CITY OF PACIFICA
CITY COUNCIL MINUTES
Council Chambers
2212 Beach Blvd
Pacifica, CA 94044
Mayor Sue Beckmeyer
Vice Mayor Christine Boles
Councilmember Mary Bier
Councilmember Mayra Espinosa
Councilmember Greg Wright
City Council Special Meeting 1 November 17, 2025
SPECIAL MEETING
November 17, 2025 (MONDAY)
www.cityofpacifica.org
Mayor Sue Beckmeyer called the meeting to order on November 17, 2025 at 5:33 PM 6:00 PM OPEN SESSION
Call to Order
Mayor Beckmeyer called the meeting to order at 5:33 p.m.
Attendee Name Title Status Arrived
Sue Beckmeyer Mayor Present
Christine Boles Vice Mayor Present
Mary Bier Councilmember Present
Mayra Espinosa Councilmember Present
Greg Wright Councilmember Present
City Clerk Coffey took a verbal roll call.
Staff Present: Michelle Kenyon, City Attorney (Zoom); Denise Bazzano, Asst. City Attorney; Sarah Coffey, City Clerk; Emily La, Dep. City Clerk.
Reading of Land Acknowledgment
Mayor Beckmeyer read the Land Acknowledgement.
Salute to the Flag led by Mayor Beckmeyer
CONSIDERATION
1. Selection of Executive Recruitment Firm to Conduct City Manager Recruitment PROPOSED ACTION: Consider Recommendation from City Manager Recruitment Ad Hoc Committee Regarding Retention of Executive Search Firm for the Recruitment of the New City Manager; By Motion, Authorize City Manager to Enter into Agreement with Council-Selected Firm; Provide Direction on Process and Timeline for Recruitment and Development of Candidate Profile; and Authorize the Ad Hoc Committee to Take further Actions as Directed Related to the Recruitment Process.
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Mayor Beckmeyer and Vice Mayor Boles presented the subcommittee report.
Mayor Beckmeyer asked the two firms (Bob Murray and Associates and Peckham & McKenney) to give an overview of their approach and what they would bring to the City of Pacifica as an executive recruiter.
Gary Phillips, Bob Murray and Associates, stated that Bob Murray and Associates has done executive level recruitment in the municipal space for about 25 years. Mr. Phillips and Ms.
Valerie Gada Phillips acquired the company from Bob Murray and have owned the firm for the last 11 and a half years. They came into the public sector space with private sector experience and wanted to focus on three things: connecting with the next generation of leaders, increasing social media footprint, and focusing on diversity. They are a woman- and minority-owned firm.
Mr. Phillips handles the bulk of the executive recruitments that report to elected bodies, totaling over 80 positions at the City Manager level in the last 12 and a half years. He stated that every search is unique and although they put together a proposal that lays out a timeline with milestones, they always start out the search by customizing those milestones to meet the needs of their client and how to engage different stakeholders in the process.
Anton “Tony” Dahlerbruch, Peckham & McKenney, stated the steps in the process are the same for executive recruitment firms so what is important in selecting a firm and what makes them special is the relationship. They have strong relationships and positive communications and responsiveness with clients and only work for cities, counties, and special districts. The other part of that relationship is what they have with the applicants themselves. Mr. Dahlerbruch stated he is a retired City Manager and he owns the firm and the firm is made up of retired annuitants who held long-time positions in cities. He also stated that diversity is important to them as well as finding strong candidates to fulfill what the City is looking to accomplish.
Peckham & McKenney has been around for about 25 years, and he acquired the firm after retiring from city management in 2019. He has actively done City Manager searches and placed the current City Manager in the City of Pacifica. Mr. Dahlerbruch stated he would be the one point of contact for the City Council.
Vice Mayor Boles asked if it is possible to start work and get the recruitment out before the holidays, assuming a contract is signed tomorrow.
Mr. Phillips and Mr. Dahlerbruch responded affirmatively.
Councilmember Bier asked how the firms can assure us that there will be diversity and equity within their outreach.
Mr. Dahlerbruch stated they cannot ensure it, but they will do everything they can through their network. They also have a good strong reputation of finding diversity in applicants, and they will bring the best candidates.
