Interview with Steven Wright Gustines Intern City Manager

Hello everyone today on Traveling Activist with your host Zachery Ramos we have a special guest close to home our own Gustine Interim City Manager. Steve Wright, pictured above, has a long history of working as a city manager from beginning as an intern in Signal Hill CA to now working in Gustine to help find a new City Manager to work for Gustine. Activist is defined as a person who campaigns to bring about political or social change but you don't necessarily have to campaign to make a change. With today's interview I will be teaching you all that City Managers are activists as well and how they are.

Mr.Wright began his career right after college working for Signal Hill as their Assistant Administrator. Wright didn't always want to work though in City politics before he went to Signal Hill when he was in college he wanted to work as a fire fighter. In his final semester he was told he was required to take an intern job for his course work which started off Wright on his way to becoming a City Manager.

Right after graduation, Signal Hill had a job open for him and were happy to have him as an official employ after all the hard work and dedication he had shown to them when he was just an intern. Wright worked in Signal Hill for 4 years as Assistant Administrator, then went to Lynwood to work as Assistant City Manager and Steve Wright became acting city manager in charge of recruiting a permanent replacement for his former supervisor but was soon appointed by the Lynwood city council to be permanent City Manager. He was 27 years old. After serving the City of Lynwood for four years, Mr. Wright moved on to become City Manager of Taft, Calif., with a population of about 6,000. During his 12 years in Taft, Steve learned to fly and bought himself a plane.

After serving several years more in Taft, which Steve “very much enjoyed,” he decided to pursue a quality of life to satisfy his needs. So he made the move to Big Bear Lake, Calif., where Steve was hired as City Manager in 1989, nine years after Big Bear Lake’s incorporation. A few years later Truckee’s first mayor, Kathleen Eagan, called with questions regarding Big Bear Lake’s recent incorporation. Another year later, Steve saw an ad: the Town of Truckee was hiring its first Town Manager. “The thought of working in Truckee took me full circle,” Steve said. “The idea of being city manager for a new city was a professional challenge I had not had… The idea of coming back to Truckee was very exciting.”

Truckee’s first Town Council hired Steve Wright in September 1993. “The first council made the decision not to hire permanent employees before hiring the town manager,” Steve said. “From my perspective, that decision really made the team that much stronger.” Steve Wright has now worked in public administration for 46+ years and has served as an appointed city manager for over 36 years. Throughout his career, Steve has worked at continuing his education in public administration. While serving Truckee he became one of the first city managers in the country to become credentialed under a program created by the International City/ County Management Association. Currently fewer than 800 city managers have met the high credentialing standards set by the ICMA.

Also throughout his career and much to his credit, Steve’s choice to find a new position has always been his own. He has steadily earned the respect of his peers statewide and among those with whom he has worked in local government. Now Steve is in Gustine CA. serving as Interim City Manager helping Gustine City Council hire a replacement to take over as new City Manager. Steve said, “I convinced Greg (Gustine’s City Manager before Sean) to take over my position in Wheatland and, after that Sean took over as the new City Manager of Gustine until 2016 when he was offered a job position in Riverbank. When you look at it it’s like a full circle for now I’m working in Gustine after helping Greg go and now Sean”.

When asked, If you could go back and do it all over again would you change your career choice and continue with becoming a firefighter? Steve replied with a chuckle, “I wouldn't change anything.” I completely understand why because, in Steve’s time as being a City Manager he has experienced a lot of life changing events like meeting his wife Diane, gaining new friends and learning from new experiences choosing the path he did.

Being a City Manager is also a part of Activism in the sense of wanting to help others and leading people to a better future. City Managers help out the town they’re working in to lead the members of the community to help the city grow and develop. If not for City Managers cities and towns wouldn't be able to add to jobs to make it possible for people to provide for their families or to help solve problems with co-workers to fix the city or town. So the next time you see your City Manager be sure to thank them and shake their hand because, we don't realize all the behind the scenes work they do for us.

That's it for today's interview, I want to thank Mr. Steve Wright for being on today and, thank you for all the work you do for towns and cities you've worked for I'm sure they all want you back as there City Manager. That all from Traveling Activist with your host Zachery Ramos. Remember to stay safe out there, make a difference in your community and, never give up in what you believe in because with some hard work you will make it a reality.