William Kelly has been appointed Arcadia City Manager after holding the Acting City Manager position for 7 months following the resignation of Donald Duckworth. Kelly began working for the city as a community development director in November, 1993.
Upland resident Rick Gomez, 41, has been appointed to the position of deputy City Manager and Development Services Director. Gomez has worked for 18 years in municipal government for Rancho Cucamonga, Lewis Homes of California and FORMA, a planning consulting firm.
William Kelly, with 22 years of city government experience in Burbank, Brea, Baldwin Park and San Bruno, has been hired as Arcadia's first community development director and assistant to the city manager. This new position replaces the planning director job that had been vacant for several months.
The former city manager of Visalia has unanimously been selected to serve as the new Arcadia City Manager. Donald Duckworth will be officially sworn in at Tuesday's City Council meeting.
Gerald A. Parker, last years's City Employee of the Year, has been appointed director of finance. Parker replaces Alan Murphy, who died earlier this month after a long battle with cancer.
William Woolard, 50, Arcadia Planning Director for 22 years, resigned at the recommendation of City Manager Don Duckworth and a 4-1 City Council vote, with Robert Harbicht opposed. Woolard was asked to leave because of departmental reorganization, Duckworth said.
At the Arcadia City Planning Commission meeting of June 13, City Manager Bill Kelly gave a brief overview of the Santa Anita Entertainment Center Project (SAEC).
Mayor George Fasching blasted a group of nine former mayors for distributing an open letter that accused the new City Council of breaking the law by asking City Manager George Watts to resign.
Arcadia City Manager Bill Kelly and Mayor Gary Kovacic met with school board members to discuss possible city-school district projects. School Board members questioned how much a new auditorium would be used and were cool to a joint plan.
Some city departments have been reorganized to increase economic development, financial planning and team building. The Finance Dept. is now Administrative Services, merging support services with finance, purchasing, data processing, and records management. The Public Works Dept. is now the Maintenance Services Dept, maintaining the city's parks, streets, and water systems.
The City Council asked Bill Woolard, 50, the City's Planning Director and Employee of the Year in 1993, to resign last month, then rehired him a week later as a temporary consultant.