Alameda City Council gave direction to the City of Alameda Human Resources Director Nancy Bronstein to initiate searches for a long-term interim and a permanent city manager at its April 5 council meeting.

Councilmembers and city staff met in closed session to discuss the searches for the two city manager positions at the meeting. The council and city staff emerged from the closed session hours later to detail their results with the Alameda public via Zoom.

Councilmembers voted 4-1 not to use an outside search firm to fill the permanent city manager position. Instead, the council chose to have the search conducted by the city’s Human Resources (HR) department. It was not disclosed who gave the lone dissenting vote.

Also, the council voted unanimously to direct the HR department to immediately begin the search for a long-term interim city manager. Lastly, the council voted unanimously to direct the HR department to immediately begin the search for a permanent city manager. Bronstein is to give the council a detailed plan how her department will conduct the hiring process during closed session at the next council meeting on April 19.

The city manager position became vacant after current City Manager Eric Levitt took a similar position with the City of Fullerton (“City Manager Leaves for New Position,” March 23). The City of Fullerton made the announcement at its March 15 council meeting. Levitt will begin his new role on May 10. Levitt attended the council meeting via Zoom. Levitt began his role as Alameda City Manager on April 12, 2019.

The timeline for when a long-term interim city manager will be hired was not discussed by the council. The last time the council hired an interim city manager the search took a couple months. The council hired David Rudat as interim Alameda city manager in July 2018 (“Interim City Manager Choice Goes Before Council July 24,” July 19, 2018), after former City Manager Jill Keimach left the position in May of that same year. Rudat held the position until Levitt was hired.