Yorba Linda’s city manager, Dave Adams, abruptly quit last week, the second top official in less than two months to turn in a resignation to the seriously divided City Council, the Orange County Register reported.
In a special closed-door meeting Saturday, the Yorba Linda City Council unanimously named former Parks and Recreation Director Steve Rudometkin as the interim city manager, according to a city news release.
Mayor John Anderson said Adams said he was leaving for personal and professional reasons.
“I personally appreciate everything he did for the city,” said Anderson. “I was surprised and disappointed” by the resignation.
Adams came to Yorba Linda a year ago from San Juan Capistrano, where he was city manager for six years. In May, longtime Yorba Linda City Attorney Sonia Carvalho also resigned, citing personal reasons and the long hours spent in city budget hearings.
From the Register story:
The city has seen the turnover of key personnel in recent years, including the finance director, parks and recreation director and city clerk. Several departures were from retirements.
Adams said that when he took the job with Yorba Linda, he intended to stay longer. He does not have another job lined up, and said he expects to take some time off to decide whether or not he wants to continue working in city management.
Rudometkin worked for Yorba Linda for 30 years, becoming director of parks and recreation in 1980 and leaving the city in 2007. He retired as parks and recreation director for the city of Pomona in 2009 and formed his own company, SR Consulting Inc. Recently he returned as Yorba Linda’s interim parks and recreation director.
“The City Council is very excited to have Steve rejoin the staff in this new capacity,” said Anderson in the news release. “He had an outstanding career here during the city’s formative years, and we all felt that he would be a tremendous asset in this new role.”
Adams, according to the Register, had said he would stay with the city through the end of this month if needed. In the news release, Rudometkin said his appointment was for six months and, in the beginning, he will work with Adams “through a transition period.”
The six month interim will carry the city through the November elections when there could be changes on the council.
The council is divided 3-2, and the discord is likely to continue tonight. In addition to still needing to adopt a 2010-11 city budget, the mayor is taking council member Jan Horton to task for public comments she made earlier this year.
On the agenda for tonight is Anderson’s request that the council send a letter of apology to the city’s traffic commission “for disparaging, coercive, and intimidating comments made by city council member Horton.”