Windsor to decide on interim town manager Dec. 1

The Windsor Town Council will decide at their Dec. 1 meeting whether to approve their selected candidate as interim town manager.

The candidate, Mark Linder, is a retired former city manager who runs a consulting firm to help developers navigate local government. He would replace departing Town Manager Ken MacNab, whose last day is Dec. 30.

He was city manager of Campbell, near San Jose, for about three years ending in 2016, and has served in various administrative roles for cities in the Silicon Valley. He lives in Santa Cruz and received a bachelor’s degree in sociology, political science and psychology from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1969. He holds a master’s degree in public administration from San Jose State University, which he earned in 1994.

Windsor Mayor Sam Salmon said their consultant suggested it would be best to wait until after the holidays to recruit for a permanent replacement. The consultant, Management Partners, suggested four candidates for the interim spot, and Salmon said “the one we picked has a nice, calm personality. We selected someone we thought we could work with.”

Because the council has only four members and has often deadlocked, Salmon said the council also felt it would be better if a full slate of members approve the final candidate following the April 2022 election of a new member. Salmon was appointed mayor after former Mayor Dominic Foppoli resigned in May, leaving an open seat. Foppoli resigned after numerous women accused him of sexual assault. In November, Salmon, at-large mayor, and at-large Councilwomen Esther Lemus and Rosa Reynoza have terms that will be up in December.

Linder is expected to start work during the last two weeks of December so that he can be trained by MacNab in how town government works in Windsor and meet department heads.

The interim candidate, since he is a retiree, will be hired at the same salary the outgoing manager was making, with no benefits, per requirements by CalPERS, the state’s Public Employees’ Retirement System.

“When we do a permanent recruitment it will be a lot different,” Salmon said. “We will spend a lot more time with the process, and hopefully we will find someone we really like.”

You can reach Staff Writer Kathleen Coates at kathleen.coates@pressdemocrat.com.

Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to say that one council seat will come up for election in April and three will up for election in November, and the name of the consultant firm was Management Partners.