THE ANTELOPE VALLEY TOWN CRIER

City of Palmdale Names David Childs as City Manager

PALMDALE – The Palmdale City Council has selected David Childs as the new City Manager for the City of Palmdale.

Childs, who has served as an Assistant County Manager for Washoe County since October of 2006, was selected through a nationwide recruiting process with the firm Peckham  & McKenney that began in August 2011 when Palmdale City Manager Steve Williams announced his retirement.  Williams has been serving as a temporary part-time city manager during the recruitment process.

There were 38 candidates who submitted resumes of which Peckham & McKenney presented the City Council with a list of the top 18.  The Council then selected five very good and highly qualified candidates for interviews on Jan. 25.

Childs is scheduled to begin his service on April 2, 2012.  The term of his initial employment agreement will be for three years with an annual compensation of $225,000.

In his role as Assistant County Manager, Childs has had responsibility for the operations of public works, regional parks and open space, the department of water resources, building and safety and the department of community development. Due to the retirement of the community development director at the end of 2010,  Childs had also been assigned to serve as acting community development director.

Childs has been in service to local government since 1972. Early in his career he held several local and regional planning positions including serving as the director of planning for the City of Casa Grande, Arizona and as the director of physical and natural resources for the Central Arizona Association of Governments. He also served as city manager in four cities in Minnesota and one city in California between 1978 and 2000.

Childs is currently serving as the President of the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) which is the professional association of City and County Managers and local government professionals with over 9,000 members in the U.S. and in over 20 countries around the world. He is also an ICMA-Credentialed Manager.

City of Palmdale Vindicated in Section 8 Lawsuit Settlement

PALMDALE – The City of Palmdale has been vindicated of allegations made over the City’s involvement with the County of Los Angeles’ administration of Section 8 inspections through a settlement that was reached today in a lawsuit that was brought forward by the California State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and The Community Action League  (TCAL). 

“Palmdale has always condemned discrimination and continues to condemn discrimination in any form,” said Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford. “The City of Palmdale welcomes people from diverse backgrounds, including people who participate in the Section 8 program.” 

“The City of Palmdale never belonged in this lawsuit and I believe this settlement is indicative of that fact,” said Palmdale City Attorney Wm. Matthew Ditzhazy.  “The City will not pay plaintiffs or their 21 attorneys a dime and the City did not agree to do anything of substance that it wasn’t already doing or that had not already been surrendered by the politically correct crowd at the County of Los Angeles.”

“The plaintiffs’ claim that the City of Palmdale used several other public agencies as a ‘tool’ to advance a nefarious agenda is nothing more than an unfounded conspiracy theory,” stated Assistant City Attorney Noel Doran.  “Needless to say, this was the most creative cause of action I have ever seen conjured up against the City.”

“While the City Council continues to believe that this is a frivolous lawsuit and that the City of Palmdale has acted at all times in a lawful manner, it also understands that in certain cases, like this, discretion is the better part of valor,” said Ledford.  “We decided it was better to agree to the status quo than waste further taxpayer dollars to achieve the same result in a couple of years.” 

“I believe the reason that the city of Palmdale was included in this lawsuit is the because of the unfortunate misperception outside of the Antelope Valley that the cities of Palmdale and Lancaster are one and the same,” stated Ledford  “Nothing is farther from the truth.  It is most unfortunate that the plaintiffs’ attorneys realized that Palmdale is not the same as Lancaster until after this lawsuit was filed.  The inflammatory rhetoric advanced by the plaintiffs and the leaders in Lancaster has divided our community, inaccurately depicted our City in the national media, and undermined 20 years of effort on the part of myself and past and current Palmdale City Councils to promote and advance an inclusive community.  Now, more than ever, we need the real leaders of our  community to step forward and help heal our City, ” Ledford added.

“While the Housing Authority has decided to eliminate dedicated investigators, it remains obligated under the terms of the Section 8 program to investigate and root out fraud within the program,” said Palmdale Councilmember/Mayor pro Tem Steve Hofbauer. “The City of Palmdale expects the County to dedicate adequate staff and resources to meet this obligation, although I personally don’t believe that they will do it.  As always, we expect these investigations to be race neutral and in a manner that protects the rights of all our citizens,” Hofbauer added.

“Among our core values as a City are diversity and inclusiveness,” said Councilmember Tom Lackey. “When I read the unfounded allegations put forth by the plaintiffs, it was clear that they were describing a Palmdale that simply does not exist.”