Search begins for third City Manager since 2022
Alameda City Manager Jennifer Ott has announced she is returning to Hayward to become their City Manager after less than three years in the position with the City of Alameda. Ott previously served as Hayward’s Assistant City Manager and Development Services Director beginning in 2018. Before that, she served as Alameda’s Redevelopment Manager, Acting Assistant City Manager, Chief Operating Officer of Alameda Point, and Base Reuse and Transportation Planning Director from 2005 until 2018. City Council voted to appoint Ott as Alameda’s City Manager on December 6, 2022, after a six-month recruitment period.
Alameda’s City Manager is appointed by and reports directly to the Mayor and City Council. As the City’s Chief Administrative Officer, the City Manager provides leadership and organizational direction for City operations.
The search for the City’s next Chief Administrative Officer will kick off next month when City Council meets to appoint an Interim City Manager and discuss the process of hiring their third City Manager since 2022. Eric Levitt, the last person to hold the position, left for the same position in Fullerton in early 2022. After his departure, several people served as Interim City Manager until Ott’s term began on January 3, 2023, including former Assistant City Manager Gerry Beaudin, former Davis City Manager Dirk Brazil, former City of Alameda HR Director Nancy Bronstein, then a team of Public Works Director Erin Smith and current Assistant City Manager Amy Wooldridge, who was director of Alameda Recreation and Parks Department at the time.
In a press release issued by the City of Alameda, Mayor Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft wrote, “Jen has been an outstanding City Manager, and we will miss her, but we understand and respect her desire to assist the City of Hayward… as they face significant challenges.”
The City of Hayward also released a statement. “The Council and I are thrilled to welcome Ms. Ott back to Hayward,” Mayor Mark Salinas said. “I’m especially pleased that she returns as an experienced local government leader and a proven City Manager.”
Ott is expected to start her new position with Hayward on December 8, 2025. “I am very excited for the opportunity to join former and new colleagues at the City of Hayward and meet the immediate challenges and future opportunities together,” Ott said.
She holds a Master of Public Policy degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Spanish from the University of California, Davis. Ott is also fluent in Spanish. In early 2023, as she began her new position with the City of Alameda, she sat down for a two-part interview with the Alameda Post.
Adam Gillitt is the Publisher of the Alameda Post. Reach him at [email protected]. His writing is collected at AlamedaPost.com/Adam-Gillitt.
