Council selects Gudgeirsson as next city manager
By Jim Shilander
San Clemente City Manager George Scarborough announced Tuesday that he would be retiring, effective March 20, 2013.
Scarborough has serves San Clemente’s City Manager for the last nine years. He has spent 32 years as a city manager and 35 years in city government.
“I turn 62 in January and that has been my target date for retirement if the Vista Hermosa Community Park and Aquatic Center was complete, the end of the General Plan update was in sight and we still had a strong financial foundation,” Scarborough said. “That will be the case in March of next year.”
Scarborough’s tenure has been an eventful one, having coincided with a large population boom in the city. Scarborough said he was grateful to the city’s staff for their efforts on a number of major projects throughout his time with the city.
“I am proud of what the excellent employees of our City have accomplished in the last nine years. Though their accomplishments are numerous, I would think a short list of the highlights of their accomplishments might be: the Coastal Trail, the long awaited golf course club house, rebuilding and renovating San Gregorio and Steed parks, the new downtown Senior Center and fire station, the Vista Hermosa Community Park and Aquatic Center, a number of projects mitigating traffic congestion, significant improvement in the quality of the customer service provided in Community Development and, more importantly, the establishment of a culture that embraces the need for constant improvement in customer service, a strong financial foundation for the City and the organization and political commitment to support it and establishing the culture of confident, ‘can do’ problem solvers that pride themselves in their responsiveness.”
The San Clemente City Council appointed Scarborough’s deputy, Pall Gudgeirsson, who also serves in the elective office of City Treasurer, as Scarborough’s replacement, effective March 20, at its meeting Tuesday. Gudgeirsson, who was reelected to the Treasurer’s position in November, was recommended by Scarborough to take the position. Members of the Council voiced full throated support of the hiring of Gudgeirsson
“I don’t think we could recruit a better person in the state of California,” councilmember Tim Brown said
Lori Donchak went further, crediting Gudgeirsson’s financial savvy with helping shepherd the city through the recession in good financial health.
Gudgeirsson himself praised Scarborough for working with him as a mentor for the past nine years, and said he would accept the position of city manager if it was offered to him.
“It would be a nice way to cap my career,” Gudgeirsson said. “My goal would be to sustain the momentum of the last several years.”
If Gudgeirsson would have to resign as Treasurer to accept the position, the council could
Scarborough said he plans on taking time for recreation and travel after retirement, as well as assuming “house husband” duties for his wife Shannon, a teacher.
“More of what I have pretty much always done with my free time, just more of it,” Scarborough noted.
