Kerry officially becomes South Lake Tahoe’s city manager
By Kathryn Reed
Nancy Kerry has lost part of her title with the city of South Lake Tahoe. That would be “interim”.
The City Council in closed session on Tuesday agreed unanimously that Kerry should be the city’s city manager.
When Kerry was appointed interim city manager in June this was to last until the fall. At that time the council was to decide if a full search should take place or if Kerry would be given the job.
Nancy Kerry
In the nearly two months since she has had the interim role, Kerry has demonstrated her ability to her five bosses in a manner that does not require them to see any more or talk to anyone else.
Mayor Claire Fortier told Lake Tahoe News, “The council has been very, very impressed with Nancy’s capacity to deal with people and take on this city at a tough time.
“It is really gratifying to promote within someone so capable and so considerate and forward thinking.”
Another consideration for making the decision now instead of in October is so during the budget process and election cycle the city manager position did not become a political issue.
Fortier with Councilwoman Angela Swanson will be working out the details of the contract. The contract is expected to be discussed in closed session Sept. 4, with it likely presented to the public Sept. 18.
Fortier would not speculate on what Kerry’s salary or other benefits would be.
However, it is likely the contract will be for 30 months so this moves it out of the election cycle. Most city managers have been given a three-year contract, with annual renewals.
The 52-year-old Kerry is South Lake Tahoe’s first female city manager. She started working for the city in 2008 in the now defunct Redevelopment and Housing Department. She became second in charge under former City Manager Tony O’Rourke about one year ago.
In her short time as interim city manager, Kerry has cleaned house a bit by letting go of Community Development Director Stan Sherer, reducing the number of medical marijuana collectives from three to one, and has begun an earnest effort to do things and stop talking about doing them.
Listening to community members and caring, even when disagreeing, is how Kerry approaches her job.
“My style is very participatory. I like to involve employees in decision-making,” Kerry told Lake Tahoe News.
Kerry added that she is touched and humbled by the opportunity to be South Lake Tahoe’s city manager.
Well, good! She’s a remarkable woman who gets things done. I believe that she cares about our town, actually lives here, and plans to stay.
Congratulations Nancy!
Nancy is an excellent choice in my opinion. She is local, smart and cares about her community and will be here for a long time. Good choice City Council!
Major Congrats Nancy!!! Y might be the new beginning!
You, OOPS!
Howie picked a good one :)
Congrats and good luck. Good people say you are good people.
We need crime mapping here in SLT. A lot of crime going on our streets and we have no way to be informed.
Help us please.
Meeting to discuss crime at rear entrance to high school on 13th street and gardner with police and neighbors @ 6:30 8-22-12.
Come by and show support to be informed.
http://www.facebook.com/gardnermtncrime.lee
Smart move by the city, saves money and puts a person in place that already knows the City and the Council, no down time to train or become familiar with a new job. Congratulations and good luck to Ms. Kerry and South Lake Tahoe.
Congratulations to our City Council and to our community. Nancy is a tremendous source of energy and a capable visionary. Most impressed with her drive to pull our community together and harness the can-do spirit “as we see it” collectively!
Congratulations, Nancy! You’ve earned this job.
Well hopefully Ms. Kerry does great (though I think we’ll all be satisfied with merely good) things for our City! Fortunately for Ms. Kerry, the bar has been left very low for her!
If all Ms. Kerry does is: A. Start hiring the most qualified applicants for City jobs, as opposed to those who already have relatives in place, B. Award City contracts to those who offer the most money and have the most experience. Instead of, well again, giving the contracts to those who have relatives in place, C. Convince City employees it’s okay to retire with less than 100% (or even 101%) of their last year’s/highest pay, D. Have the City stop subsidizing wealthy corporations such as Vail, and Finally, Not have the City Govt. get ripped by a Grand Jury for its ‘Bush League’ behavior, she’ll be the best South Lake Tahoe City Mgr. I’ve ever seen!!
Congratulations to Nancy, and our City Council for making a good decision.
Excellent decision!
When SLT incorporated in 1965, our first
City Manager, John Williams (not the orchestra conductor) accomplished: (1) no billboards; (2) no flashing or animated or off-premise signage; (3) overhead wires to be underground on Hwy 50 first, then elsewhere … and much more. Nancy is that mold, I feel.
SLT really scored with a hard working professional City Manager – I had the pleasure of working with Nancy and saw that she was extremely productive and caring.
Way to go, Nancy! Excellent choice!
Now if we can just rid the Council of Davis and Cole, this City could be on it’s way to a better future.
Congratulations Nancy
There’s not much more to be said, but I too offer my congratulations. We let a good interim CM woman get away once, glad we didn’t do it again!
Nancy Kerry is an excellent choice. She is intelligent, knowledgeable, honest, and she genuinely wants to improve the City and improve the lives of the residents. The Council made a smart decision.
Congratulations and good luck city Manager Kerry.
In addition to the comment concerning Cole and Davis! There are many more Good Old Boys lerking behind the scene.
A majority were involved in the first Hole in the Ground. Some of them are involved in Cole’s hole in the ground.
I look forward to what I believe Nancy can accomplish with our city. She is capable and she ‘gets it’. She will take the actions necessary to move us in the right direction…..with our help…so let’s get involved!
I’ve said it all along, Nancy Kerry is a very smart and capable woman and we are lucky to have her at the helm. Let the “doing” begin!
Yay!!!!
Congratulations Nancy. Big brains, good demeanor, and thick skin! You’ve got what it takes and I wish you all the best.
This is GREAT news for our city! Nancy is an amazing, smart woman! She has proven herself and the council paid attention!
Ditto to all 25 comments stated above which just may be a record for blogged complimentary remarks. And the City Council didn’t pull a single item off the Consent Agenda for discussion at that August 21st meeting—talk about a red-letter day. Gives one hope!
Congratulations City Manager Kerry and best wishes for much success.
Wow, like former Marine said, that is a record for nice remarks in this forum! Where are the usual mean spirited fun wreckers going off on unrelated rants? Nancy, you must be awesome – I love it!