Managing Success

By Jorge Casuso

Nov. 7 -- It’s Friday, and City Hall is closed. As on alternate Fridays, the lobby and corridors are quiet. Fresh cleaning tracks mark the carpets in the dark, empty offices.

But on the second floor, the light is on in the City Manager’s office, where Susan McCarthy sits behind a glowing computer screen and catches up on her reading. Mostly it’s articles in trade publications — the latest governmental trends in western cities, the goings on in the county and the state.

“Fridays is when I clear things, read things I haven’t had time to read,” says McCarthy, who became the first woman to hold the top post two years ago. “The department heads end up with emails on Monday.”

It has been a rough couple of weeks for the City and for its manager, who is charged with the day-to-day operation of a municipal workforce that numbers more than 2,000 and serves about 85,000 residents, as well as countless workers and visitors.

The September 11 terrorist attacks on the east coast have sent the slowing tourism industry — a key component of Santa Monica’s economy — into a tailspin, and for the past week McCarthy has been meeting with department heads to hammer out ways to cut costs without trimming services.

“We’re obviously concerned about the extent and duration of the economic downturn,” McCarthy says, sitting behind the long oak table in her office where the City Council meets in closed session. “Our preference is that the public not see any decline in the level of service.

“The public is also going through a recession. We don’t want to penalize the (municipal) employees either. We haven’t been in this mode for over a decade now. We’re going to be creative about it.”

Ever since McCarthy — the former Assistant City Manager — took the reins at City Hall from her predecessor John Jalili in November 1999 her job has been to manage success. One of the few cities with a Triple A bond rating, Santa Monica has for most of the decade boasted a booming economy fueled by the tourism, entertainment and high-tech industries.

But McCarthy also has overseen the operations of a government whose citizens have high expectations and whose City Council has a penchant for pushing the policy envelope — taking on the banking industry over ATM surcharges and large luxury hotels over the living wage.

Unlike Jalili, who often put in his two cents worth during council meetings, McCarthy waits to be asked before calmly giving a comment that never seems to belie her opinion.

“She tends to let the Council find its own way. She’s very low key. She doesn’t interject herself,” says Robert Holbrook, who is finishing his third term on the Council.

If McCarthy rarely lets her opinions or emotions show, every once in a while she’ll let go a witty remark or insightful quip that reveals another side of a City Manager who so guards her privacy her staff is hard pressed to find a photo of her.

“She’s really funny. She’s an absolute crack-up. She’s totally insightful,” said Mayor Michael Feinstein. “She doesn’t show it publicly, but she’s a riot. She’s very cool. It’s not what you would realize from the public exterior.”