Mr. Phillips stated diversity and equity are core values of the firm and they make sure to stay connected with all the different diversity groups across professional organizations. They belong to many of these diversity groups and are active in those groups and make sure to target them as part of their marketing campaign. He stated a large percentage of the City Managers that they have placed are either people of color or women.
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Councilmember Espinosa asked how the firms will make sure the City Manager candidates understand the problems unique to the City in addition to listening to the community and Council.
Mr. Phillips stated it starts with them understanding what it is that will make for a successful City Manager in Pacifica. The first step in every recruiter’s process is to go on a listening tour including all the different stakeholder groups and identifying the current opportunities and challenges, the leadership style, the communication style, and what works in Pacifica. Once he has that information, as he talks to hundreds of potential City Manager candidates, he can highlight the right communication style, the right background experience, etc. The candidates should also do their do their own learning about Pacifica. That is why there are multiple rounds of interviews and discussions with references.
Mr. Dahlerbruch stated the firms have the same network and will perform the same listening tour. He will also talk to each Councilmember individually in addition to staff and the community. He has also studied the City’s issues, including Measure Y, the structural and financial forecast, the Strategic Plan, etc. He will send a candidate profile that Council reviews and approves to make sure it responds to what we are looking for because that is the foundation for which they then go out and find people.
Councilmember Wright asked for each firm’s historical average length of placement of City Managers.
Mr. Dahlerbruch stated on average 5 years but following COVID-19 people have been moving around more. They have a good track record of long-term placements.
Mr. Phillips stated on average 5 years as well and added the State average for City Managers is down about four and a half years right now (other about two election cycles).
Councilmember Wright asked about their guarantee policy.
Mr. Phillips stated that they guarantee that if the person leaves within the first year whether they are let go or choose to leave they will re-do the search at no additional fees. They may ask for reimbursement of hard costs like ad placements, but no additional fees beyond that.
Mr. Dahlerbruch stated they charge a fee depending on the circumstances but emphasized that the pre-work makes all the difference for a successful outcome. They charge more than just reimbursement but it is a reduced fee. The fee serves as motivation and a guarantee that they are working hard to try to do this another time. The added fee is to give that reassurance that they are re-doing this for real. The fee is $17,000.
Mayor Beckmeyer opened public comments.
Sue Digre, Pacifica, stated the City Manager candidates need to be aware of our coastal issues, transportation issues, history, and culture. She also stated that the City Manager needs to be respectful of the public vote, especially for the quarry, and be willing to reach out to the community.
Sam Casillas, Pacifica, stated that the Council will be turning over in about a year and the strategy and goals of the City may change based on the outcome of those elections. Because City Council Special Meeting 4 November 17, 2025
there may be a new City Council wanting new direction alongside a new City Manager, we should potentially look at an interim City Manager regardless of those outcomes.
Mayor Beckmeyer closed public comments.
Councilmember Espinosa asked how often the firms will update the City on the search.
Mr. Dahlerbruch answered weekly.
Mr. Phillips answered as much as the Council needs, which is typically weekly. Any Councilmember throughout the process can reach out to him at any time.
Vice Mayor Boles asked them to address their experience working with coastal cities and placing City Managers in coastal cities.
Mr. Phillips stated the most recent City Manager recruitment was for Pacific Grove, right next to Monterey, which is similar in size and complexity. He has done many tourism-driven economy cities but oftentimes the challenge of meeting the needs of the tourism base while also meeting the needs of the residents in the community are competing interests and the Coastal Commission adds another complexity. He targets candidates who have experience in their background dealing with the Coastal Commission.
Mr. Dahlerbruch stated the cities he left, Rolling Hills and Pacific Palisades, were coastal cities, and he has personally dealt with the Coastal Commission. He also performed the City Manager search for Malibu, Hermosa Beach, Morro Bay, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Santa Maria.
Vice Mayor Boles asked how staff and community surveys may be important as part of the search.
