By Theresa-Marie Wilson
After a little more than a week on the job, the City of Arroyo Grande recently held a “meet and greet” to welcome the new city manager. Community members, business owners and city officials from neighboring municipalities attended the informal gathering for Dianne Thompson.
“This is a wonderful community, and I am really excited to be here,” Thompson told Coast News. “I feel very fortunate to be in Arroyo Grande. I am very honored to be the city manager.”
Most recently, Thompson was the interim city manager in the Marin County town of Ross for several months. Prior to that she served as city manager for Cotati in Sonoma County for almost nine years. She also served as the city architect for the City of Santa Rosa.
“My husband and I researched California and decided that we wanted to come here,” Thompson said. [pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”#00568f” class=”” size=””]“It has a beautiful downtown, it has a great council and the staff is fabulous. The restaurants and the beach are amazing or just walking up and down through the Village.”[/pullquote]
Mayor Jim Hill is happy Thompson is on board. “I’m very pleased with how things are going,” said Hill. “I am very excited to have Dianne join us as the city manager on a permanent basis. I am looking forward to her leading the city going forward.
In April the Arroyo Grande City Council vote unanimously to bring Thompson on board to fill the position vacated by former City Manager Steve Adams who resigned in October of 2014 following public outcry surrounding allegations of questionable behavior with a subordinate.
“I am thrilled to be here, and my job is to move the community forward,” said Thompson. “I feel that staff and the council is ready to move forward. There is a lot of great energy. It is a good time and a good group.”
Thompson said her first order of business is getting to know members of the community, the staff, and the council followed by identifying the city’s priorities.
With Thompson in the role as top city administrator, Hill said the city is ready to tackle some fairly big projects.
“One of the big issues going on with the city is the Brisco Road interchange and how to bring that to a successful launch to get it moving forward,” he said.
The city plans to close both the northbound on and off ramps next month as a trail run in hopes of finding the best solution for the near constant congestion in the area.
“We understand that the traffic will start flowing under the bridge if those two ramps are closed,” Hill said. “That will be kind of a proof test of concept for one of the proposals to make the permanent fix. It will give us an idea to see how traffic actually responds in that area.”
Other projects on the table include a proposal for a residential development on East Cherry Avenue as well as yet another plan for consideration for the corner of Courtland and Grand Avenue, the city’s last sizeable chuck on empty space in the business corridor.
For the past seven months retired Glendale Assistant City Manager Bob McFall held the position of interim city manager.
Thompson’s started with a base salary of $179,000 annually.
