CLEARLAKE — The City of Clearlake recently welcomed a new interim city administrator. Joan Phillipe said she is getting to know the staff and familiarizing herself with issues facing the city while focusing on the city”s financial situation.
Phillipe said the biggest challenge is getting the budget and finances in order. She said she is working closely with Interim Finance Director Sandra Soto to prepare for the city”s next audit, which she said goes hand-in-hand with determining the city”s true financial situation. She said they are on track in their preparation to provide the council with its mid-year budget review in January.
“We really need to know exactly where we are (financially) for both the General Fund and the Redevelopment Agency,” Phillipe said. “Once we know where we are fiscally, we can start doing other things.”
Phillipe said the transition is going well and that staff has been terrific and helpful in getting her acclimated with city concerns and issues. “It takes time to get familiar with a new community. I feel pretty comfortable in starting to get that under my feet,” she said. “Clearly, the city has a lot of challenges facing it. I think that because there is so much, and it”s a rather depressed community, it”s going to take some time to turn around.”
Phillipe said the next step in getting the city turned around is to identify the goals of the council and identify priorities with staff. She said identifying those goals and priorities will lay the groundwork for a workshop in January in order to gain a starting point. “That will really get a work program in place for next year,” she said.
Phillipe she would like to see the city into a position in which it can maximize opportunities to use taxpayer dollars (grants) and benefit from the implementation of joint use agreements. “We have to be prudent with what we have,” she said. “There are tremendous assets here; the lake is a beautiful asset and being able to build on what is already here is essential to progress.”
Phillipe said there are three key factors that contribute to the success of a city: a good vision, money and planning. “I think there is always an opportunity to be visionary,” she said. “My goal would be to bring all those together in a consolidated approach.”
Prior to her employment with the City of Clearlake, Phillipe worked as the interim general director of Foresthill Public Utility District and as city manager for the City of Colfax. Phillipe also served as the city manager for the City of Colusa and was, prior to that, executive director of the California State Sheriff”s Association. Her experience also includes time spent as town manager of Loomis.
Contact Denise Rockenstein at drockenstein@clearlakeobserver.com or call directly at 994-6444, ext. 14.
