Springs picks a city manager

A city administrator from California who considers herself an agent of change has been named the city manager for Colorado Springs.

The City Council announced Friday evening that Penelope Culbreth-Graft will replace Lorne Kramer, who retired as city manager June 30.

“She’s looking for a challenge, and Lord knows we have some,” City Councilwoman Margaret Radford said.

Culbreth-Graft, who has been working for Huntington Beach, Calif., since 2004, will begin running Colorado Springs government on Jan. 7.

“If I wasn’t so pooped and tired right now, I’d tell you of all the adjectives of how happy I am,” she said late Friday from her home in Huntington Beach.

“I like to go where the challenges are and the excitement is, places where I feel I can make the greatest impact.”

Culbreth-Graft’s résumé shows a long list of cities that she’s worked for in a 16-year career: Chino, Calif.; Grover Beach, Calif.; Riverside, Calif.; San Diego; and Tucson.

According to her résumé, Culbreth-Graft was responsible for a $348 million budget and 1,100 full-time employees in Huntington Beach. In San Diego, she helped oversee a $2 billion budget and 11,000 employees.

Culbreth-Graft, who holds a doctorate in public administration from the University of La Verne, Calif., says she likes fiscal challenges, like improving the financial stability of a city.

“I like organizing operations and taking on economic development approaches that can really create stability for a city for decades to come,” she said.

“I can’t think of anything more fulfilling than being part of a service and program that changes people’s lives, and it’s difficult to do without money. First you need to strengthen the financial base.”

Culbreth-Graft said she won’t have specific changes in mind for Colorado Springs until she learns about the city. But she said partnerships will be used frequently to find solutions.

“The way I work, I like to bring stakeholders to the table. And when you share that table with stakeholders, you get better results than if you just sit in the corner and work on it alone,” she said.

“You can’t do it alone. Cities don’t get run without partnerships.”

It’s one quality that some City Council members said distinguished her from the other two finalists for the position: Colorado Springs interim City Manager Mike Anderson and Colorado Springs Assistant City Manager Greg Nyhoff.

Radford said she asked Culbreth-Graft to sum up what a city manager’s relationship with the City Council should be in a few words.

“It’s one answer that stuck out in my mind . . . she said ‘shared governance,’” Radford said. “I believe the City Council and the city manager is a shared partnership, and that’s what I need in a city manager.”

Radford and other council members said Culbreth-Graft would bring new ideas and perspectives to improving Colorado Springs, which is in the midst of major budget cuts. The city’s proposed budget for 2008 is $6.5 million less than in 2007.

“She’s strong in financial management, and of course we have our financial challenges, so we’ll be looking to her to develop new and creative ways,” said Vice Mayor Larry Small. “All around, she’s had experience in all the areas that our strategic plan is going.”

Culbreth-Graft’s annual salary will be $210,000, $16,000 dollars less than what she is making in Huntington Beach. But it is more than Kramer’s final salary of $188,000.

Culbreth-Graft will be reimbursed for moving expenses, and will receive a temporary living allowance of $1,500 a month for up to six months. Culbreth-Graft said she and the City Council were working out details of her benefits. Radford and Small said that she was being offered a standard benefits package.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 476-4813 or kim.nguyen@gazette.com

Penelope Culbreth-Graft

Former assistant city manager for San Diego, Riverside, Calif., and Tucson, and tribal government manager for the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians in San Diego County.

She holds a doctorate of public administration from the University of La Verne in California and a master’s of public administration from California State University and Colleges Consortium.

Culbreth-Graft was quizzed by residents along with other finalists for the city manager’s post during interviews Oct. 26. Here is a sampling of her views on various topics from that interview:

TABOR: Culbreth-Graft said she’s no expert on the TABOR amendment, but laws that give more power to voters are increasingly common nationally. Economic development, such as new jobs and the infrastructure to support them, is an important way to generate more money for the government, she said. The city should also ensure it’s getting its fair share of money from the state and federal government for things like road construction, she said.

Minorities: Culbreth-Graft said committees made up of members of minority communities can go a long way toward alleviating tension among diverse groups. Colorado Springs had a Human Relations Commission until it was disbanded in 1995. Culbreth-Graft said a local human relations commission could take on problems such as the area’s suicide rate, which is higher than the national average. “When you bring people together to solve problems, the diversity becomes an asset and not a negative,” she said. Culbreth-Graft said she was unaware of what panelists called Colorado Springs’ nationwide reputation for intolerance of minorities.