Appoint Adam Wolff as Interim Town Manager - YES

With the departure of our beloved Town Manager of the last six years, Todd Cusimano, Corte Madera finds itself at a moment of change, but also of opportunity.

Hiring a Town Manager is something that not every Councilmember will get to do during their service, and for those that do, it is without doubt one of the most important votes they will take. The Town Manager is the Town's top public employee, responsible for managing the entire Town staff, and for successfully implementing the Council's vision for the community.

At this crossroads, we found ourselves with two main options for filling the position: promoting from within, or launching a national search. While a national search broadens the hiring pool, it would come at a great cost to taxpayers—a cost that was not justified given the excellent candidate we saw in our Planning and Building Director, Adam Wolff.

Over his years of outstanding service with the Town, Adam has proven himself to be thoughtful, balanced, intelligent, and compassionate, including during past stints as acting Town Manager. Adam is an experienced team player who enters office already having those critical relationships with and knowledge of our unique community, and with an intimate understanding of Corte Madera's processes and culture.

For these reasons, I was very happy to vote yes on appointing Adam as our Interim Town Manager, for a 5+ month trial period (through the end of this year) during which Adam, the Council, and the community will get to work together and confirm that this is the right fit. As part of this agreement, Adam will receive a monthly salary of $18,531 during his time as Interim Town Manager. This is a 10% increase over his current salary, reflective of the immense new duties and responsibilities he is assuming, but lower than the current salary of our outgoing Town Manager.

Under the terms of the agreement, should Adam or the Council choose to end his status as Interim Town Manager before the trial period expires on December 31, or should either party decide not to make his status as Town Manager permanent after the trial period, Adam has full rights to resume his prior role as Director of Planning and Building, at which he has excelled.

I offer Adam my heartfelt congratulations, and look forward to doing everything I can to support him and help him be successful in his new role.