Rohnert Park hires interim city manager, again

A City Council divided over

the

salary and

other

contract

issues on Tuesday

hired a retired city manager from San Luis Obispo as Rohnert Park's interim city manager Tuesday.

John Dunn, who will be paid $15,900 a month plus a $2,000 housing and car allowance, steps into what has become somewhat of a revolving door position at the head of a city with severe budget problems.

"He's ready to go and he understands our problems," said Mayor Pam Stafford.

Under his contract, Dunn, who retired in 2000 after 13 years as San Luis Obispo's top government official, is guaranteed six months of his one-year contract.

The contract was approved on a 3-2 vote.

Councilmembers Amie Breeze and Joe Callinan, who voted against Dunn's contract, said that with the city already negotiating with a new and permanent city manger, it was too expensive and fiscally unwise.

"The sticker price is pretty surprising to me and in our budget crunch, I don't feel it would fiscally responsible," Breeze said.

Callinan said that department heads could rotate through the city manager's position until it was permanently filled

,

which he said could take place as soon as 45 days

,

and that the terms of Dunn's contract would hurt the city as it campaigns for a ?

-

cent sales tax measure that

proponents say

is crucial to its financial viability.

"We're asking people to sacrifice, to put their money out there, and here we are putting money out the window," he said. "In my eyes, this would be one of the silliest things this council could do." Since April 30, Darrin Jenkins, the city's engineer and development services director, has been serving as acting city manager.

Stafford said that after a year of layoffs and cutbacks, department heads are already stretched to breaking, and could not be expected to effectively take on more work.

"I absolutely do not think that our department heads can be expected to run the city on top of two or three departments," she said

.

In an interview after the vote, Dunn, 74, said he wouldn't have any trouble working with two councilmembers who think he's overpaid.

"I will work carefully with each councilmember to address the issues that the city is facing," he said.

S

ince his retirement from San Luis Obispo

Dunn

also

has

been an interim city manager in Pismo Beach and Grover Beach.

"I have taken this job on as a challenge to assist the city to deal with the substantial financial challenges they face," he said Tuesday.

T

he city

faces

a budget deficit projected to be about $6 million in the fiscal year that begins in July. The city has

cut nearly $6 million on the past nine months in what is now a

$26.5 million budget

. O

fficials are now campaigning for Measure E, the ?

-

cent sales tax on the June ballot.

Longtime San Luis Obispo councilman and former mayor Allan Settle said Dunn is a manager who favors two

-

year budgets and has coped successfully with tough economic times.

Settle said Dunn ran San Luis Obispo's government in the early 1990's, a time of steep recession during which the state was, as it is today, taking money back from county and city governments to address its own deficit.

"He was always successful in mitigating budget shortfalls," Settle said

.

"

H

e knows his business."

Dunn was assistant city manager of Sunnyvale from 1961 to 1965. In Monterey, he served as assistant city manager from 1967 to 1978 and city manager from 1978 to 1987.

Dunn he becomes the fifth top administrator in Rohnert Park in five years

.