Following a special Thursday morning closed session, the Clearlake City Council appointed Eureka resident Stephen Albright, who turns 60 next month, to the position.
Albright is due to retire from the Trinidad city manager post on Feb. 3, his three-year anniversary in the job.
City Clerk Melissa Swanson said the council unanimously approved a contract with Albright, which sets his starting date as Feb. 7.
“I might try to make it down there a week earlier,” Albright said Thursday, noting he was trying to “step it up a bit” regarding his departure from Trinidad, where his successor hasn't yet been chosen.
Vice Mayor Joey Luiz said he has a good feeling starting out the year with Albright coming on with the city, noting he was impressed by Albright's positive energy.
“We definitely came out united on this issue,” he said of the council.
As part of its Thursday morning discussion, the council also unanimously approved an interim city administrator contract with Bob Galusha, the city's engineer. That contract covers the time period from Dec. 31 through Albright's arrival in early February.
Galusha's appointment was necessitated by the retirement of Police Chief Allan McClain, who was appointed interim city administrator in November when Dale Neiman resigned from the job, as Lake County News has reported.
The term's of Galusha's interim city administrator contract give him an 8-percent pay increase over his current salary. Galusha, a state Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) retiree from Redding, currently makes $55 and hour and receives $520 a week in subsistence pay.
In Trinidad – one of the state's smallest cities, with an estimated population of 311 – Albright's job was part-time but he said he worked it full-time.
According to the State Controller's Office, which tracks salaries of local officials, Albright's annual salary in Trinidad was $30,000, with $4,800 in health benefits.
Because Albright also is a PERS retiree, his contract states that he can work for a maximum of 960 hours. He said that's about five and a half months of full-time work.
The council approved paying Albright $40 an hour, approximately $30 less an hour than Neiman was making according to his July 2010 contract, which took the city administrator job from full- to part-time.
Neiman also was receiving $520 a week in subsistence pay and the city paid his share of PERS retirement for a 2 percent at 55 plan, according to the contract.
Albright will receive $450 a month for medical expenses, $100 a week to cover travel to his home in Eureka – he said he planned to stay in Clearlake during the week – and up to $2,000 a month for rent, utilities, and a land line or cell phone. Any additional funds needed to cover those expenses, the contract notes, must be approved by the council.
Albright said the circumstances that brought him to Clearlake's attention “happened quickly.”
When Albright announced his retirement, he said he let several professional search firms know.
His retirement also was announced at a Public Agency Risk Sharing Authority of California (PARSAC) meeting, of which both Trinidad and Clearlake are members. The joint powers authority is an insurance risk-sharing pool for California towns and cities.
He said Swanson was there, and he later got a call from McClain.
The terms of his contract state that the agreement is in force until the city hires a new city administrator or decides to otherwise terminate Albright.
According to published reports, Albright is well-respected in Trinidad. In his retirement letter to the Trinidad City Council he stated that he was proud of accomplishments that included not just management – financial and activity reporting, and working with the council – but also for public outreach efforts, including introducing a city Web site, working with citizens and interacting with media.
Luiz said Albright is “just exactly what an interim administrator should be,” seeking direction from the council and not trying to force his own views.
The interim city administrator position wears a lot of hats, and Luiz said he felt Albright was up to the task.
“I feel that it's really going to be a good start to the new year,” Luiz said.
Experience in community building
Originally from Pennsylvania, Albright grew up in Fresno and holds a bachelor's degree in urban planning from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. He said most of his work has been in urban planning.
He and wife, Karen – the medical director for a Humboldt County health clinic – have two grown children, a son in Texas and a daughter in Oregon. They have one grandchild and another on the way.
He worked for several years in government in Southern California, where he was president and chief executive officer of the Inland Empire Economic Partnership.
Later, he headed the March Joint Powers Authority in Riverside, in which the closing March Air Reserve Base was handed over by the Air Force to the authority, which worked to build a community there. In that capacity, he oversaw redevelopment, an airport and commercial development.
“They're starting a city from scratch is what it amounts to,” he said, explaining it was a perfect situation for redevelopment, with the opportunity to create a tax base.
That job required the drafting of redevelopment and general plans, zoning ordinances and everything needed to create a city, he said.
After seven years in that job, Albright retired at age 49. He said he and Karen moved to Eureka in 2000, where they purchased a restored Victorian and ran the Old Town Bed and Breakfast Inn for eight years.
While the inn was financially successful, “I just sort of missed the public service work,” he said.
The inn was later closed – he and his wife still live there – after he was contacted by Trinidad officials who wanted him to come on as city manager in 2008. He said he told them he would give them two years, but ended up going another year.
While he was in the area, he said he didn't know Neiman, who also hails from Humboldt County and formerly was city manager for Fortuna.
“I don't think I've ever met him,” Albright said of Neiman.
When Albright comes to Clearlake, he'll be bringing with him his 4-year-old Airdoodle – standard poodle and Airedale mix – Lola, who visits Trinidad City Hall. She was with him on Thursday during his Lake County News interview.
“Everyone loves Lola and she loves everyone,” he said, adding she may visit Clearlake City Hall, too.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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