Sebastopol City Manager Larry McLaughlin announces his retirement
Sebastopol City Manager Larry McLaughlin announces his retirement
McLaughlin discusses what’s changed and what hasn’t in his long career with the city of Sebastopol
On October 6, longtime City Manager and City Attorney Larry McLaughlin announced that he plans to retire from the city of Sebastopol, where he has worked as city attorney since 1987 and in his split role as city manager since 2013.
He hasn’t named a firm retirement date, citing his commitment to providing guidance and ensuring continuity for the new city council, the majority of which, as a result of the upcoming election, will be new to the council. He has also expressed a desire to see a large city project known as the Staffing Assessment Needs Report through to completion.
The complex role of city manager
Like most small towns, Sebastopol has what’s known as a city manager form of government, where the city manager (as opposed to the mayor) is in charge of all city departments.
“All the staff in Sebastopol, with the exception of the city clerk, work for me,” McLaughlin said.
In this form of municipal governance, the city council makes policy, and it’s the job of the city manager and his staff to carry that policy out.
Mayor Patrick Slayter, who has worked with McLaughlin since being elected to the city council in 2010, said in a city press release, “The job of city manager is one of the most complex positions that exists in government. The job involves managing many aligned and competing interests, a diverse staff, budgetary constraints, intergovernmental relationships, and a rotating assortment of councilmembers, each with a singular version of what is most important.”
Balancing these various demands isn’t easy, but McLaughlin says he’s never found the job overwhelming.
“I'm never depressed,” he said. “I'm always optimistic. It’s a personality characteristic that can be a little annoying because I see the humor absolutely everywhere – and there are times that that makes people think I’m taking things too lightly. That’s not the case, but I do see the humor in most things.”
The night owl at every city council meeting
McLaughlin has been a fixture in Sebastopol’s city government for so long that it’s hard to imagine a city council meeting without him.
McLaughlin, who began doing legal work for the city in 1980, says he’s been attending Sebastopol City Council meetings faithfully since the mid-eighties.
“Literally I have attended almost every single council meeting ever since 1985,” he said, noting that council meetings back then stretched even longer than today’s marathon council sessions.
“Many council meetings would end with nobody present but the city manager, me and the city council at midnight or one o'clock in the morning,” he said. “It was kinda fun.”
“I’m a night owl,” McLaughlin said, “so the late hours didn’t bother me.”
City attorneys in Sebastopol, in addition to bearing up under long council meetings, tend to have extraordinarily long tenures. McLaughlin said there have been only three city attorneys since the 1950s.
Born to the law
McLaughlin, whose mother and grandfather were lawyers, began his legal career as a member of the first class of Empire College of Law.
“Many of the local attorneys and judges were the instructors at that law school, which started in downtown Santa Rosa. I was in the charter class so basically, in that situation, you know everybody.”
To get his law degree, McLaughlin worked during the day in insurance and went to Empire law classes at night.
He said he was hooked on the law from the first class, and his fascination with its intellectual challenges has never waned. Of all his duties for the city, he’s found being city attorney the most rewarding.
“It's very broad because almost anything can happen that affects the city legally, but it also is narrow in some ways. For example, land use law. You have to keep up with land use law.”
McLaughlin has overseen the crafting of ordinances on, among other things, retail sales of tobacco, prohibition of smoking in public places, a ban on polystyrene products and the recent RV parking ordinance, all of which he said were designed to be defensible in court.
McLaughlin says he has appreciated the city council’s willingness to go to court to defend their policies.
“Our city councils have always gone to court to defend their actions ever since I've been here—35 years. Every time I told the city council, ‘If you're gonna do this action, you may get sued. I want to know, “Are you gonna defend yourself or are you gonna capitulate?”’ And they've always been willing to spend the money and go to court. Sometime city council members have even shown up for the court hearing over at the courthouse to hear a judge rule on one of the city cases.”
A small town and a small staff
Though he was born in the Bay Area, McLaughlin, who lives in Sebastopol, says he’s enjoyed living and working in a small town all these years.
“What I like here is I live in the town that I work in - a small town so I know literally everybody, and I really do know what's going on and I have a handle on everything, which just isn’t the case when you work in a large city.”
He’s also enjoyed working with the small, close-knit staff at the city.
“It's really been a positive experience to me to work with our small staff, most of whom I hired and have worked with for years and years. I really feel a sense of pride that they all really do know what they're doing and can get it done,” he said.
“We have a unique staff here,” he said. “We don't have a lot of turnover. We have longevity. We have continuity. We have institutional knowledge … I know them very well, and we work very well together,” McLaughlin said. “They're sort of like your brothers and sisters in the sense that they might be unhappy or fighting with you sometimes, but you know you love each other and you're going to do the job anyway.”
He said that the last few years — what with the pandemic, wildfires and floods — have been particularly challenging for city staff, in part because these crises have compromised the city’s financial prospects, causing it to eat into its reserves.
Aside from these emergencies, however, McLaughlin said the issues his office deals with haven’t changed much over the years.
“The issues have really never changed. They’ve just gotten larger,” he said. “Land use—what's appropriate? What kind of businesses do we need in town? How do we attract the right kinds of businesses? What do you do with the businesses you think are the wrong kinds of businesses? What kind of housing development do we want? How do you attract that? These issues have been consistent the entire time I’ve been here.”
The attitude of Sebastopudlians toward the city and city council has remained relatively consistent as well. McLaughlin diplomatically described it this way: “There’s a very high public expectation that the city be run according to the standards that they think the city should be running under, and they're very vocal when they think that isn't the case.”
Responses to McLaughlin’s pending departure
Reaction to McLaughlin’s retirement announcement was quick.
“I know the entire city council values Larry’s leadership, and we approach this announcement with equal parts sadness for the loss of his incredible knowledge, skill and temperament, and joy for the opportunity of continuing his private law practice and spending more time with his family. We have all profoundly enjoyed working with Larry,” Mayor Patrick Slayter wrote in the city’s official announcement of McLaughlin’s retirement.
Diana Rich wrote in her city blog, “Larry's skills and experience are substantial, but for me it is his character that made working with him so wonderful. He is an honest, kind, organized, approachable leader with a heart of gold. He provided stability and reassurance to all, and he always dealt with whatever came at him with complete equanimity. Sebastopol has been fortunate to have him, and I will miss him greatly.”
Sarah Gurney, who is retiring this year after 18 years on the council, said, "Larry has served our city in significant ways that our citizens may not know. Not only has his tenure as city manager and city attorney provided institutional memory, as a long-time resident himself, he has monitored the pulse of our community and stayed true to our values in his professional roles. His concern for the city and our residents has motivated him to serve as an ombudsman. He has helped to guide the city through many complex issues during his tenure. He's mediated difficulties between conflicted groups with results of collaborative partnerships. Larry has added immeasurably to our quality of life throughout his career."
Going forward
Regarding his future plans, McLaughlin said “I won’t be slowing down much. I plan to be active in the community as well as resume my law practice in Sebastopol. Serving the Sebastopol community, leading the amazing workforce, and overseeing what has been accomplished with such limited staff has been an honor and privilege. I hope that I have left a positive legacy at the city.”
Laura Hagar Rush is a co-publisher of and a reporter for the Sebastopol Times. She is also a part-time, temporary contractor for the city of Sebastopol and coordinator of Relaunch Sebastopol, a city initiative to increase tourism, support local business, and increase civic engagement. Her articles for the Sebastopol Times are not connected with her work for the city of Sebastopol nor do they reflect the opinions of Sebastopol city officials or staff.