Jarred Simmons: Economic development is new city manager’s strongpoint
Merced new city manager, Steve Carrigan, appears to be a nice guy. He was the best choice of 31 applicants through a rigorous candidate search conducted much like the search for the city attorney, who left after just nine months on the job.
The new Merced city manager’s experience as Economic Development Director of the city of Stockton for eight years and was a team member in its controversial waterfront projects, which it has been reported contributed to Stockton’s managed decline into bankruptcy.
He was assistant city manager in Sanger for 16 months and appears to never have fully relocated, and then was off to Los Banos for almost three years, where his economic development credentials were cited upon being hired as city manager there. It sounds like he’s well suited for Merced, given his Stockton experience, the current state of Merced, its national standing and is worth the additional $14,914 over the former city manager’s pay. Let’s see what happens.
Jarred Simmons, Atwater
This story was originally published December 21, 2015 at 3:40 PM with the headline "Jarred Simmons: Economic development is new city manager’s strongpoint."