City Manager Brad Kilger is retiring from Martinez effective February 1, 2019, which will complete a career in the public sector spanning 40 years, including previous stints as City Manager in the cities of Benicia, Ceres, and Yucca Valley (click here for biography). The City Council held a special proclamation ceremony during the January 16, 2019 Council meeting to recognize Mr. Kilger for his many accomplishments during his tenure in Martinez and thank him for his outstanding service to the Martinez community (click here for photos). Mayor Schroder commented, “Of all the people I’ve worked with, they’ve all been very professional but I think you were the right person at the right time for us. Just look at what you’ve accomplished, it’s really a lot, the tax measures, our financial stability…We’re really looking forward, not just in the next couple years but the next ten years and that’s the best way to run a city.”
Mr. Kilger’s most notable accomplishments in Martinez include:
· successfully managing two voter-approved sales tax measures, including Measure D which is critical to the improvement of the City’s streets and roads, and Measure X which will help preserve essential quality of life services;
· developing and implementing a Strategic Plan to focus resources on citywide priorities;
· resolving the longstanding Pleasant Hill-Martinez Joint Facilities Agency issue;
· addressing the California Voting Rights Act redistricting challenge in time for the November 2018 elections; reinstating core functions of the City’s Community and Economic Development Department to meet critical economic development and planning priorities;
· completing numerous Capital Improvement Program projects, including: Morello Avenue and Center/Pine Street at Highway 4 repaving; Brown and Green streets reconstruction; Alhambra Creek Vehicle Bridge; Water Main Replacement Project; Marina dredge; Initiation of the Intermodal Phase 3/Pedestrian Bridge and Ferry Street Railroad Pedestrian Crossing Improvement Projects, which will provide a pedestrian bridge overcrossing and new access to the Intermodal overflow parking lot north of the railroad tracks; and Waterfront Park Renovation Project, which included pathway, safety lighting, parking improvements, a new group picnic area, play area and restroom and ball field improvements, including a championship baseball field that can be used both professionally and by the Martinez community.
Kilger noted that one particular project, the TLC for Kids Sports Hidden Lakes Park ballfield renovation, he was particularly pleased to participate in during his tenure in Martinez.
“On a Saturday in November 2017, more than 100 volunteers (including many of the youth that play on the ballfields), several sponsors, City Council members and over 20 City of Martinez workers and staff came together to assist in renovation of the fields, he stated. “To me, this is what public service is all about, citizens and City Hall coming together to help improve the quality of life in their community.”
“I want to thank the Council for giving me the opportunity to work in Martinez,” Kilger commented. “Of course, I want to thank the city staff for their dedication and hard work, for they are the reason, not me, that we have achieved the accomplishments we have over the past two and a half years. I helped set the direction, but they made it happen. I also wish to thank the members of the community, whose love and passion for Martinez make this such a special place. Every City Manager wants to leave the City they work in better than when they came, and I feel with the leadership of the Council and the hard work of staff I’ve been able to do that.”
In closing his closing comments, Kilger quoted the renowned management educator and author Peter F. Drucker who said that “management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” Kilger added, “In my life and during my 40 years as a public sector administrator, that simple goal of always trying to do the right thing has been the professional, ethical and moral compass that has led me through my career. While there have been bumps along the road and I have had to make course corrections, as we all do, this goal has always ensured that my objectives were sound and my mission an honorable and truthful one.”
Leave a Reply