City of Salinas names new city manager

Council to consider contract, appointment

Former Merced and Los Banos City Manager Steven Carrigan replaces retiring manager Ray Corpuz.

SALINAS >> Former Merced and Los Banos city manager Steven Carrigan has been chosen for the city of Salinas’ top administrative job.

Carrigan was unanimously selected by the Salinas City Council on Dec. 10, emerging from a field of 78 applicants for the position, and the council is set to vote Tuesday on a proposed contract that would pay him $235,000 in annual salary and appoint him city manager. He is expected to formally begin next week.

New mayor Kimbley Craig, who was elected in November, said the new council’s “first priority” was an “immediate” selection of a new city manager, and the council interviewed four finalists for the position before choosing Carrigan. Craig said he was “overwhelmingly” the top candidate among the current council members.

“We are excited Steve has accepted the City Manager position,” she said.

Following former City Manager Ray Corpuz’s announcement last summer that he would retire at the end of September, the council hired a consulting firm to conduct a national search for a candidate to fill the position, which included input from the council, department heads, council candidates, and community stakeholders, as well as a bilingual community survey.

A large candidate pool was narrowed to seven and then four before final interviews and the choice of Carrigan as the top candidate.

Carrigan most recently served as Merced city manager from January 2016 until July 2020 where he managed an annual combined budget of $265 million and a staff of 584. Before that, Carrigan worked as Los Banos city manager from April 2013 to January 2016.

He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Arizona.