No Decision Yet on City Manager Hiring

San Ramon city officials are on the fence about who will be the next city manager.

The quality of candidates is so high that making a final decision is proving to be difficult, they said.

Mayor H. Abram Wilson said that more 30 people applied for the chance to replace outgoing City Manager Herb Moniz who, with an annual salary of $359,669 a year, is one of the highest-paid city managers in the California.

Moniz has been city manager in San Ramon for more than 20 years and is well liked and respected by many of his co-workers.

“I think that he did such a great job,” said City Councilman Dave Hudson. “You could never have Herb working for anything other than the best interests of this city. He has done nothing but put out 400 percent.”

Hudson said that as good as Moniz has been for San Ramon, the final four candidates that are being considered are more than capable of taking the reigns.

“Every single one of them has a very good understanding of where we’re going and what we’re doing,” he said. “All four fill the bill – this is the best pool yet. There’s no way you’re going to get a bad city manager out of these four.”

Hudson said that although no one has been ruled out, he personally like two of the candidates.

The city will not reveal the names of the final four because they say that many of these candidates are currently still employed at other cities or businesses.

San Ramon officials also will not talk about what salary might be given to the applicant as new city manager, although Hudson said that it isn’t likely to be anywhere near what Moniz was paid.

Hudson said some people who already work for the city have applied. He added that the city employs very qualified department heads. But he didn't comment on whether those were among his top two candidates.

Hudson missed the last round of interviews because he was in Southern California for business.