Mr. Dahlerbruch stated this is a Council decision. The Council knows the most about what the City Manager does and what the responsibilities are. Ultimately, whatever input is collected is to inform the City Council to make the best decision. When they go out and get input from the public in the form of a survey, the questions are aimed to inform the City Council so they can make a good decision. There are three times where the public could be involved: survey for collecting input for writing the candidate profile, presentation of that survey at a public meeting for after the candidate profile is written, and engaging the public through an interview process.
There are two opportunities for staff input: before writing the candidate profile holding a group meeting with the staff (primarily department heads) and holding a meet and greet with the department head group. The City may want a survey including all staff but the key people would be the department heads who report to the City Manager.
Mr. Phillips stated they do a similar process. They develop the brochure and begin their marketing campaign. They communicate with the community through a SurveyMonkey survey as well as Zoom listening sessions where they invite the community to come to those sessions and speak in an open forum with them and answer those same questions on the survey. He also does one-on-one meetings with the Councilmembers and then the group meeting with the department heads. In some cases, cities want to have a community component to that as well and have a community panel and that is driven by the Council. The important thing is to make sure that the Council has all the information that they feel they need to make an informed decision.
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Councilmember Espinosa asked how the firms find people who specifically want this City Manager position.
Mr. Phillips began with sometimes the best candidate is the one that is not looking. That is where targeted outreach comes into play. They will place ads in the professional publications with all the diversity groups and do mass marketing on um LinkedIn. The challenge will be how to get to the people not paying attention to that and the way to do that is through their network, by picking up the phone and making those phone calls. Oftentimes, it is the persistence.
Mr. Dahlerbruch stated they do the same thing and share the recruitment on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, ads, and their newsletter. They also make the phone calls to try to find people who align with what we are looking for. Every recruiter in his firm does not do more than five searches at one time. That allows each of them to concentrate on the clients. He also shared that he was on the Board of Directors for CalCities and served as City Manager Department President.
Councilmember Wright asked them to discuss the pros and cons of experience versus up-andcoming.
Mr. Dahlerbruch stated they will receive applications of people with experience but not people who are at the end of their career though with that much experience because they are retiring.
There are people with experience with similar size cities or smaller cities who will want this position. They will know the Coastal Commission and know how to deal with the City’s challenges. Conversely, up-and-coming candidates are likely Assistant City Managers or department heads who have much of the same experience. There will be City Managers who are experienced and will take risks and be innovators and change agents.
Mr. Phillips agreed and stated we need to look at is who is Pacifica going to make sense for, including city size, people on their way up in their career, first-time City Managers, etc. He thought Pacifica is the right size city for first-time City Managers. Every City Manager was a first-time City Manager, and every successful City Manager had their first city. He has placed quite a few Assistant City Managers as first-time City Managers, and they have been very successful. For the experienced pool of candidates, what it comes down to is quality of life. He wants to hear from the candidates professionally while why they are interested in the position, but also personally why they are interested in the position at Pacifica specifically.
Councilmember Bier was concerned about the region and how big it is and how important it is f to get the information up and down our coastside and perhaps some language translation into Spanish. She was interested to see how they would reach far and wide in the region outside of social media.
Mr. Phillips stated they have done translation and brochures before. He emphasized that they want to make sure that the target audience are people who are technically qualified to do the job as well. He also highlighted targeted outreach to all the coastal cities.
Mr. Dahlerbruch stated they have also done brochures and surveys in Spanish. He stated it comes down to the targeted outreach, making it known that we are looking for somebody bilingual, somebody who values and embodies diversity, and making that clear in the communications when searching and in how to represent it. He noted that searches these days City Council Special Meeting 6 November 17, 2025
are not California-specific. Once recruitment is in ICMA and Western City, it goes international and people apply from out-of-state as well.
Councilmember Espinosa asked about the success rate, including replacements, and how many of them are still at their job.
Mr. Dahlerbruch stated he has been recruiting since 2020 and he has not had a hire leave and needed to do a replacement.
Mr. Phillips stated approximately less than 5% have left within five years. Many factors can affect a City Manager leaving, such as election cycles, council changes, and their needs changing. Since COVID-19, the turnover has increased, and during COVID-19, he had a couple placements that did not stick because the entire process was done virtually. A big part of what makes a City Manager successful is those relationships that they need to build with the Council and the staff.
