CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake City Council on Thursday honored its retiring city manager, thanking her for her efforts to work cooperatively with other officials and the community to get the city on the right track.
City Manager Joan Phillipe was clearly moved during the nearly hour-and-a-half-long meeting, and expressed her own gratitude to the city she has served for nearly four years.
Phillipe previously held city manager posts in Colfax, Colusa and Loomis, as well as working as interim general manager for the Foresthill Public Utility District in Placer County and as executive director of the California State Sheriff's Association before arriving in Clearlake, where she was appointed interim city administrator in October 2011.
In March 2012, the council voted to go to the city manager form of government, and Phillipe was appointed as city manager – technically, the city's first – on a permanent basis in April 2012.
In January, she formally notified the council that she planned to retire effective June 30, which kicked off the process of finding her successor.
In May, the city announced that Greg Folsom would succeed Phillipe as city manager. He started work with the city on June 15, which has given him and Phillipe a transition period in which to work together to get him up to speed.
At the start of Thursday's meeting, Mayor Denise Loustalot presented Phillipe with a proclamation on behalf of the council and the city, expressing appreciation for her service.
The proclamation cited Phillipe's “remarkable experience” in municipal government, and said she was an incredible asset to the city, bringing great civility and experience to her work, and a wealth and depth of knowledge, with great skills in land use and economic development.
Loustalot's voice broke at points during the reading of the proclamation, which also lauded Phillipe's creative way of updating the city's general plan in “economical and competent fashion” – in this case, through a group of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s City and Regional Planning Department graduate students who did the update as a project.
The proclamation also cited Phillipe's leadership, how she built morale in city hall, and her role as an invaluable and tireless asset to the city. While she will be missed, her legacy in the city will live on, the proclamation said.
Loustalot then hugged Phillipe as fellow council members and members of the audience rose to give her a standing ovation.
“I'm not good at this. You already made me cry,” said Phillipe.
“Thank you so much. I really apprentice this. I appreciate my time here. Truly, I wish I had found the city before. I think that together we could have done even more, and some great things,” Phillipe added.
Phillipe said she is leaving the city in good hands with Folsom, and that she believes he will continue the forward progress that has been put in place.
“It's been my pleasure and my honor, to serve the city and I will miss being here,” she said.
Phillipe said the city hasn't lost her – that she's committed to returning for a July 7 meeting, joking she's like a “bad penny.” She also said she plans to stay in contact with city leaders and watch the progress that she knows is coming for the city.
“I really do believe the city is right on the cusp of some great and positive things happening,” she said.
“I think you're our good luck penny,” Loustalot said.
After Loustalot returned to the dais and Phillipe went back to her seat, she introduced her family – including husband Brian and son Adam – who had come to the meeting as a surprise. Another son, Arthur, lives in Southern California and couldn't attend.
“Without them, I wouldn't have had the success in my career that I have had,” she said, adding, “My family support has been my backbone.”
After a brief break for the council and community members to have refreshments in the lobby, the meeting reconvened.
During the public comment portion of the meeting, businessman Pete Loustalot thanked Phillipe for her work on behalf of the city.
“Since Joan has been here, I personally haven't seen a better-run city government,” he said.
Beth Kaiman, a volunteer for the city's public access television station, thanked Phillipe for the help she had given the station.
During Phillipe's final report to the council, she noted, “It's been a busy couple of weeks,” as she has worked with Folsom during the transition.
She said the transition time has been beneficial. “It's helped me to close the loop on a number of items and start downloading,” she said, noting she is still “downloading” her knowledge to share with Folsom.
They've also attended a lot of meetings; met with Walmart officials, who are restarting a large expansion project at the Clearlake store; spoke with Pacific Gas and Electric about a fund for undergrounding utilities, with the city potentially able to put together an upcoming project; and met with Konocti Unified School District Superintendent Donna Becnel.
In summing up, Phillipe – who again became emotional – told the council, “I just really appreciate the staff that we have. I think you have a group of very dedicated individuals, they're a dynamic group,” and she said she believed their hearts and their souls are dedicated to continuing work on behalf of the city.
She concluded by offering her appreciation for the support she has had during her tenure.
In their final remarks at the end of the meeting, council members offered individual messages of thanks to their outgoing city manager.
Councilwoman Joyce Overton said she had been told Phillipe was a “fix it” person before she arrived in the city, which she said turned out to be true. “You walked into a huge mess.”
Overton said Phillipe did a fabulous job. “It's been my honor and I've been so proud to see our city move forward faster in the four years that you've been here than I have in the 35 years we've existed,” she said, adding, “You were the best thing that ever happened to us.”
She said she believes Folsom will fit right in, noting the council had wanted someone like Phillipe.
In a separate interview on Thursday, Phillipe told Lake County News, “The experience being in Clearlake has been a very positive experience.”
She added, “Coming here, I felt very welcome from day one.”
Phillipe said she had support from many community members, “which has made my job much easier.”
Over the last four years, she said the groundwork has been laid for some very positive things to happen in Clearlake, including economic development, better code enforcement and improvement in the city's main corridors, including Highway 53 and Lakeshore Drive.
She said she believes the city of Clearlake is on the cusp of some very positive things happening.
Going forward, she said she and her husband have plans to enjoy retirement.
“We're planning to do some traveling,” she said, noting they just bought a fifth-wheel trailer.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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