Sacramento City Council picks interim city manager to lead for next several months
The Sacramento City Council on Tuesday appointed an interim city manager to lead its city employees over the next several months before a permanent replacement can be selected.
The council appointed Leyne Milstein as the interim city manager. Milstein, one of Sacramento’s four assistant city managers, oversees internal services including finance, human resources and information technology. She previously served as the city’s finance director and has worked for the city since 2005.
Milstein will serve on a interim basis while the city conducts a nationwide search to replace Howard Chan, whose last day was Dec. 31 after his contract extension was rejected following months of criticism over his high salary and decision-making. The process to hire a permanent replacement could take up to six to eight months as the city faces a $77 million budget deficit this year.
Mayor Kevin McCarty said selecting a new city manager is the “number one issue out of the gate” for the council. He said Milstein has risen through the ranks and knows the city “backwards and forwards.”
“It’s important to have one individual at the helm,” the mayor said during the meeting. “And I have full confidence in Leyne Milstein.”
Two choose not to support interim pick
Councilmember Mai Vang, who represents District 8, was the sole vote against the motion to appoint Milstein. She said she was confident the four assistant city managers could run the day-to-day operations together, and this is an opportunity for the City Council “to do a reset” when it comes to deciding who will lead the city manager’s office.
“I simply can’t support the motion on the table. I think it’s really important that we foster a healthy culture at City Hall with community, with working families and with our city staff. And I don’t believe that’s currently happening,” Vang said. “I’m voting no on tonight’s motion, because I don’t agree with the interim pick.”
Councilmember Roger Dickinson chose to abstain from Tuesday’s vote, saying he believed “a different path” in filling the city manager vacancy would be better as the council approaches the next six to eight months.
“I am hopeful that we will move together collectively, aggressively and productively in the months ahead, notwithstanding my own difference of opinion with respect to the course we’re taking this evening,” Dickinson said Tuesday.
Chan initially was named interim city manager in 2016, before he was hired permanently later that year following a nationwide search to fill the job.
Milstein sat in the audience of Tuesday’s City Council meeting. She later declined to comment on her appointment.
In 2023, Chan made roughly $593,240 in total wages — the second highest for a city manager in California.
The council has not yet decided on Milstein’s salary. The approved motion on Tuesday also designated the mayor as negotiator in Milstein’s contract as interim city manager. The City Council will decide whether to approve the terms and conditions of that contract at next week’s meeting.
The council members deliberated in closed session Tuesday afternoon before the motion was made to appoint Milstein.
She has more than 20 years of experience in local and state government, according to a short bio on the city’s website. Milstein began working for the city in 2005 as a principal policy analyst and also served as the budget manager.
Milstein previously worked as director of the Information Technology and Support Management Division for the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing; as an analyst at the California Department of Finance; and as staff to the State Public Works Board.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of California, Davis and a master’s degree in public administration from California State University, East Bay, formerly Hayward.
Former city manager
Chan held the job since 2016, managing the city’s 6,000 full-time, part-time and seasonal employees while overseeing an annual operating budget of more than $1.6 billion and implementing policy directed by the City Council.
He worked for the city for a total of 22 years. In 2002, he was hired as Sacramento’s parking manager. He was promoted to assistant city manager in 2013. Three years later, Chan replaced City Manager John Shirey.
At its Dec. 17 meeting, the City Council voted 6-3 against Chan’s requested one-year contract extension; council members Rick Jennings, Lisa Kaplan and Phil Pluckebaum voted to extend Chan’s contract.
Council members and business leaders who expressed their support for Chan at the December meeting cited the need for stability, particularly as the city faces a budget deficit this year. Most of the residents who spoke ahead of the council’s vote last month argued that Chan represented the status quo, was overpaid and had failed at his job.
McCarty, who was elected in November, called the search to replace Chan “a robust process,” and there “are multiple entities” ready to work with them on the city manager search. The mayor said the search should “hopefully” be completed in several months.
On Tuesday, McCarty said he’s confident Milstein, the three assistant city managers and the city’s employees will lead Sacramento forward.
“The city is bigger than one person. It’s bigger than Leyne. It’s bigger than the mayor, bigger than all of us,” McCarty said. “The show will go on. We have work to do for the residents of the city of Sacramento, certainly dealing with our budget, our labor negotiations, city issues, housing, homelessness, our youth issues.”
Councilmember Lisa Kaplan, who represents District 1, said the process of finding a new permanent city manager should include the public. She said residents deserve a chance to provide input on what they’re looking for in the next person to take that job.
“I hope that we have a discussion publicly,” Kaplan said before Tuesday’s vote. “Because I believe our public deserves to hear from us as council members, what we want and what our priorities are and what we are looking for as a city manager. To be as transparent as possible.”