Councilmember Wright asked them to discuss what are some of the pros and cons of someone with the characteristics of looking for a way to say yes versus looking for a reason to say no.
Mr. Phillips stated he hears this when doing City Attorney recruitments. Part of his questioning and learning with candidates is understanding their mentality to problem-solving and their approach to looking for ways to get to yes, being able to listen and understand where the Council is trying to go, and helping them get there.
Mr. Dahlerbruch agreed and stated City Managers are problem solvers and they are looking to go into a place to be successful there, make a difference, make lives better, and solve problems. They will find candidates who want to find a consensus, find the positives to work things out, and bring the Council together to move forward Councilmember Wright asked what the top characteristics that they believe are the important ones for Pacifica to consider.
Mr. Dahlerbruch stated one of the primary ones is having a finance or budget background and experience, especially in light of Pacifica’s structural deficit. He stated another strong quality will be the coastal experience because that is unique to the City. He added understanding our history and where we want to go in the future and have the problem-solving skills, vision, foresight, strategic planning, and perspective for moving the organization forward successfully.
He heard that the City’s department heads and staff themselves are a strong group, and there is a skillset there for doing that organizational development and keeping the City moving forward administratively. He stated public safety is a unique attribute and having that experience or a broader labor relations experience would be a key attribute.
Mr. Phillips stated somebody with a strong finance background, in addition to community engagement and communications. The City Manager position has evolved over the last 15 or 20 years, and people skills are more important than they ever used to be. Therefore, he puts that at the top of the list. It is important to have someone comfortable engaging in the community and is willing to become part of that small community.
Councilmember Wright expressed his appreciation to the ad hoc committee because both choices are strong candidates.
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Mayor Beckmeyer acknowledged that this was not easy. She placed importance on the idea of listening to the community, engaging with the community, and figuring out ways to do that.
These individuals are the agents helping to bring us candidates, and we need somebody who understands the need for that in Pacifica. She stated she has a preference for Mr. Phillips from Bob Murray and Associates in light of the presentation in the proposal and the thoughtful approach to questions.
Councilmember Bier stated the relationship building, the community panel, the Zoom listening sessions, and the guarantee stood out to her, but both of them are so talented. She was also drawn to Mr. Phillips from Bob Murray and Associates.
Councilmember Espinosa stated it is important to her to have a City Manager who is financially savvy, who thinks outside the box and focuses on economic development, and who hears what the community wants. She stated she has a preference for Mr. Phillips from Bob Murray and Associates.
Vice Mayor Boles stated when we received the proposals Mr. Phillips’ stood out to her because it was a collaborative and unique process. She heard that Mr. Dahlerbruch had more in terms of experience finding coastal candidates and work with the Coastal Commission and his own experience as a City Manager.
Councilmember Wright was impressed with both candidates. His first choice would be Mr.
Phillips from Bob Murray and Associates.
Councilmember Bier moved to accept Bob Murray and Associates to be the firm to recruit our new City Manager and authorize the City Manager to enter into an agreement with Bob Murray and Associates; seconded by Councilmember Espinosa.
RESULT: ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Mary Bier, Councilmember
SECONDER: Mayra Espinosa, Councilmember
AYES: Beckmeyer, Boles, Bier, Espinosa, Wright
Vice Mayor Boles stated with the tight schedule that the process might be that Councilmembers give their input and then the ad hoc committee would try to incorporate all those comments and finalize the brochure and materials.
Councilmember Wright respected and appreciated the work of the ad hoc subcommittee.
Asst. City Attorney Bazzano stated these would be individual meetings with Councilmembers, not relaying any input from other Councilmembers.
Vice Mayor Boles asked about circulating a community survey and a staff survey.
Mayor Beckmeyer clarified that would amend the agreement if needed to accommodate the cost of a second survey.
Asst. City Attorney Bazzano confirmed that a majority of the Council wanted both the community survey and the staff survey.
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There was Council consensus.
ADJOURN
Mayor Beckmeyer adjourned the meeting at 6:54 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Sarah Coffey, City Clerk
APPROVED: 5 - 0; 1/26/2026
__________________________
Christine Boles, Mayor