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Santa Ana's top news & views blog

Category Archives: Kristine Ridge

The City of Santa Ana has hired Kristine Ridge as their new City Manager

Posted on by Posted in Civic Affairs, Kristine Ridge, Santa Ana Leave a comment

City of Santa Ana Hires New City Manager Kristine Ridge Brings 30 Years of Public Service Experience to New Role

SANTA ANA, CA – On Friday, March 22, 2019, the City of Santa Ana City Council voted to appoint Kristine Ridge to the position of City Manager. As City Manager, she will provide leadership for all City business operations and the 1,400 City employees who serve the residents and businesses of Santa Ana. Ms. Ridge’s prior work experience includes the Cities of Laguna Niguel and Anaheim, where she has overseen finance, human resources, treasury and internal audits.

“I am so pleased that the City Council made the decision to appoint Kristine Ridge as our City Manager,” said Mayor Miguel Pulido. “She is uniquely qualified to lead us into a prosperous future.”

“I am truly honored to be appointed by the City Council to lead this organization and be a part of the community,” said Ridge. “I look forward to putting my 30 years of experience to work for Santa Ana, under the Council’s leadership, to usher in a new future for what is truly the heart of Orange County.”

Ms. Ridge has a 30-year distinguished public service career. She currently serves as the City Manager for the City of Laguna Niguel where she oversees all aspects of a municipal government with an emphasis on prudent fiscal practices and customer service. Prior to that she spent 24 years holding multiple executive level positions in the City of Anaheim, where she demonstrated success in managing complex programs, extensive understanding of fiscal management, ability to manage large projects, and commitment to transparent government and continuous improvement. Additionally, as Assistant City Manager, she was responsible for coordination of many municipal initiatives and serving as a liaison for all major developments while overseeing strategic planning.

Ms. Ridge began her career as a financial auditor and CPA. She possesses a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting from Arizona State University and a Masters in Organizational Leadership from Chapman University and is a past recipient of the “Emery E. Olson” Achievement Ward in Public Administration. Very active in the community, Ms. Ridge serves on a number of boards and commissions, including the County of Orange’s Commission to End Homelessness, Anaheim Boys & Girls Club, and Orange County Credit Union’s Advisory Committee.

The term of the Agreement with the City Manager shall be for three years, commencing on May 1, 2019. For more information about the Agreement, please refer to the Staff Report included in the March 19, 2019 Council Agenda.

About City of Santa Ana

Santa Ana is downtown for the world famous Orange County, California. As the County Seat, home to a vibrant evening scene and one of the most diverse communities in California, Santa Ana is gaining national attention for its efforts to innovate and address a changing County. Over 1,200 City employees work hard every day to deliver efficient public services in partnership with our community to ensure public safety, a prosperous economic environment, opportunities for our youth, and a high quality of life for residents. Learn more at http://www.santa-ana.org.

Who is going to be Santa Ana’s next City Manager?

Posted on by Posted in Civic Affairs, David Cavazos, Fuad Sweiss, Jill Wallace, Kristine Ridge, Michele Martinez, Miguel Pulido, Raul Godinez, Santa Ana, Steven Mendoza, Vince Sarmiento Leave a comment

We are starting to receive snippets of information and chisme regarding who the Santa Ana council is looking to hire as our next City Manager, since apparently the current City Manager, Raul Godinez, has in effect resigned after offering the city a separation agreement. He was a friend of former City Councilmembers Michele Martinez and Sal Tinajero and they led the charge to overpay him. It is going to cost a small fortune to settle with him now.

Kristine Ridge

Mayor Pulido, at the time that Godinez was hired, was pushing to hire Kristine Ridge, who used to work for the City of Anaheim, as their Assistant City Manager.

Now it appears that Pulido is pushing for Ridge again. Ridge was supposed to be next in line to be the City Manager of Anaheim but a split City Council sent her packing.

Would she come on a split package and try for a year, in Santa Ana, like Godinez? You see if a City employee gets one year at a high salary that salary will be used to calculate their future pension benefits. So often these volatile positions are attractive because of their salary not their longevity.

Ridge is a City Manager for the City of Laguna Niguel now – we hope she and her local Sheriff’s Deputies are not sending their homeless to us!

Some around town, in Santa Ana, are wondering if she might be willing to leave her current post, as the best she could hope for is a 4-3 vote.

Some of the City Council Members appear to be concerned that Ridge is apparently very friendly with Jill Wallace (aka Jill Arthur), who used to work at Santa Ana’s City Hall as Pulido’s Assistant. There are allegations that Wallace wants to influence the situation in Santa Ana.

Wallace remains very close with Pulido andis his closest confidant. But she freaks people out some folks at City Hall, for whatever reason.

Since Ridge is a City Manager already in South Orange County, don’t be surprised if she wants a salary package in Santa Ana that compares to previous City Manager David Cavazos’ $500,000+ salary. In fact the word is that she has already made a very high salary request.

Would the Santa Ana City Council, which still appears to lack a solid majority, want to hire a new City Manager without a transparent process, when she was already passed over in Anaheim?

David Cavazos

Remember the last time the City engaged in a rushed city manager hiring process they ended up with a hot mess, namely Cavazos.

The current City Council is split and some of them, starting with Council Member Jose Solorio, want to have the City Council consider people both from outside and inside City Hall.

Solorio supported Ridge the last time around, but he commented on our last post about this and said that Santa Ana needs to focus on a fair process to consider who the next acting or interim City Manager might be.

Solorio, and Council Members Vince Sarmiento, Roman Reyna and David Penaloza met last week in a closed session meeting and who knows what direction they gave to city staff?

Solorio also said that this all, including the City Manager’s separation agreement, will be on the upcoming January 18th City Council meeting agenda.

Fuad Sweiss

Inside choices to replace Godniez may include Steven Mendoza, who is the acting City Manager, while Godinez is still on “vacation.” Some Council Members are apparently pushing for Fuad Sweiss, who is the current Santa Ana Public Works Director. Sweiss is credited with getting the city’s newest emergency homeless shelter , The Link, built in a record 28 days.

Sweiss is already on the City payroll, so hiring him as the interim city manager would save the city some money. He previously worked for the city of San Francisco, so who knows what his politics might be? But now that we have a new Governor who hails from San Francisco, Gavin Newsom, Sweiss’ background in the Bay Area could be a plus. In fact we hear that Sweiss is very friendly with Newsom.

No question Pulido will be working to get support for Ridge up until the closing bell. But will he be able to get four votes on the City Council for Ridge?

To be continued…