Santa Rosa has hired an official from Vallejo to be the city's new chief financial officer, City Manager Kathy Millison announced Monday.
Deborah Lauchner has been Vallejo's finance director since 2011, when she helped the city emerge from its 3?-year bankruptcy.
She helped improve the city's financial position by developing finance staff, implementing new financial policies and strengthening the city's bond rating, Millison said. "Her knowledge and experience dealing with complex financial matters and developing successful solutions with her staff are real strengths that will serve our community well," Millison said.
Santa Rosa has struggled to keep top finance officials. Three different people have held the post in six years. Lauchner says she is looking forward to being in the position for awhile.
She grew up in Santa Rosa, graduating from Montgomery High School before attending UC Davis. Her first professional job was right across the street from City Hall in the John F. Shea Federal Building when she worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, she said.
She subsequently held government finance positions in Santa Cruz County, Rohnert Park and Novato before taking the Vallejo post. She, her husband and youngest son live in Cotati.
Her experience in Vallejo has given her a keen understanding of the financial challenges facing cities, experiences that should benefit Santa Rosa going forward, she said.
"I'm good at what I do, and I've been doing it a long time," she said. "I know what to watch for and I know what kinds of policies to put in place to maintain the integrity of your budget."
Vallejo just passed its first balanced budget in 10 years, though financial challenges remain, particularly related to the cost of employee pensions, she said.
Lauchner also has experience with the new fact-finding process that Santa Rosa is going through now with two labor groups. That process was largely favorable to Vallejo and resulted in the city imposing a contract on police officers that shifted much of the retiree medical costs onto current employees and retirees, she said.
She's taking a pay cut to come to Santa Rosa, and will receive the top of the city's salary range of $153,960, she said.
You can reach Staff Writer Kevin McCallum at 521-5207 or kevin.mccallum@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @citybeater.
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