Leslie Little, economic development director for the city of
Alameda, is Morgan Hill’s assistant city manager starting Jan.
3.
Leslie Little, economic development director for the city of Alameda, is Morgan Hill’s assistant city manager starting Jan. 3.
Little was appointed to the newly created position, officially titled assistant city manager for community development, for which the city began recruiting in August, by city manager Ed Tewes. With a starting salary of $170,000 per year, she will serve in the “second-most senior position” at city hall, Tewes said, and will manage a wide range of city services related to planning and building, redevelopment, economic development, growth control, capital projects and affordable housing.
Little, 54, brings more than 30 years experience in similar public-sector positions, mostly in cities throughout California plus Leesburg, Fla. A resident of the Evergreen area of San Jose, she has been in the Bay Area for the last 12 years. She has worked for the city of Alameda for about seven years.
The new position in Morgan Hill is “perfect” for her, Little said.
“It’s a really wonderful, unique opportunity,” Little said. “This is what I’ve always done. I’ve worked for both large cities and small cities, but I enjoy the small city environment (such as Morgan Hill’s), where you can be close to the community.”
Her previous positions include director of downtown redevelopment in San Jose, and redevelopment administrator in Long Beach, South Gate and Monterey Park.
“The alignment of the assistant city manager over development services is just exactly what I have done in various capacities throughout my career,” Little said.
After the city in August announced the need for a wholesale reorganization of the community development department – which includes services related to building permits, engineering, public works, project planning and land use issues – in order to streamline the processes with diminishing staff, the city manager’s office undertook a nationwide recruiting effort. More than 100 applications were received in response to the job opening.
“Leslie Little’s extensive experience, record of success and leadership will help Morgan Hill achieve our goals of attracting new private investment and enhancing the quality of community life,” Tewes said.
The new position will be paid for with funds budgeted for two senior city positions – public works director and community development director – that are vacant. Steve Piasecki currently serves as interim community development director, on a part-time basis. That position will likely be completely eliminated shortly after Jan. 3, as a result of the reorganization of those services, Tewes said.
Karl Bjarke is currently the city’s interim public works director, to which he was appointed shortly after Jim Ashcraft retired earlier this year. That position, and the entire public works department, will be affected by the upcoming reorganization, the details of which will be up to Little to establish. The public works department is proposed for rearrangement as well. Some public works services are recommended to be organized under a new engineering and utilities department – with some services shifted to the Recreation and Community Services Department, Tewes said. Engineering and utilities will fall under Little’s purview as well.
Other services currently in the public works division, specifically operation and maintenance of streets and parks, would be shifted to a new Community Services department, according to a staff report presented to the city council in August.
While the assistant city manager will be a permanent position, one of Little’s initial responsibilities will be to oversee this shuffling of city hall’s traditional organization, which Tewes’ office recommended to the city council as a way to adapt to a morose economic reality that resulted in the layoffs of 10 city employees this year, led to a decline in the need for services related to private development which ground to a halt more than a year ago and remains flat.
“The purpose of this reorganization is to streamline functions by reducing costs and improving service,” Tewes said. The creation of the assistant city manager position, and Little’s appointment thereto, is the “first step” in the transition the recommended new shuffling of city services, which Little will continue to manage after the changes are complete.
The development-related services affected by the changes would be aligned by five areas – strategic planning and economic development, development services, engineering and utilities, housing and neighborhoods and redevelopment. The changes are intended to be “scalable,” Tewes said, meaning that as development activity increases, the revenue generated would be able to sustain the new organization.
Notable among Little’s work with the city of Alameda, according to assistant to the city manager Brian Stott, are “major projects” such as several affordable housing efforts, restoration of the historic Alameda Theatre, and construction of a multiplex cinema and public parking garage – all of which are similar to upcoming redevelopment projects in downtown Morgan Hill. Other projects in the East Bay city that Little supervised are the redevelopment of the Regency Bridgeside shopping center and the Alameda Naval Air Station.
Alameda deputy city manager Lisa Goldman listed these projects and more when describing the redevelopment work she has done for the city. The theater project that Little was responsible for “beautifully” restored a vacant, blighted building “back to its original glory,” for use as a multiplex cinema.
“I’m sorry to see her go,” Goldman said.
Little’s current salary in Alameda is about $190,000, Goldman said. Alameda’s population is approximately 75,000. Morgan Hill’s is about 39,000.
Little has a Bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Redlands and a Master’s degree in public administration from California State University, Fullerton. She is a member of the Board of the California Redevelopment Association.
