Kiely Nosé, a City Hall veteran who has been filling in as City Manager Ed Shikada's top lieutenant since March 2021, is set to permanently assume the assistant city manager position later this month, Shikada announced Thursday.
Nosé, who has been serving as the city's chief financial officer for the past four years, took on a second role as the interim assistant city manager last year when Monique LeConge Ziesenhenne retired. A key member of the executive team, she has played the leading role in developing city budgets and leading major initiatives such as revising the city's pension policies and spearheading its successful drive to enact a business tax this year.
Prior to her four-year stint as the city's top financial official, Nosé had spent three years directing the Office of Budget and Management. She had also spent six years working for the city of San Jose in roles dealing with financing and budgeting prior to coming to Palo Alto.
The City Council is expected to confirm her appointment on Dec. 12. Once that happens, she will continue to serve in both roles until the city recruits someone to fill the chief financial officer position, according to Shikada's announcement. He said in a news release that he looks forward to working with Nosé "to ensure the effectiveness of City services for the Palo Alto community."
"Kiely has demonstrated strong leadership through the pandemic and her experience in managing across departments will continue to be invaluable as we support community recovery. Palo Alto is well served by her talent and commitment," Shikada said.
If confirmed, Nosé would assume the second-highest position in the City Manager's Office, one that would empower her to lead interdepartmental initiatives and act on behalf of the city manager as needed. The position comes with a $275,142 salary.
"I'm excited to continue working with City Manager Ed Shikada and the dedicated leadership team to support City services to the community," Nosé said in the announcement. "I look forward to continuing to advance the City Council's priorities and deliver exceptional City services to our community every day in this new role."
Comments
Registered user
College Terrace
on Dec 2, 2022 at 8:42 am
Registered user
on Dec 2, 2022 at 8:42 am
The Charter needs to change so that CC, rather than the CM, is responsible for the hiring for more key positions than it currently is. As is, it is too easy for the CM to stack the deck.
At the first CC meeting in February 2021, Council awarded a $93M contract to Swinerton to build the Public Safety Building. This was in the middle of the pandemic when the City's revenue streams were collapsing. It may have been more prudent to defer that award. At the very next CC meeting, the CIty's OMB (headed by Ms. Nose) launched the budget discussion for FY22 with a presentation about City finances. The picture was, to say the least, not rosy. Discussions about service cuts followed. And those continue. Dire predictions about cuts in service were a key talking point in the campaign to pass the new business tax.
Talk matters and it is sometimes hard to know what to believe. People say what works at the time, especially in political bureaucracies.
Timing also matters. The financial picture and the short and long term impact of spending should be known in advance of committing funds, especially when those decisions impact basic services such as police and fire. The consequences can hurt; we are currently experiencing what it means to have an under-funded, under-staffed police department.
With the CM appointing his "top lieutenant" to the 2nd highest position at City Hall, CC is going to have to be vigilant about what is on CC agendas and the timing of critical decisions for their consideration. Unfortunately, what happens here is that the CM and select staff run things that are the purview of City Council. Said differently, the tail is wagging the dog. This needs to change.
Registered user
Embarcadero Oaks/Leland
on Dec 2, 2022 at 11:11 am
Registered user
on Dec 2, 2022 at 11:11 am
Totally agree with Annette above.
I also love that with a $40,000,000 budget surplus and huge unfunded pension liabilities that the city pleads poverty, threatens to cut vital services unless it gets new tax revenues, leaves vital positions at PAPD and the library unfilled while giving priority to hiring more staff at the pathetically failed Junior Museum and Zoo, pushing spending $144,000,000 for the risky Fiber project to compete with AT&T and Comcast...
So glad the City Manager's office with its huge communication staff responsible for the UpLift newsletter with its $3,000,000 budget can manage to give us weekly recipes and tips on mindfulness instead timely police reports and fully staffed services.
One has to question seriously the city's priorities and wasteful spending.
Registered user
Downtown North
on Dec 3, 2022 at 11:26 am
Registered user
on Dec 3, 2022 at 11:26 am
I think many of these issues were and are city council priorities. Staff can certainly influence council decisions but the future rests with our new council.
Registered user
Crescent Park
on Dec 5, 2022 at 11:41 am
Registered user
on Dec 5, 2022 at 11:41 am
Does anyone know how many hundreds of thousands of dollars in added pension obligation Monique LeConge Ziesenhenne's brief tenure as an Asst City Manager cost us taxpayers? I like Kiely, but another quarter million a year for admistrators would feel better if our city management wasn't so sub-par.
FYI, Monique's subordinates in Library nicknamed her Monique "Le-Gone" for how often they saw her or got useful direction in the "downward" facing obligation. I guess it's a profitable art to "manage up" in government.