City manager ready for new chapter
‘I want to do well and will stay as long as they want me. I’m in 100 percent.’
Yuba City is in a state of transition, with a relatively new City Council learning the ins and outs and a number of vacancies amongst its top executive positions.
One of those positions was the city manager job, until recently when council members selected Michael Rock from out of 70 applicants from around the country. With more than 11 years of experience helping run cities throughout the state, Rock said he’s ready for a new challenge and is looking forward to taking over the top administrator position in a few months.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” said Rock, 55. “I grew up in Northern California. That’s a comfort zone for me. Hopefully this will be my last job. I want to do well and will stay as long as they want me. I’m in 100 percent.” Yuba City’s new city manager, Michael Rock, plans to start on Sept. 3. He is the current city manager of Santa Paula n Ventura County.
Yuba City will be the biggest jurisdiction he’s overseen to date. Rock is currently the city manager of Santa Paula in Ventura County, where he has been the top administrator for a little over two years. Prior to that he spent nearly two years in the same position for the city of Banning, and a little over three years before that in Lomita. He got his first taste of running a city as town manager of Fairfax between 2007-2012.
His time for Lomita was cut short when he was fired in mid2015. While a non-disclosure agreement prevented him from going into detail, he said he believes he was terminated from the position over a difference of opinion on how to handle a particular development project.
During his time in Banning, he was also investigated for allegedly meddling in a City Council election. However, he said, investigations by a third-party and the council itself didn’t find that he violated any policies, and the city retained his services after the investigation.
When he became aware of the open Yuba City position, he said he felt it was the next logical step for him and that he knew the area well. Rock attended California State University, Sacramento, where he obtained his master’s degree in public policy and administration. He also grew up in Santa Rosa.
Rock said he’s excited to work with City Council members after becoming familiar with them throughout the interview process. Once he steps into the position on Sept. 3, his first order of business will be finding permanent executive team members for three departments that are either currently vacant or will be by the end of the year – fire chief, development services director, and a finance director.
“Our longer-term vision, as is with all cities, is certainly to address our unfunded liabilities (through CALPERS). The city has positioned itself to deal with that already, but you can never have enough money. So, we will be keeping a close eye on that,” Rock said.
Rock takes over for former City Manager Steve Kroeger, who left the position earlier this year. The city hired Bob Murray and Associates to assist in the search for a permanent replacement. Public Works Director Diana Langley has been serving as interim city manager during the transition.