Salinas City Council prepares to hire a new city manager.

Salinas City Council is expected to appoint Steven Carrigan as the new city manager, the top city employee, and approve his employment agreement today, Tuesday, Jan. 5. 

Since last year, the city has faced a few major changes in leadership roles. First, the death of Mayor Joe Gunter on June 29. Second, the resignation of City Manager Ray Corpuz in September after serving for nine years. Third, the city now has a new mayor, Kimbley Craig, and three new council members after the Nov. 3 election.

Corpuz's last day was Sept. 29 and Jim Pia has acted as interim city manager since then. The city hired CPS HR Consulting to lead the recruitment process, and they received 78 applications for the job. The pool of candidates was narrowed to seven then to four finalists, who were interviewed on Dec. 10. City officials have not released the names of the finalists, except for Carrigan, their top choice. 

 City Councilmember Steve McShane says they wanted someone with a background managing large cities and addressing homeless and lack of housing. McShane says Carrigan has vast experience in both matters. 

“He had come from an area that is agricultural and has many of the same agricultural and rural issues that we face in our area,” McShane says. 

Carrigan has collaborated in previous cities with nonprofit organizations and on Housing First initiatives similar to the recent Project Homekey that opened in Salinas on Dec. 17 

Most recently, Carrigan was Merced’s city manager until he was fired on July 20, 2020; the council voted  6-1 to terminate him during a closed session meeting, according to Merced Sun-Star.

According to the Sun-Star, Mayor Mayor Mike Murphy alleged Carrigan wasn’t transparent and inefficiently managed the city during the Covid-19 emergency. 

McShane says Salinas officials received positive feedback from Merced. “I do think that the nature of his leaving was more political,” he adds. 

Carrigan’s proposed starting salary of $235,000 will be $14,000 less than his predecessor's. 

Council will vote on his contract when they meet today at 4pm, and the public is welcome to participate via Zoom.