CityofSantaBarbara
Source: City of Santa Barbara
The City Council appointed Rebecca Bjork as City Administrator. Ms. Bjork brings extensive knowledge of City operations and a successful track record of accomplishments in the day-to-day management of the City operations.
Ms. Bjork has served as interim City Administrator since September 11, 2021.
“We are pleased to appoint Rebecca Bjork to the role of City Administrator. Her performance in the interim capacity has been accomplished and progressive and we have every confidence that her experience, management skills, and dedication will continue to be an asset to the City of Santa Barbara,” said Mayor Randy Rowse.
Ms. Bjork has worked with the City of Santa Barbara for more than 33 years. Prior to her appointment, she served as the Interim Community Development Director, where she initiated work with the Council Sub-Committee to simplify the land development process, and was instrumental in the work to address homelessness and homeless encampments during the pandemic. Prior to that, she spent five years as Public Works Director overseeing the largest City department, with seven divisions, nearly 300 employees and a budget totaling $138 million. Among her accomplishments, she directed staff in the implementation and execution of the Measure C Capital Improvement Program for Infrastructure.
From 2007 to 2014, she served as Water Resources Manager with responsibility for water and wastewater utilities, which included the operation and maintenance of the Cater Water Treatment Plant and the El Estero Wastewater Treatment Plant. Throughout her tenure, she has been instrumental in various renewal and replacement projects for water and wastewater mains, street infrastructure, and major facilities to extend the life of the City’s essential infrastructure. Ms. Bjork holds a BA in Biology and Environmental Studies from Grinnell and an MPA from Cal State Northridge.
“It’s an honor to continue to serve the community in the role of City Administrator. We have exciting opportunities and challenges facing us in the coming years. I’m very fortunate to be supported by City employees who provide the public with exemplary service, on all levels.
She was bad at Public Works, saddling us with the extremely expensive 2d desal plant for which we are obligated 30 years out instead of learning the lessons of the 1st mistake while ignoring the San Diego and other experiences that has them buying unneeded expensive water from the contractor. Took her years of busted water lines to finally start a campaign to catch up on this infrastructure failure that she certainly should have had a role in addressing. But she took the heat and allowed the elected reps to duck and dodge. Which is what the city administrator is expected to do.
Funny we don’t have much comment on male employees’ compensation.
as Cachuma could have gone dry and we were left with no Water??? Again no clue what you are talking about. The fist Desalination Facility did not “fail so badly”. It worked. Right after it opened we had the March Miracle, Cachuma filled and we did not need it at that time anymore and it was mothballed. Now if you have a crystal ball to predict all that, we need it again. When is this drought going to end??? Inquiring minds want to know!
Way over paid for the position…So now with her salary plus benefits and Casey’s pension its probably costing (we) the city close to 1/2M per year for what (to watch the city chug-a-lug behind the curve as always)….and she will probably end up working from home like Casey….just another bureaucrat sucking some serious city funds, and there’s no shortage of them.
SBReader–facts are that the 1st desal plant was never used. The 2d iteration is not much better and the city has had to subsidize Montecito Water District so it will take some of the product. It is a political gesture and white elephant. Much cheaper alternatives exist for the production of adequate water such as reclaiming and reusing waste water which is happening across CA at about 1/3 the cost. The present extension of the desal water line is, hopefully, a route to create a recycling process at the waste treatment facility that can be transported to the main reservoir. And, Cachuma captured water is simply not the main source of water. We get State Water Project water that is pumped into the lake pretty constantly. We could never survive on runoff alone.
I am tired of arguing but you don’t know what you are talking about. Montecito pays a premium for their Desalination water and that is a great benefit to SB. As for the original Desalination Facility never being used? I have a bottle of it in my Office today. It produced as much water as we wanted it to and then we mothballed it. Just the facts M’am. All of the South Coast water professionals would be surprised to learn from you that Cachuma is not our main source of water. Look at the Longterm Water Supply Plan and what percentage of our total supply comes from Cachuma. Argument over.
the down votes must be Rebecca &/or her staff
“I am tired of arguing.”? We all had bottles of water from the 1st plant. Did you ever taste one? They were undrinkable. But the more important point is that that desal plant never went on line to supply water because the water it could produce was grotesquely overpriced compared to water available by other environmentally healthy methods. And, by the way, do you think the water in Cachuma comes from? Some water elf that appears in the night and pumps in H20.? It comes from the State Water Project when needed. We live on that water. Argument over.
Misinformation is a curse on our modern World. Study a little. Read the Longterm Water Supply Plan. Go to school and learn from people who know what they are talking about. You certainly do not.
Some of these Comments are so completely uniformed. The Desalination Facility was approved by a unanimous vote of the City Council that you elected, not by Ms. Bjork. We were in the midst of the worst drought in history and there were projections of Cachuma going dry. Who would you blame if that happened, Ms. Bjork? What she did after being given her marching orders by the Council was to get the thing permitted and running., no easy task. Ms. Bjork earned her way to the top, starting as a Sanitary facility staff person 33 years ago. She was groomed and destined for this position and I am confident she will do a good job. All the City Administrators she worked for loved her and supported her work.
No one is blaming her for the 1st desalination fiasco. The issue is the pursuit of an even more expensive and riskier second adventure when the first failed so badly. She was in the responsible position when this was being proposed, bid and adopted. She did not have the leadership to direct the city council away from the idea. Had she done so and then found them disagreeing, so be it.
Trying to argue that State Water will assist Santa Barbara County is a dream. All allotments were mostly cancelled a few months ago and possibly reinstated in tiny amounts after “Bombtober.” Sorry, I’m not going to bother looking up the news, anyone who reads it knows.
It’s easy to search “santa barbara county state water allotment 2021 news” and then do it again, replacing “2021” with “2022.”
SB way over compensates given the rich pensions they provide. How about compensation based on the avg for the community. SB is making these people 1%’ers