New San Mateo city manager takes on top role

In taking over the city’s top post from former city manager Larry Patterson in late December, Corbett is widening the lens through which he approaches a slate of major initiatives. Among them are an effort to update the city’s General Plan for 2040, a major overhaul of the Detroit Drive wastewater treatment facility and the completion of the merger of the San Mateo, Foster City and Belmont fire departments.

Corbett said he is grateful for his roles in city finance at San Mateo as well as Sunnyvale and Menlo Park, which have afforded him opportunities to understand how different departments in the city operate, knowledge he’s been able to expand having served jointly as San Mateo’s finance director and assistant city manager for more than two years. But in his new role, he’s also looking forward to gaining a deeper knowledge of city operations and how they affect the San Mateo community.

“As a finance person, I’m looking at it through the lens of the cost to the city and what those cost implications are,” he said. “From the city manager’s perspective, it’s not always about the money.”

Among the priorities topping Corbett’s list is the city’s General Plan update, an effort initiated last year to chart a vision for San Mateo’s future and help the city navigate shifts in the Bay Area’s demographics, jobs and traffic congestion, among other changes. Expected to include discussions on housing, land use policy, circulation, open space, noise, safety and conservation, the effort to scope the city’s needs in the coming years comes at a time when residents have engaged in lively debates about growth and infrastructure in the city.

Though Corbett acknowledged several community meetings and public forums with city officials have elicited a great deal of feedback already, he noted the multi-year process is still in its initial stages. He said he’s been encouraged to see staff from across city departments pitch in to help with the planning process, which he said will continuously be shaped as more input is gathered.

“It’s early in the process and we have gotten a lot of great input,” he said. “I think we still need to get a lot more to really … set that vision and really get to a point where the community is comfortable for 2040.”

Corbett also pegged an overhaul of the city’s wastewater treatment plant and improvements to its conveyance system as well as an effort to complete the merger of the city’s fire protection and prevention services with the operations of Foster City and Belmont as among the other major projects he and the city’s nearly 700-person staff will tackle in the coming months. But he also acknowledged their efforts to tackle these large-scale projects are in addition to their work on providing the city’s existing services, which he said he is working to keep in place in the face of an impending economic downturn.

A shifting economic environment and a rise in the cost of the city’s pension liabilities will be among the measures Corbett will continue to monitor closely from his new post. And though he acknowledged the timing and severity of a recession remain uncertain, Corbett commended Patterson and the City Council for setting aside funds during an economic upswing, which he expects to allow the city to maintain service levels in less prosperous times.

“A lot of it is a function of how severe the recession is, but I do think we’re well-positioned to maintain services through a downturn,” he said. “I think from a community perspective, from a resident perspective, from a business perspective, the best thing we can do is provide a consistent level of services.”

He added councilmembers have also been prudent in weighing ongoing spending commitments in recent years, and have been thoughtful in exploring ways the city can expand current revenue streams or create new ones. Following the council’s discussion of potential revenue streams in October, potential increases in the city’s hotel tax, property transfer tax and business tax have been pegged for future discussion, which Corbett expected to take back up again in the spring.

An avid runner, Corbett finds walks and runs in the neighborhoods and streets extending from City Hall to clear his head on a busy day and also keep him up to speed on what’s going on in the city. The 45-year-old San Jose resident said his wife Melissa, who is an attorney with the Santa Clara County Counsel’s Office, his daughter Helen, who is in the eighth-grade at Sacred Heart School in Saratoga, and the family’s 7-year-old boxer Callie are also integral to his life.

Corbett said he expected the average day in the life of a city manager to change depending on the nature of the voicemails and emails in his inbox each morning. But he looked forward to taking on the challenge with a staff he described as dedicated to the community they serve.

“The employees are so ingrained in the community,” he said. “I’ve got the luxury of just having a fantastic team which takes the pressure off.”

anna@smdailyjournal.com

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