Westminster Gets Its Fourth City Manager in Three Years

Jerry Kenny, a city executive, has been named Westminster’s fourth city manager in three years, city officials announced Wednesday.

Kenny, 59, who has been interim city manager since Murray Warden was fired from that position in January, began his career at City Hall 16 years ago as an administrative intern.

“I’ve been with the city a long time, so you might say I am a survivor,” Kenny said.

The City Council, in executive session Tuesday night, appointed Kenny to the $80,514-a-year job for one year.

“I think he brings a lot of experience into the position, because he’s been with the city over 15 years,” said Mayor Charles V. Smith.

Smith said the council has been impressed with Kenny’s performance as a planning director, community development director and public works director.

Clashes have occurred for years between city managers and council members in Westminster. Several top administrators have left during the past three years, either because of the dissension or for career advancement.

In the past, council members have gained a reputation for detailed involvement in city business. While some city managers invited such an interest, others, like Warden, did not enjoy the intrusion. He was fired abruptly because of his conflict with council members about who should manage the city and how.

Under terms of his contract, Warden, who moved to Atascadero, continued to receive a monthly salary through the first week in July, an arrangement criticized by some at City Hall.

‘Didn’t Cost Us More’

But Smith said the agreement “took Murray Warden out of the picture and elevated Kenny in the interim. The bottom line is it threw an extra load of work on the city and some of the assistant city managers, but didn’t cost us more money.”

Kenny now will have a major role in the city’s effort to revitalize the city’s older commercial areas with newer shopping centers.

“We’re not a young city, but one of the older cities in the county,” Kenny said. “The whole county is becoming more urbanized, and it’s time to help change things now for the better. Redevelopment has money to help our city.”

For example, one key area, Kenny said, is a corner at Golden West Street and Westminster Boulevard. The 25-acre property now has a Lucky’s grocery store, Thrifty’s, a Builder’s Emporium and a movie theater. But it has remained unfinished for years while the city determined its best use and found a creative developer.

“It could be another Pavilion,” Kenny said, referring to the anchor store in the city’s highly successful new shopping center on Beach Boulevard just south of the San Diego Freeway.

“The site at Golden West and Westminster is a key to the entire (redevelopment) corridor,” Kenny said. “If people see something happening there, then the whole area can take off. It has two very busy streets, it’s very visible, and has good access to two freeways. The biggest thing is that it has the potential to make things start moving in that area.”

In addition, he said, the city plans to continue encouraging development in the Bolsa corridor which includes the booming commercial area known as Little Saigon, Orange County’s business center for its 100,000 Vietnamese residents.