Ukiah’s city manager announces resignation

Ukiah’s city manager of seven years has announced she will be resigning in June to follow her family back to the Bay Area.

“That’s where we’re from,” Jane Chambers said.

Chambers said her husband, Michael, has been working at a San Francisco architecture firm since the fall. Her daughter, also an architect, lives and works in the Bay Area, as well.

The family still owns a Daly City home, which they had been renting out while living in Ukiah, she said.

Chambers’ announcement, made during the council’s Wednesday night meeting, came as a surprise, said Kevin Doble, one of three newly seated council members.

“I was kind of shocked,” he said.

Mayor Doug Crane said he didn’t know in advance but wasn’t surprised because he knew Chambers’ husband had taken a job in San Francisco after years of deferring to his wife’s career.

The council will be meeting next week to discuss how to proceed with finding a new manager, including whether to hire from within or outside of the city’s existing pool of employees, Crane and Doble said.

Chambers said she will work with the council to help find a replacement and to ensure a smooth transition for the new city manager and the city.

Crane is the only council member who has been through the city manager hiring process previously. Of the other four, one has been on the council for just over a year and the other three for just two months. Crane has been on the council since 2004.

With the fresh faces comes the perception that the council is now more assertive and less likely to accept without question the city manager’s direction than it had been in the past several years.

Chambers said her decision to leave Ukiah “has nothing to do with the new council.”

Chambers’ tenure was marked by the economic downturn and loss of redevelopment funds, which put a damper on city improvement projects.

“Throughout these last seven years, we have confronted significant financial challenges that threatened our ability to deliver police, fire, recreation and park services for our residents,” Chambers said.

She credited city staff with being flexible, allowing the city to weather the financial storm and even undertake some city infrastructure improvements.

“Jane’s been here through probably the toughest time in many, many years. Just holding on, I think, is somewhat of an accomplishment,” Doble said.

Chambers said she plans to continue pursuing her career in the Bay Area. Chambers has more than 20 years of experience in local government. She’s credentialed by the International City Managers Association and holds a master’s degree in public administration from UCLA.

Her current base salary, not including benefits, is $157,000.

You can reach Staff Writer Glenda Anderson at 462-6473 or glenda.anderson@pressdemocrat.com. ?On Twitter @MendoReporter.