CLEARLAKE, Calif. – With Clearlake's city manager announcing her intention to retire this summer, the city is preparing to begin a recruitment for her successor.
In a letter dated Jan. 15, Joan Phillipe gave the Clearlake City Council formal notice of her plans to retire at the end of June. She said she had informally advised them of her plans previously.
Phillipe – who joined the city in the fall of 2011 – has been in public service since 1978.
“There have been many changes in the years since then that have affected the way business in the public sector is done,” she wrote. “Most of these changes have been for the better and have certainly shaped and molded the way I have approached serving communities.”
Before arriving in Clearlake, Phillipe worked as interim general manager for the Foresthill Public Utility District in Placer County, and had held city manager jobs in Colfax, Colusa and Loomis, as well as having served as executive director of the California State Sheriff's Association.
“I have been fortunate to enjoy the challenges and successes in each of the cities and organizations that I have worked with but serving the City of Clearlake has been an especially rewarding experience,” Phillipe wrote.
“This is an exciting time for the city with the promise of greater strides in economic development that will move the city closer to being fiscally healthy,” she said.
“The work done over the last few years has set the stage for that success and I am hopeful that the city stays the course and achieves its vision. I am confident that it will do so,” said Phillipe.
In the months to come, as she finishes her tenure, Phillipe said that work to move toward the goals set by the council will continue, “and recruitment for my replacement will be at the forefront.”
She concluded, “It is an important time for the city and I look forward to being a part of the process in transitioning both the city's and my next steps into the future.”
Phillipe's contract with the city expires April 24.
As part of the council's consent agenda items for its Thursday meeting, the council will receive Phillipe's letter and also consider approving the extension of her contract with the city until her June 30 retirement date.
“This will provide time to recruit for a new city manager and provide for transition,” Phillipe said in a separate memo to the city council.
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Clearlake city manager plans to retire; council to consider extending contract until end of June
- Elizabeth Larson
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