Santa Rosa City Manager Millison thanked at final meeting

Santa Rosa City Manager Kathy Millison attended her final City Council meeting Tuesday, receiving a proclamation for her 37 years of public service and a hug from Mayor Scott Bartley.

Millison, 62, announced her decision to retire in February. She agreed to stay on to give the city time to hire a replacement. Sean McGlynn, a deputy city manager from El Paso, Texas, replaces her starting Sept. 13.

Millison has been praised for helping put the city back on more stable financial footing. She has also been criticized for not being engaged with the community. She has continued to maintain a home in Clovis while working in Santa Rosa, returning there regularly.

The proclamation Bartley read for Millison cited a long list of accomplishments the city has had on her watch, from the completion of a new senior wing at the Finley Community Center to improving the rate on the city’s wastewater bonds.

Millison said the past several years have been an “extraordinary time for the city” when the council had very little resources to accomplish many of its more ambitious goals. She

While she said she had been “through some very difficult times,” she has always enjoyed public service.

Millison, who has 14 grandchildren, said she looks forward to “enjoying how to do absolutely nothing for a while.”