Escaping the ‘distractions’ in Atwater, administrator is given Merced job

An Atwater administrator caught up in controversy during the city’s last several months of a city manager search has been hired in Merced, leaders announced last week.

Scott McBride was named Merced’s director of development services effective Aug. 14, city staffers said Friday in a news release. He will oversee the planning, housing and building divisions, taking over from David Gonzalves, who began a Tuolumne County job in January.

“Scott is a heavy hitter who will consistently knock it out of the park,” City Manager Steve Carrigan said in a news release. “He has more than two decades of experience in planning, economic development and city administration. We have a fantastic team, and Scott is a great addition.”

McBride had a similar job in Atwater as community development director, but in the past six months has served as interim city manager. He applied for the full-time city manager job in Atwater but exited from the applicant pool after controversy embroiled the Atwater City Council and the search.

McBride said he looks forward to his position in Merced. “There are a lot of exciting, transformative projects that are on-going,” McBride said in a news release, “projects like high-speed rail, ACE (train), UC Merced collaborations, new downtown developments.”

“It’s not often that one gets an opportunity to work on so many unique projects like these in a career,” he continued.

In a statement to the Sun-Star in May, McBride said he decided to step away from Atwater’s city manager search after a series of “conflicts” and “distractions” kept the council from handling “serious issues.” He made the announcement publicly minutes after a Modesto man accused McBride of running an “illegal hotel” at the mother-in-law suite at McBride’s home on the outskirts of Atwater.

McBride said he’s stopped renting out the space, and has since been in contact with Merced County officials to see if he needs to take corrective action.

McBride oversaw development in Atwater when it pursued the Ferrari Ranch project, a plan to annex 359 acres and build a 160-acre business park.

He’s been part of number of other city projects from tax-sharing and waste-water bonds to working with marijuana businesses and downtown parking.

An Atwater High graduate, he has a master’s of public administration with distinction from California State University, Stanislaus. His bachelor’s in environmental studies comes from the University of California at Santa Cruz.

McBride will make $146,000 annually, according to city staffers.

The Atwater city manager search is on-going.

This story was originally published July 16, 2017 at 4:20 PM with the headline "Escaping the ‘distractions’ in Atwater, administrator is given Merced job."