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San Juan Bautista has a new city manager.
At its May 13 meeting, the San Juan Bautista City Council unanimously appointed Ashley Collick to replace Don Reynolds as city manager. Collick served as interim city manager following Reynolds’ resignation at the end of 2024.
“It is with great pleasure and an honor to officially welcome you as our city manager,” Mayor Leslie Jordan told Collick during last week’s meeting. “If the last five months are a preview of what the next five years will be, I’m very much looking forward to it.”
Collick expressed her gratitude to the council. “I am extremely excited to be here,” she said. “It’s been a really exciting five months, and I hope to continue progressing the city forward in the manner that the council and the community want to see.”
Collick will receive a yearly salary of $200,000, two weeks of paid vacation and a benefits package that includes health insurance. As interim manager, Collick was paid a month-to-month salary of $14,882 ($178,589 a year). According to OpenPayrolls, in 2020 Reynolds was paid $138,089 as city manager, including benefits.
The City Council’s initial discussions revolved around a starting salary of $160,000, which would increase to $180,000 over time. At the Feb. 18 city council meeting, councilmember Scott Freels suggested raising the upper end of the salary to $210,000 or $215,000 in hopes of attracting more candidates for the position, saying “that way, there is progress room, and it gives us time to budget for any pay increases in the future.”
Collick’s new salary still places San Juan at the lower end of the spectrum for administrators regionally.
- Gilroy city administrator: $315,250
- Salinas city manager: $299,999
- Marina city manager: $259,417
- Hollister city manager: $258,923
- Seaside city manager: $240,000
- Soledad city manager: $230,000
- King City city manager: $219,797
In an interview with BenitoLink shortly after her interim appointment, Collick said she has a bachelor’s degree in political science from Chico State and a master’s in organizational development and leadership from Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara. Prior to coming to San Juan, she served as assistant manager for the city of Seaside and was heavily involved in the recreation program there.
Earlier on the evening of May 13, the city held a joint meeting of the council and the Planning Commission to receive a report from Julieann Murphy, the senior architectural historian for Rincon Consultants. The city contracted with Rincon in December to provide on-call services for site assessments, cultural resources and community planning.
Rincon analyzed the city’s historic preservation ordinances and recommended simplifying them for improved clarity with broader language that would make them easier to use. They suggested removing redundant language and making the historic resources board a separate body from the Planning Commission or combining the two bodies into a single authority.
No action was taken by the combined commissioners and council members. The meeting is available on YouTube. The agenda is available on the city’s website.
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