Bookending the beginning and the end of Tuesday’s City Council meeting was first a commendation from members of council and City staff to David White and then the appointment of a temporary ad hoc Council committee for the process of finding a full-time replacement.
White will step down at the end of February after three-plus years serving as Santa Monica’s City Manager, a role that began in October 2021 after serving as City Manager of Fairfield for five years, as well as two years as Deputy City Manager of Berkeley. He is set to return to that position once again in Berkeley.
Mayor Lana Negrete read the commendation in chambers. “The City Council, City team and community are profoundly grateful for the leadership of City Manager David White during extraordinary, challenging times … White demonstrated a deep commitment to local government and accountability. He brought an incisive mind, depth of knowledge, the ability to balance competing interests, a strong worth act, work ethic and unwavering integrity,” she said.
The office of Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath also sent a commendation.
White himself became visibly emotional as he gave a brief speech. “I want to thank this community, all of its residents, all of the businesses, for welcoming me, welcoming my wife, Virginia, to this amazing city … I want to thank our amazing workforce and our employees, they're doing tremendous work every single day … I want to thank all of you, the city council. I really appreciate your partnership. I appreciate the advice, I appreciate your leadership. The city is moving in such a wonderful direction because of the vision that you have. And I just want to say thank you for everything that you do. I know it's a tremendous sacrifice to your families and to your lives, but what you do is incredibly impressive, and I appreciate all of you very much.”
Former Santa Monica Mayor Gleam Davis made a thoughtful appearance as a public commentator to also wish White the very best.
“I just wanted to come here and publicly thank David White for his service to this city. When David arrived, we were in the middle of the COVID crisis. The city was facing unprecedented financial challenges, and frankly, we had a dysfunctional Council, and he stepped in, in a very difficult situation, and acted, as you noted, with integrity and with good spirits … and I think most importantly, really made an effort to try and be fair to everybody in the community,” Davis said.
“I do want to apologize to him, because not everybody in the community was fair to him. There were council members and members of this community who treated him abominably. And although I don't think that's why he's leaving, I think he’s owed an apology from all of us for that … It's a thankless job. It's 24/7 and he becomes the lightning rod for everything that everyone disagrees with. He has to be the liaison between Council dreams and staff reality sometimes … I want to wish him Virginia and [his daughter] Valencia all the best,” Davis said.
Finally, after seven and a half hours, as the clock neared 12:30am, the very last agenda item, 16J, was to establish and appoint a temporary ad hoc Council committee for the City Manager recruitment process.
Councilmember Barry Snell nominated Councilmember Dan Hall, Mayor Pro Tem Caroline Torosis and himself. Negrete nominated herself Torosis and Snell, however, there was no second. Consequently, a vote was taken on Snell’s motion that passed unanimously 7-0.
Until a permanent replacement is found, Elaine Polachek will serve as interim city manager. She previously served the city of Santa Monica in various roles for nearly two decades, most recently as Assistant City Manager from 2010-2017.
