Craig Malin

When Craig Malin steps into the Weekly for a Dec. 7 interview, he arrives prepared. Malin, who will become Seaside’s new city manager Jan. 12, proffers a manila folder holding documents that include a list of 100 references mostly from Davenport, Iowa, where he served as city administrator for nearly 14 years until June of this year. At the top of those names – all prominent mover/shaker types – it reads: “Start at the top, bottom or anywhere in between. You’ll probably get tired of dialing before you hear something bad.”

Also included in the folder is a development contract with a casino developer, one that resulted in Malin getting pilloried by Davenport’s Quad City Times, which reported, in a series of articles, that the contract left the city on the hook for about $2 million in grading costs. Shortly after those stories printed, the Davenport City Council voted 9-1 to terminate Malin.

Also in the folder is a printout of an email Malin sent to Davenport’s finance director and city attorney, asking if they saw any issues with the contract. The responses: “No issues here,” and “Same.” Malin, who was paid up to $310,000 to walk away from his job, won’t say that he was fired, or that he resigned. Rather, he says had only wanted to stay in Davenport long enough to see his kids through school.

“My youngest child graduated from high school, and a life goal was secured. You can tell a more complicated story, but that’s the essence of it. When I interviewed for the job in Davenport, I said I wanted to be there 13 or 14 years. That’s what I did.”

By most any measure, Malin seems to have been wildly successful in his former post. During his tenure, crime fell and the local economy blossomed. Malin says his mantra is “open, agile, purposeful,” and promises that when he comes to his office in Seaside, he will maintain an open-door policy at City Hall.

Weekly: What do you think are the opportunities in Seaside?

Malin: I’m still coming to understand all the opportunities. It’s a wonderfully inclusive, remarkably beautiful place. There is much opportunity within those adjectives.

What special skills are you bringing to the job?

Since [California’s redevelopment agencies] went away, you’re better served finding somebody who knows how to secure opportunity without those processes. I’ve worked in three different states so far, which I think will be helpful. I have about $5 billion in community development experience in total. I bring a place-making and organizational development perspective to my work, along with youth empowerment.

What have you done in terms of youth empowerment?

I spent part of my life in a wheelchair, and part of my life in an orphanage, and when that happens, you can’t help but think you owe a great debt to the people that helped you. So I found my way to this line of work full of kindness and with that debt of social capital.

I try to stay focused on the future of communities, and the future of communities is in our children. [Sixteen years ago], I helped found the first charter school in Illinois authorized by the state. In Davenport, I’ve long been a Big Brother, and I was pretty heavily involved in youth sports coaching. I was long an advocate for giving the youth of Davenport a better shot at life.

If you don’t mind my asking, how did you end up in a wheelchair?

A car versus bike accident, and I was 7, so I was on the bike. My foot got caught in the spokes. My dad took me to the hospital, and they said they were going to amputate it. I wish I had been quick enough to say, “The Cubs are going to need me someday,” but I’m told I became hysterical. So they said, “We’ll keep it, but you’ll never walk unaided again.”

I was the youngest of seven children, and I just wanted to go out and play, so I taught myself to walk again. If you can do that, the orphanage is a walk in the park.

How did you end up in an orphanage?

My father collapses at work one day, when I was in fifth grade, and they took him to the tuberculosis sanitarium to die. I spent about a year and a half in an orphanage. When I got dropped off there, I decided to be an optimist, and it stuck. Those early experiences, looking back, were very beneficial.