City manager search down to five City manager search down to five (July 25, 2003)

Interim manager Ted Gaebler is one of the finalists

by Don Kazak

East Palo Alto has narrowed down its pool of candidates for the city manager's job to five finalists, including interim City Manager Ted Gaebler.

The City Council met in closed session Tuesday night to go over resumes and decide the five people it will interview, which are scheduled for Sept. 5-6.

Mayor Pat Foster said the city should be able to make a decision shortly after those interviews. "I don't think it should take longer than two weeks," Foster said.

The five were culled from more than 60 applicants. Most of them are currently working as city managers, said Councilman Duane Bay. "They're very strong candidates," Bay said. "I wish we had the opportunity to hire several of them."

Gaebler is under contract with the city until the end of September.

He was hired as interim manager in February after the City Council was displeased with the first pool of applicants for the job. Former City Manager Monika Hudson was fired by the city last year.

Gaebler is the former county executive officer in Nevada County. He is also the co-author of the book, "Reinventing Government" in 1992, which was a best seller and recognized for being a blueprint for the then-incoming Clinton administration in Washington, D.C.

Gaebler left his Nevada-County job in December, resigning after the November election produced a conservative majority on that county's Board of Supervisors.

East Palo Alto has had a series of city managers since its incorporation 20 years ago, the most successful and recognized being Jerry Groomes, who was lauded by other officials for bringing respectability to the city government.

But Groomes was wooed away by the city of Carson in 1998 after serving as manager since 1993. Hudson, like Gaebler, came in first as an interim replacement and then was given the permanent job. But a dispute with the council led to her contract not being renewed last year. Don Kazak can be e-mailed at dkazak@paweekly.com