‘Second-Choice’ Status Does Not Faze City Chief : New Manager of Hermosa Beach Is Familiar With South Bay Issues

Hermosa Beach’s new city manager, Kevin Northcraft, said he wants the job because it is “probably one of the most desirable places in the country to live and work.”

Northcraft, 38, currently city manager in Suisun City in Northern California, is expected to take over as Hermosa Beach manager Feb. 22, the council announced Tuesday. Before moving to Suisun City in 1985, Northcraft was the assistant city manager in El Segundo for seven years.

Hermosa Beach City Council members said they were impressed by Northcraft’s experience, attitude and ideas. They especially liked the fact that he had municipal experience in the South Bay and is already somewhat familiar with Hermosa Beach, its problems and its resources, they said.

“He has a visceral feel for our problems, having been in El Segundo,” said Councilman Chuck Sheldon. “As a consequence, I think he’ll be able to come in and hit the ground running.”

Mayor Etta Simpson said she was impressed with the phrases he used to describe his management style, quoting him as saying he would be “action-oriented” and a “change agent without political furor.”

Hate to See Him Leave

Suisun City Councilman Randall Carlson said that although city officials there are happy to see Northcraft advance in his career, they hate to see him leave.

“I was appointed to council about six months after Kevin arrived, and it was clear to me that Kevin was nobody’s lackey on the council,” he said. “Kevin Northcraft is not a charismatic leader. He’s not a politician. . . . He’s not the kind of person who’s going to move a community with his personality.”

He described Northcraft as “incredibly fair” and businesslike. But Suisun City officials expected him to return to Southern California eventually, he said.

“Although he’s from Missouri, he looks and acts like a Southern Californian to us,” Carlson said. “. . . . I mean the guy wears USC hats and likes the Rams. I think returning to Southern California will be a homecoming for him.”

Northcraft replaces Gregory T. Meyer, who resigned in September to become a deputy administrator of Los Angeles’ Community Redevelopment Agency.

Northcraft is the second person the City Council selected to succeed Meyer. The first choice, Cudahy City Manager Gerald Caton, accepted the job offer last month after negotiating a salary and retirement package of nearly $72,000, and then changed his mind. He said he wanted to stay in Cudahy to see some projects completed.

A Close Second

Hermosa Beach council members emphasized that Northcraft was always a close second, if not an equal, to Caton. Both selections were unanimous, they said.

“I’ve never seen any two people compete for a job that were so close to getting it,” said Councilman Roger Creighton. “It’s really amazing when you think about it--how hairsplitting we had to be to pick Caton first and this guy second. . . .

“Second was so close he was equal. And he wants the job,” Creighton added.

On being second choice, Northcraft said: “It doesn’t bother me. I think I am a good choice. . . . Some of the best hirings I ever made were second choices.”

Northcraft was selected from 76 applicants from across the country who applied for the job. He and five other men from California were interviewed by the City Council on Dec. 12.

Personnel Administrator Robert Blackwood said Northcraft was offered the position after a Dec. 29 closed council session, and the details of his one-year contract were worked out Jan. 6. The council, however, wanted to wait until “we had the contract signed and in our hands” before making the decision public Monday, he said.

Northcraft will make $65,000 a year, a $17,000 increase over what he makes in Suisun City, Blackwood said.

Rather than contract for services, as some small cities do, Suisun City is a “full-service” city, with its own police department and a volunteer fire department, Northcraft said. The city, which is about midway between San Francisco and Sacramento, employs about 70 people and has a $7-million budget. Northcraft described it as a fast-growing, 3.5-square-mile, mostly residential community with a population of 17,000. The median age is 25, Northcraft said. The median household income in 1987 was $28,594, according to Donnelly Demographics.

Hermosa Beach is also a full-service city, employs about 150 people and has a $13-million budget. Hermosa Beach, only 1.3 square miles, also is a mostly residential city and has about 20,000 residents. The median household income is $32,534, according to Donnelly Demographics, and the median age is about 30.

Like Hermosa Beach, Suisun City has had its share of political intrigues, and both councils want to improve their cities’ images. Northcraft said: “I think representative government always has some degree of controversy.”

In separate interviews, Hermosa Beach council members generally agreed that Northcraft’s priorities should be obtaining the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway right of way for open space, lowering potential construction density and writing a budget for the next fiscal year.

Northcraft said one of his first actions when he takes over in Hermosa Beach is to meet with the council members individually to get to know them, find out what their goals are and see what role they envision for him.

He said his strengths are negotiating, personnel and intergovernmental dealings and fiscal matters.

Hermosa Beach had financial problems for years, but city officials have said the trend seems to have been reversed. Council members still want further improvements, however, and a few said they want the budget simplified.

“He talked a lot about the budget, and that really impressed me,” said Councilwoman June Williams. “That’s what we need--somebody who can control the costs and run the city more efficiently.”

In Suisun City, Northcraft is credited with turning that city’s finances around. It is operating in the black for the first time in 18 years, Northcraft said.

Property Tax Readjustment

Much of the turnaround was due to an unusual readjustment in the property tax distribution that Northcraft helped steer through other local governments in Solano County and the state Legislature. The readjustment, in which some other government agencies agreed to get less property tax, increased Suisun City’s share by 50% a year, or $266,000, Northcraft said.

Suisun City Councilman Carlson said that was probably Northcraft’s “No. 1 accomplishment.”

He said Northcraft also brought to the city “20th-Century management techniques--not all of which made everybody happy, but (which) rationalized city government.”

Before Northcraft was hired, Carlson said, “We were kind of a dead little backwater next of a fairly thriving city--Fairfield--and the contrast was driving some people crazy.”

He credited Northcraft with helping the City Council to accomplish a major housecleaning, replacing nearly two-thirds of the staff in 2 1/2 years, Carlson said.

Before Northcraft took over, city employees were hired based on friendships, Carlson said. “Things were just not done in an orderly, professional manner; the employees were happy, but the city was impoverished,” the councilman said.

Northcraft hired a team of young, largely inexperienced professionals who helped turn the city around, Carlson said.

Northcraft said much of the staff was replaced, but “I didn’t chop heads to do that. The opportunity was there” because employees left on their own, he said.

Several Hermosa Beach City Council members said they want Northcraft to review his new staff, hinting that changes may be needed.

Northcraft is married and has three children. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Missouri and a master’s degree in public administration from USC.