Amador County – Plymouth City Council last week appointed Finance Director Jeff Gardner to be interim city manager through the end of June, and Gardner said he hopes in that time it becomes a permanent position.

Gardner said Tuesday that he negotiated his salary with out-going City Manager Dixon Flynn and new Mayor Greg Baldwin, and the next step is taking over the position after Thursday of this week. Gardner said Flynn’s official last day is December 31st, but he will be out of town for most of the rest of this month, for the holidays. Thus, according to a contract he worked out with the council, Gardner will be acting city manager until December 31st, and then he will become interim city manager for the next six months after that.

Gardner said he actually is now acting city manager and finance director and will be fulfilling two positions for the city through his interim city manager contract. He said hopefully in that time the city council will decide to appoint him as permanent city manager.

He said he is looking forward to helping run the city, which has a lot of things happening. He said city representatives continue to work with a company on an agreement to run the Arroyo Ditch for the city. Also, today, (6 pm Wednesday, December 15th) the company Reeder Sutherland hosts a public hearing on its Environmental Impact Report for its Shenandoah Ridge and Zinfandel housing development projects.

The EIR is available online on the city’s website, Gardner said, and the comment period runs until December 31st. He was not sure when people would choose to comment, but he expected everyone would have a chance to comment on the project.

The city is “almost completely done” with its $3 million wastewater revitalization project, and Development Coordinator Richard Prima is working with the Regional Water Quality Control Board for a renewal and update on the city’s discharge permit. Gardner said the city’s permit was up for renewal, and since the system was expanded, the permit had to redone.

Prima is the former public works director from Lodi, where Flynn was the finance director and then city manager. Gardner said Flynn brought him to Plymouth and Prima has been a “godsend.”

The council plans to have a resolution honoring Flynn at its January 13th meeting.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.