The Twentynine Palms City Council has acted quickly in a special meeting to permanently fill the slot of the recently-departed City Manager Richad Warne. A familiar official moves east. Dan Stork has the surprise announcement…
“I have a motion that we accept the motion for a contract for Joe Guzetta by Council member Corbin, and seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Dan Mintz.” A unanimous vote approving the motion followed, and Twentynine Palms will have a new permanent City Manager. Guzetta, the General Manager of the Joshua Basin Water District, will give a 30-day notice to his current employer, starting his new job about June 1. Before entertaining the approval motion, Mayor Klink explained the process that led to it: “When this first started, we agreed as a Council to try to get four of the last five candidates when we hired Mr. Warne to come in for interviews, and we were able to get three of them to come back for interviews. We interviewed three very good candidates, and we got down to a very strong candidate.”
Council members Jim Harris and Cora Heiser went on record to say that they wished there had been a larger pool to choose from, but both joined in the solid expressions of support and esteem for Guzetta. Terms of the contract include:
• A base annual salary of $184,000;
• A $6000 deposit into a retirement plan designated by Guzetta;
• Employer and employee contributions paid by the city into the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS);
• The City is NOT paying health insurance coverage, as Guzetta prefers to keep the plan he already has;
• Guzetta is required to become a resident of Twentynine Palms within nine months of starting work.
JOSHUA BASIN WATER DISTRICT’S JOE GUZETTA NAMED NEW TWENTYNINE PALMS CITY MANAGER
