Former City of South Lake Tahoe employee now Galt City Manager

Galt City Council members on Dec. 15 were expected to name an experienced administrator in smaller jurisdictions as Galt’s next city manager.

Eugene Palazzo, who started his career in 1989 as a planning technician in Nevada County, has served as Crescent City’s city manager since 2011.

The council vote was not known at press time.

Galt city staff wrote in the council report that Palazzo has more than 27 years of experience in local government.

Palazzo has spent more than four years as city manager of Crescent City, the only city in Del Norte County and a short drive down the coast from the Oregon border.

State Department of Finance (DOF) statistics indicate Crescent City had a population of 6,889 residents on Jan. 1, although Galt Mayor Mark Crews said that tourism sometimes boosts the city’s “population” to around 30,000 people.

Palazzo spent 2003-2011 in various capacities, including economic development coordinator and director of redevelopment and housing for the city of South Lake Tahoe, which DOF indicated had a population of 21,738 residents at the start of the year.

The Del Norte Triplicate wrote in 2011 that, when Palazzo took the job in Crescent City that before working in South Lake Tahoe, he helped with special projects and labor contract negotiations while working in the city administrator’s office in Yuba City. The Sutter County community had 66,363 residents on Jan 1, according to the DOF.

There was also a stint as a planner and community development director in the city of Riverbank. DOF statistics showed the Stanislaus County city had 23,485 residents at the start of 2015.

“It is important to have someone who is familiar with small cities,” Crews said. “It’s extremely important that they know how a small community runs (and) that small communities have a more sense of community as a whole than larger communities.”

Palazzo also previously worked in Folsom, so he has knowledge of Sacramento County.

The Del Norte Triplicate in that same article noted that Palazzo graduated from Humboldt State University in 1987 with a bachelor’s degree in geography and later received a master’s degree in public administration from Golden Gate University.

Palazzo will replace Jason Behrmann, who resigned in August to become assistant city manager in Elk Grove.

After Behrmann left the city manager’s position in Galt, the city hired a consultant to recruit for the position. The consultant received and screened about 50 applications and narrowed that candidate pool to seven applicants.

Those top candidates met with a community stakeholder panel, a city manager panel, and the council on Nov. 30. Three of those seven candidates returned the next day for interviews with department heads and council members.

City staff wrote in its report to the council that the recommendation for Palazzo was unanimous.

Palazzo’s contract with the city calls for the new city manager to be paid $156,750 per year with a cost of living increase of up to three percent on July 1.

Council members on Dec. 15 were also expected to approve spending $7,500 on Palazzo’s relocation expenses.

The new city manager is expected to start on or before March 1.

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