Healdsburg City Manager Marjie Pettus leaving

Healdsburg City Manager Marjie Pettus is resigning after six years as the city’s top administrator and moving to Wyoming.

Pettus, 54, confirmed Tuesday that she will be leaving by Dec. 31, if not sooner. She is relocating for her husband’s new job.

“I gave my resignation to the (City) Council on Sept. 30,” she said.

Although there was no announcement, she also informed city department heads and word of her departure began to leak out.

“It was one of the best unkept secrets,” said City Councilman Gary Plass, who praised Pettus’ performance.

“Marjie has done a terrific job. She brought new energy and new thoughts and new ideas on how to do business. She’s always been very responsive, not only to the Council, but the community,” he said.

“Personally, I’m sad to see her go. I think she’s been a fabulous asset for us; the right person at the right time,” said Mayor Jim Wood.

Pettus, who is paid approximately $180,000 annually, said her husband, former Santa Rosa Police Officer Brian Bilyeu, decided to come out of retirement to take a law enforcement job in Wyoming. The couple already has a home there, in Jackson Hole.

The city didn’t have to look far for a successor to Pettus.

On Monday, the City Council in closed session offered the position to Assistant City Manager David Mickaelian, who is negotiating a contract with a City Council subcommittee.

“Why spend time and money when we have someone who can do the job?” Plass said of foregoing an extensive recruitment procedure to replace Pettus.

Pettus was first hired in February 2007 as assistant city manager, and for a time she also served as interim finance director.

In late 2008, she was picked to succeed retiring City Manager Chet Wystepek, ending a six-month recruitment process that involved winnowing out more than 60 applicants for the job.

“My experience in Healdsburg has been really good,” Pettus said Tuesday.

“The most significant thing I did is to keep the city on track during the recession. We made it through in a healthy position financially, with minimum impacts to service levels to the public,” she said. “I take pride in the fact we weathered the storm.”

Mayor Wood said Pettus’ “organizational skills are amazing. Her ability to pull together a really solid team is what we needed as we went into the recession.”

Pettus said it was bittersweet to be leaving, but her husband sacrificed for her career and now “it’s my turn.”

The couple relocated to Healdsburg from Redlands, in Southern California, for what she saw as a career promotion to advance in municipal government.

Her husband was a sergeant in Redlands but went to work as an officer in Santa Rosa before retiring in 2012.

“He gave up the sergeant stripes and career path and started at the bottom,” she said.

Pettus worked in Redlands for 18 years, where she gained experience in human resources, fleet and building maintenance, safety and workers’ compensation. She also was a civilian police commander, overseeing the records bureau and budget, as well as an administrator in recreation, housing and senior programs.

Pettus said Tuesday that she is too young to retire and expects she may get a different type of job in Wyoming. She envisions perhaps working outdoors in some form of environmental stewardship or historic preservation.

“I can’t imagine not working,” she said. “I will look at this as an opportunity to try something completely different.”

You can reach Staff Writer Clark Mason at 521-5214 or clark.mason@pressdemocrat.com.