Top San Fernando Official to Take Baldwin Park Job

Donald E. Penman, who as San Fernando’s city administrator for the past seven years was credited with improving public services and revitalizing the city’s economy, said Wednesday he has agreed to take a similar post in Baldwin Park.

Penman said Baldwin Park officials have offered him the city manager’s job. “We’ve pretty much agreed on the terms,� he said. “I don’t anticipate any problems.�

“He will be missed,� San Fernando Councilman James B. Hansen said. “He has done a fine job. This was not a matter of disagreement or a matter of money. It was just that he felt he had to go to a larger city to further his career.�

Penman, 38, a lifelong San Fernando Valley resident, said he does not plan to relocate his family and will commute to the San Gabriel Valley city from his Northridge home.

“I’m obviously excited at the prospect of a new challenge, but there’s a part of me that’s sad to be leaving San Fernando,� Penman said. “It’s been such a great experience. Things are going well here. It was a very difficult decision to make.�

Baldwin Park Police Chief Carmine Lanza, who is acting city manager, said the Baldwin Park City Council will vote on hiring a new city manager on Wednesday. The previous city manager, Ralph Webb, resigned last summer under council pressure, Lanza said.

The Baldwin Park position pays about $85,000 annually, Lanza said. Penman is paid $75,300 in San Fernando.

Baldwin Park has 195 city employees, almost double the number in San Fernando, and about 63,000 residents to San Fernando’s 20,000. Like San Fernando, Baldwin Park has its own police department but contracts with an outside agency for fire protection.

“In the seven years he was with us, the city has identified 41 separate projects that he accomplished, from our first major shopping center to computerizing City Hall and all of our financial records,� Hansen said. “There’s never a good time to lose a city administrator, but this is a bad time for us because we’re in the middle of a major redevelopment project.�

Hansen was referring to a proposed downtown shopping center, which involves negotiations with several property owners.

Penman, who previously was deputy city manager of Simi Valley, said San Fernando was in poor financial shape a decade ago. He said council members were forced to use $1 million from reserve funds to balance the budget over three years, leaving just $1 million in that account. Today, he said, the city has a strong economic base and a healthy $3.5-million reserve fund.