Council selects Cristine Alilovich as next city manager
Alilovich, interim manager since April, was chosen for the permanent post; the council took up a proposed employment agreement on September 2.
SONOMA: The City Council has selected Cristine Alilovich as Sonoma's next city manager, the city announced August 28. Alilovich has served as interim city manager since April, giving the council a known quantity for the town's top administrative job.
The council considered a proposed employment agreement at its September 2 meeting, the next step toward formalizing the appointment. The city's announcement framed the selection as the conclusion of a recruitment process, with Alilovich emerging from the interim role she has held through the spring and summer.
The city manager runs Sonoma's day-to-day government: the budget, the staff, the council's policy agenda and the unglamorous machinery of permits, public works and public safety. In a small city, the manager is also the person residents call when the machinery stalls.
Alilovich's months as interim gave her a running start on the issues awaiting the permanent manager: a newly adopted budget, the Plaza master plan process, district-based elections in November, and the ordinary churn of a tourist town heading into harvest season.
The appointment also closes a chapter of transition at City Hall. Interim leadership can keep a city running, but major decisions, from labor negotiations to long-term planning, tend to wait for a permanent manager with the council's full backing.
The Post will report the terms of the employment agreement once the council's action is final. For now, City Hall has its pick, and the pick already knows where the files are.
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