Marysville's new city manager brings unique qualifications
Feb. 20—New Marysville City Manager Jim Schaad had been looking for a new job for the last few months, with the goal of becoming a city manager after spending the last 18 years working for the city of Fresno.
His most recent role in Fresno was assistant city manager — the position he held for the last two and a half years.
On Tuesday, the Marysville City Council unanimously approved the hiring of Schaad, 57, during a special meeting. Schaad takes over the permanent role that had been vacant since the previous council fired former City Manager Marti Brown in a 3-2 vote on July 24, 2020.
"I can just say I've met with the council and staff briefly a few times and they seem like a great group of people to work for and with," Schaad said.
The recruitment process netted a pool of 45 candidates narrowed down to five and then to two. Mayor Chris Branscum said Schaad stood out among the final five candidates. Schaad's temperament and intellect stood out to the council along with his experience at Fresno and unique educational and professional background.
Schaad has an undergraduate degree in industrial technology from Cal State University, Fresno and a master degree in business administration from Portland State University.
"Jim brings a broader background to the manager job than any of the other candidates we looked at," Branscum said.
For 16 years, Schaad worked in manufacturing and designing production lines for different products. He said he doesn't have a true engineering degree but has experience with technical processes and managing those processes.
"That gives me the ability to work with the various departments and have a technical understanding," Schaad said.
His time in the private sector taught him how to shepherd projects to completion, manage finances and manage operations.
"I think they're looking for a lot of that private sector experience to translate over to government to streamline things," Schaad said.
Schaad said leadership is an important aspect of the city manager position along with developing good relationships with the city council and city staff.
"Without that not a lot gets done," Schaad said.
Some of the issues Schaad anticipates working on include helping the city come out of the COVID-19 pandemic, the homeless issue and preparing for budget season.
Schaad's contract with the city is at will and will be in place and effective until February 2024. His salary will be $160,000 a year. If Schaad is deemed to be performing satisfactorily at his performance evaluation in March 2022 the city will grant him a minimum of a 3 percent salary increase, according to Schaad's contract.
Branscum said he's confident Schaad will be the city manager for several years.
"I have his back and any differences we have will be in private," Branscum said. "This was a true 5-0 vote with no doubt about it. He has a lot of support coming in and I know he's up to the challenge."
Schaad will begin in his role on March 1.
