> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # SM City Manager to retire - URL: https://www.smdp.com/sm-city-manager-to-retire/ - Published: 2005-08-03T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T07:32:34.000Z - Author: Ryan Hyatt - Tags: Government & Politics, Downtown, #archive-import, Homelessness *City Manager worked for SM for 24 years* CITY HALL — Santa Monica’s top administrator who led City Hall through the recent recession will soon be heading off to enjoy her golden years, leaving behind a rebounding economy and the foundation to complete several significant public projects. Santa Monica City Manager Susan McCarthy, who has held her position since 1999, has informed the City Council she will retire in November. McCarthy, who will be 60 next week, has worked for City Hall for 24 years. Responsible for the “belt-tightening” that enabled City Hall to ride out the post-9-11 economic downturn, she intends to spend more time with her husband and aging parents in the coming years. Through McCarthy’s efforts, Santa Monica has maintained its triple A bond rating while supporting big ticket capital improvements that have been in the works since the 1990s. Some of those projects are expected to open this year, including the $55 million Main Library, the $13 million Virginia Avenue Park expansion and the new $722,000 skatepark at 14th Street and Olympic Boulevard. She supported raising the hotel room tax in order to strengthen Santa Monica’s present and future financial base. She also helped get the community to come together to help stop gang violence. McCarthy will be leaving her successor to complete a two-year overhaul to the city’s planning and traffic plan, which will set policy for development and transportation in Santa Monica for the next 20 years. The $120 million Civic Center complex, a $90 million downtown parking plan and the redevelopment of Santa Monica Place Mall are further undertakings she has helped manage, which will be carried on by other leaders. McCarthy said her greatest accomplishment as city manager is the quality of city personnel who assist in its day-to-day operations. “I’m proud of the staff members who come to work each day to make Santa Monica a better place by doing their jobs well,” McCarthy said. “I’ve tried to meet every new employee at their orientation session and impress on them how important their work is for our residents, businesses and visitors.” Decisions regarding her successor will be decided by the City Council, which will likely appoint a subcommittee at the Aug. 9 meeting to handle a search, she said. McCarthy is currently at the top salary range of her position, earning $197,904 annually and receiving an annual cost of living increase, the same as other employees. The City Council last week reviewed McCarthy and although details of that meeting aren’t public record, coun-cilmembers had nothing but glowing reports of her performance when they learned of her resignation. As a child raised in the suburbs of Washington D.C., McCarthy grew up surrounded by politics, but it wouldn’t be until she was an adult that she realized how much it had an impact on her. Decades later, McCarthy found herself overseeing more than 1,000 employees within City Hall, managing the day-today operations of one of the most dynamic and diverse cities in the world, and handling a $388 million budget. McCarthy came to Santa Monica in 1974 after her husband, Kevin, was hired as a researcher for the Rand Corp. Just before moving here, McCarthy was working as a transportation planner for the state of Wisconsin while Kevin was in the doctoral program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. To stay apprised of what was going on in the world, McCarthy cherished her grandmother’s gift of the Washington Post each week. “I knew about Watergate long before it appeared in the papers in the Midwest,” she once said. “I would say that I’ve been a policy buff for a long time.” McCarthy embarked on her career in city government a year after she moved to Santa Monica. She has been involved Santa Monica’s business off and on for the past 20 years. In college, McCarthy studied economic and urban geography. She was interested in “central place theory,” the circumstances of why, how and where cities develop. City Councilman Richard Bloom, who began his first term the same year McCarthy became the city manager, said he understands her desire to move on, especially in light of balancing family and community commitments. “It comes as no surprise to me and serves to underscore her values that she has chosen to depart so that she can spend more time with her mom and dad,” Bloom said. “She is a woman who holds herself to the highest standards of honesty and integrity and I thank her for expecting that from me and the community, as well.” > “She is a woman who holds herself to the highest standards of honesty and integrity.” — — RICHARD BLOOM City Councilman City Councilman Herb Katz, who has known McCarthy for 25 years, said she came into her position at a time when personnel issues at City Hall were very bad and that McCarthy’s role has helped Santa Monica make a turnaround in the six years she’s been in the position. Katz, an architect who in the past has been critical of the city’s planning department, said there have been some improvements under McCarthy’s watch, who spearheaded efforts aimed at streamlining the permitting process. “She has been on top of it,” Katz said. “There is still a ways to go, but we will miss her as we try to find a proper replacement.” City Councilman Bobby Shriver, the newest elected city official, said McCarthy leaves at an amazing time in Santa Monica history, noting she has been instrumental in helping City Hall find additional funding in its budget to aid the city’s down-and-out population. “There are now giant opportunities to address homelessness and other issues,” Shriver said. “I hope the process to find a new manager will be open and we get a lot of first-class applicants.” McCarthy’s first stint in local government was as an administrative analyst at the Big Blue Bus, a job she described as a jack of all trades and the foundation of her career. She was climbing the ladder within City Hall when she left to pursue her master’s degree in communication management at the Annenberg School at the University of Southern California. While studying, she volunteered at the Natural History Museum across the street, working in the public relations department. She came back to City Hall in 1985 and has been there ever since. She’s held positions in the cultural affairs department, worked her way up to the director of the human resources department, served as assistant city manager and now City Hall’s top job. McCarthy said in the future she will continue to enjoy those activities that have enabled her to keep close ties to the community, albeit from a unique perspective, as she has in the past. “I’ll continue to walk in Palisades Park, shop the farmers markets and follow the news,” she said. “I may take out a library card.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/080305-04_01.jpg) ‘Showstoppers,’ a group of teen-age singers and dancers from Utica, NY. (Photo: Fabian Lewkowicz/Daily Press) *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 3, 2005.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/080305.pdf?ref=smdp.com)