Windsor introduces new town manager

From Farmersville to the family-friendly town of Windsor.

That could be the introduction for the newly hired town manager of Windsor, whose hiring was announced last week following a closed Town Council session to choose the new administrator.

After sifting through a list of 45 applicants, Windsor chose John Jansons, 52, the city manager of Farmersville, a town of almost 12,000 east of Visalia in the Central Valley.

“Over multiple conversations with him we are sure that he will fit within Windsor very well,“ said Mayor Debora Fudge. “He will bring some creative ideas to Windsor.”

Jansons’ contract is scheduled to be approved at Wednesday’s Town Council meeting.

Jansons has been city manager in Farmersville since August 2015. He will get a big boost in pay coming to Windsor, a town more than twice the size - 27,000 population - and with more municipal employees. His pay was $129,732 last year, according to Transparent California, a public pay and pension database.

In contrast, Linda Kelly, the retired Windsor town manager he is replacing, made $210,275 last year.

Fudge said Jansons will be paid in the same range as Kelly, but not more.

Since Kelly’s departure Aug. 4, administrative services Director Camille Kazarian has acted as interim town manager for Windsor.

Jansons is expected to start Oct. 30.

“I’m really excited about this new opportunity and really looking forward to settling down with the family, becoming a part of the Windsor community and continuing the great work they’ve undertaken,” Jansons said Wednesday. “It’s a high-quality town. I’m looking forward to being part of that.”

Jansons’ background is in economic development, redevelopment and affordable housing.

Prior to working in Farmersville, he was community investment director for the town of Hemet in Riverside County for about five years.

He held a similar position in Banning, and also worked with the development commission in Portland and an urban renewal agency in Salem, Oregon.

Jansons, who grew up in San Jose, got a late start in his municipal government career after first working as a property manager for 10 years. He said he went to night school to get college credits and graduated from UC Davis before going to work for the city of West Sacramento in the affordable housing and economic development field.

Jansons said he has visions of his 4-year-old daughter one day graduating from Windsor High School.

Fudge said one of the big projects Windsor is facing and that Jansons will help steer is redevelopment of the Town’s Civic Center.

Windsor is looking at new uses for land now occupied by Town Hall, the police station, the library and the Huerta Gymnasium.

Some of the possibilities under discussion include tearing down Town Hall, the police station or school district offices to create surface parking; using the Huerta gymnasium site to make way for a hotel, conference facility and retail space; and a “pavilion” multipurpose events center on the current site of the regional library.

Windsor is also working on establishing better connectivity between its east and west sides.