been involved with has been "outcome management," or Sunnyvale's budget system, created five years ago.
"We don't line item budget, nor do we budget by department," he explained. "We budget by program and their specific service levels. We make expectations, and by reaching those expectations, we give a lump sum to that specific program."
He added, "It's like a contract between the council, community and the staff. We then, as staff, are accountable for planning the budget."
As part of management, Rich was in charge of implementing a new structure in Sunnyvale. He now hopes to enact a similar plan in Belmont.
"My goal is to implement a performance measurement plan that will be identical," Rich said.
Furthermore, Rich said another major accomplishment in Sunnyvale came with the recent housing issue.
"I had the opportunity to impact teachers and individuals," he said "I enjoy coming up with new alternatives and recommendations."
Rich said the other favorite part of his job was the interaction with council.
"On a personal level, education is something I feel passionate about," he said.
Assistant City Manager Amy Chan, whom Rich worked directly under, agrees he has been an invaluable asset to the city.
"He has really done a good job, particularly in the media relations," she said. "He had really tried to provide as much information to the press as possible, which is so important. He also provided significant support to other departments as well as communicating with our legislatures which has helped us a lot."
She added, "He really did a good job at doing research for the affordable housing project recently. He always had smart suggestions."
Rich was promoted to the assistant to the city manager position three years ago. He said his work was divided between external and internal relations. He says his new position in Belmont is the next step up, which is assistant city manager.
Rich said the city manager is like a CEO, and the council is like a board of directors who hire the city manager, who then hires assistants to work under him or her.
"Sunnyvale has a big management department compared to other cities," Rich said. "[Belmont has] a much smaller population, with only about 26,000 people. It will only be the city manager, a human resources director and me."
According to Rich, his new job will be more focused on internal relations than his Sunnyvale position has been.
Born and raised in San Francisco, Rich is very familiar with Bay Area history. He briefly left the Bay Area after graduating from the UC-Berkeley to pursue a career in Washington, D.C.
"I was a staff assistant for five years and then knew it was time to move on," he said. "I was always interested in the inner workings of government, so I went back and got my master's in public policy."
Rich stayed on the East Coast and attended Harvard for graduate school before he returned to the Bay Area.
"I knew when I graduated that I wanted to get into government management in California, so I was very fortunate to get this job in Sunnyvale," he said. "It was nice to be back where my family and friends were."
He started out in Sunnyvale in 1992 when he was hired as a management analyst.
Council member Pat Vorreiter worked with Rich during her term as mayor. "He was of immeasurable assistance to me during that time," she said. "He has a great sense of humor but also is very professional ... His leaving is a great loss for the city, but at the same time, I am so happy for him because I know he will shine having new responsibilities."
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
