Otterman Quits to Get ‘Out of Los Angeles’

Saying he wants “to get out of Los Angeles,” Donald H. Otterman, city manager of La Canada Flintridge, announced Tuesday that he will resign in June to become a city manager in Oregon.

“I’ve been with the city for eight years,” said Otterman, 42, who has served as manager for the last five. “It’s time to move on.”

Born in Whittier and a Glendale resident for 21 years, Otterman said he and his wife have talked for some time about moving to Oregon or Northern California to raise their 8-year-old twin sons.

Otterman cited “congestion, too many people, too much smog” as his reasons for leaving the area. He said he began “looking earnestly” for a new position three to four months ago.

Otterman will leave his post June 15 to become city manager of Keizer, a 6-year-old city in a farming community and a rapidly growing suburb outside Salem. His salary will be comparable to the $61,200 a year he presently earns, Otterman said.

Keizer Mayor Andrew Orcutt said Otterman was selected from among 97 applicants as “the top choice” of a five-member candidate selection committee. Orcutt said committee members particularly liked Otterman’s management style and noted the similarities between La Canada Flintridge and Keizer, which is about the same in size and population, as well as in political organization and development patterns.

Orcutt said Otterman impressed him as “laid-back and relaxed. It seems as though he doesn’t get too terribly upset at anything, yet he has a heavy enough hand that if problems arise, he can take care of them.”

Otterman, who is leaving a staff of 10, will take charge of 35 city employees in Keizer, which also has its own police department.

As manager of a city in which two veteran conservative council members were ousted last year by more progressive challengers, Otterman said his job has become more difficult, but denied that the rivalries are a factor in his leaving. “We may disagree, but I respect them,” he said.

He said he counts among his greatest accomplishments the acquisition of two large open-space areas in Cherry Canyon and the removal of unsightly overhead high-tension lines, which are buried along Foothill Boulevard and Verdugo Road.

Issues that have raged during his tenure and still remain unsolved are what to do with the proposed Sport Chalet commercial development and formation of a redevelopment zone along the Foothill commercial strip.

“I really did like it here,” Otterman said, then added in jest, “but I still have two more council meetings to go through.”