City manager tenure begins

Jake Abbott, Appeal-Democrat, Marysville, Calif.
·2 min read

Feb. 26—Dave Vaughn officially took up his new role as Yuba City manager this week after being selected for the job by city officials earlier this month following an extensive nationwide search.

His first order of business has been to meet with other department heads and officials to get a better sense of where things currently stand and what objectives they would like to accomplish moving forward.

"At this point, the priority is to meet with council and department heads to better understand what has been going on and what the plans are, and making sure there is as high a level of transparency in the process and making sure nothing falls through the cracks in the transition of the interim to myself," Vaughn said.

Those sit downs are expected to continue for the next couple of weeks.

He said he was excited for the opportunity to be the city's next top executive. The former city manager, Michael Rock, parted ways with the city in March 2020 for undisclosed reasons, six months after taking the job. Public Works Director Diana Langley has served as interim city manager since Rock's departure.

Vaughn has lived in the area since 1997 — aside from a brief stint in Southern California working as executive vice president for Athens Services — and said he is excited to move back to the community and be closer to family. Before taking the job with Athens Services in mid-2019, Vaughn had spent over 13 years working with Recology.

"Part of the reason (of wanting to be the city manager) is about giving back, and I believe public servant roles need to have that type of philosophy," Vaughn said. "The city manager position gives me the opportunity to give back to a city that has been very good to me and my family."

Another priority of his moving forward will be to better highlight city staff that have been working behind the scenes to best serve residents.

"City staff and elected officials have done a good job focusing on the needs of residents and making those a priority to provide the highest level of services possible, and oftentimes those become unsung efforts, so I'd like to focus on those and show that they are really appreciated," Vaughn said.

Officials also plan to hone the city's strategic plan and mission as the budget process begins in the coming months, he said.

"I continue to believe there are great opportunities for the city to move forward despite what's going on with everything due to COVID-19," Vaughn said. "There are lots of projects that the city is working on and lots of opportunities for the betterment of our residents and businesses, and I'm excited to be a part of that."