Politics & Government

City Swears In Its New City Manager

Jennifer Cervantez is the focal point of a light council agenda as Rancho Santa Margarita embarks on new era of city management.

Not all meetings will be such a breeze for Jennifer Cervantez, but as debuts go, hers before the city council of Rancho Santa Margarita was pretty smooth.

From Pledge of Allegiance to final gavel, the city needed only 25 minutes to conduct its business on Wednesday night.

The first item on the feather light agenda was swearing in Cervantez, who was selected by the council to replace Steve Hayman, who retired at the end of 2011 but remained in an interim capacity through last week.

Find out what's happening in Rancho Santa Margaritawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Cervantez began working at City Hall on Monday.

"She'll do nothing but good things, I promise you," said Cervantez's husband, Javier, who sat in the audience with their two daughters, Emily, 8, and Julia, 5.

Find out what's happening in Rancho Santa Margaritawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

After taking the oath delivered by Mayor Tony Beall, Cervantez addressed the community, and talked about the plight of other cities who face extraordinary adversity, including bankruptcy. She praised the council, and the city staff, for ensuring that RSM had millions in reserve.

"It is within this context that I intend to work with council and staff to ensure that Rancho Santa Margarita continues to be a safe and attractive community for families to live and businesses to thrive," she said. "In the coming months I look forward to engaging with residents, community organizations and business owners as I strive for high level communication and transparency between city government and the public."

Cervantez had served in an assistant city manager role for the city of La Habra prior to being selected RSM's new No. 1.

In her role of discussing the schedule of future events, Cervantez talked about the 24-hour t Saturday and Sunday at Central Park, and the beginning of the Summer Concert Series presented by SAMLARC, which begins Sunday with the World Tour Legends of Rock, which replicates the experience of rock anthem bands from the 1970s and 80s.

“It was very pleasant," Cervantez said of her first meeting. "I was not apprehensive. I know this is a good move the city of RSM and an good move for me personally “

Other notes from the meeting:

  • Councilwoman Carol Gamble heaped praise on city staff, particularly Max Maximous, for his role in notifying local residents when a contractor had to make a return visit to Calle Serra to redo a slurry seal project after some equipment failure. Maximous knocked on doors of residences notifying people of the impending work. "The residents who were affected in that area were flabbergasted when their doorbells rang with the city engineer going door to door to tell them what was going to happen," Gamble said.  "I got so many emails that said 'We can’t believe the customer service we got from the city.' I think they want to make Max president of RSM.' " Gamble said it was a reminder that residents are the city's customers.
  • A number of consent calendar items were moved, though Jerry Holloway pulled one for separate approval, he said, for the purpose of thanking local Keena-Thomas Communications for consulting sevices over the years in "in lean times" as well as good. The contract was approved for services not to exceed $33,000 over the next fiscal year. 
  • Jenny Gasset introduced herself as the new branch manager of the Rancho Santa Margarita Public Library. Gasset, a six-year resident of RSM, began on June 1. "I'm excited to be here," she said.


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