Oceanside’s City Manager Calls It Quits

Oceanside City Manager Suzanne Foucault announced her resignation Tuesday, bringing to an end a tenure with the city marked by several key successes but marred in recent months by increasing conflict with the City Council.

The announcement by Foucault, 38, caught several officials by surprise, but prompted one council member to suggest that the city’s top administrator had seen the handwriting on the wall.

Foucault could not be reached for comment after her decision was made public with a press release issued by Mayor Larry Bagley late Tuesday afternoon. Several officials said Foucault refused to elaborate on her reasons for resigning, choosing instead to cite only “personal reasons” for her decision to leave the $81,721-a-year post effective Sept. 30.

Bagley complimented Foucault, saying he felt the city manager had performed admirably since she rose to the top administrative post in January, 1983. But the mayor said Foucault had come under increasing pressure from the council over several issues since two new council members were seated in the November, 1986, election.

“I got the impression some time ago that she really felt that she wasn’t going to survive this council as presently constituted,” Bagley said. “I don’t think she’s been real happy for some time . . . and I haven’t heard the council expressing a lot of confidence in her.”

Not Asked to Resign

Bagley said the council had not asked Foucault to resign, but suggested that Deputy Mayor Sam Williamson and Councilman Ben Ramsey, Foucault’s chief council critics, might have eventually pressed for her dismissal.

Williamson refused to comment on Foucault’s job performance or her reasons for resigning. “I just really, really wish her the best,” he said. “I think whatever endeavors she undertakes, she’ll do well with them.”

Ramsey, however, said he would rate Foucault’s performance as “mediocre.” He declined further comment.

Williamson’s most vocal public criticism of Foucault came in January, 1985, when he blasted the city manager for bringing her 9-week-old daughter to work two days a week while she was in the process of arranging for child care. The brouhaha ultimately resulted in the council voting, 3-2, to give Foucault a one-month deadline to arrange for a baby sitter.

In recent months, Foucault had clashed with the council behind closed doors over efforts to hire a new Community Development director. While several council members wanted the position abolished, Foucault argued that the slot was desperately needed to marshal the city’s building and planning services.

“She wanted to fill the position. The council didn’t want her to, but she kept trying,” Bagley said.

Foucault joined the city in July, 1982, as an assistant city manager after serving in a variety of administrative positions with the cities of Fountain Valley, Newark and San Clemente, and as special projects director for the League of California Cities.

In November, 1982, she was appointed acting city manager after Robert Bourcier was forced out by the City Council. Two months later, the council decided Foucault should be given a one-year tryout for the permanent slot.

Problem Created

Foucault’s assent to the spot, however, created a problem. Her husband, Bob Nelson, was serving at the time as Del Mar’s city manager. Both Oceanside and Del Mar have residency requirements for their cities.

Ultimately, however, the Oceanside council agreed to bend its residency requirement. When Nelson left Del Mar for the city manager’s post in Seal Beach, an Orange County community, the couple relocated to Oceanside.

Aside from those difficulties, the couple was something of a rarity in the state, representing the only husband-and-wife city managers in California.

Among other accomplishments, Foucault is credited with instituting a long-range financing plan for the city that incorporated a five-year capital improvements program into the budgeting process. In addition, Foucault was instrumental in helping to push forward the city’s new Civic Center project, which is expected to be completed by the end of the decade.