Following a year of dedicated service to the City of Milpitas, City Manager Julie Edmonds-Mares has announced her resignation. The City Council will take formal action to appoint deputy city manager, Steve McHarris as interim city manager at their Council meeting set for Tuesday, June 4.
“We truly appreciate and recognize the significant contributions of Julie Edmonds-Mares during her service to Milpitas,” said Mayor Richard Tran. “Over the past year Julie worked with the City Council to make tremendous progress toward stabilizing our organization and strengthening our team to make our city a great place to work and a great force for enhancing the quality of life for our residents. We’re pleased that Milpitas is now being run more efficiently than in prior administrations.”
According to Mayor Tran, the City Council had sought an experienced leader in 2018 to help create a more effective and mutually supportive working relationship between the Council and its senior executive staff. With the appointment of Edmonds-Mares in March 2018 as the first female city manager for Milpitas, they found an experienced manager from the City of San Jose with extensive experience in the region and in local government.
“I’m very proud of what we have accomplished working together in the City of Milpitas, and I know that I’m leaving Milpitas as a better organization,” said Edmonds-Mares. “I’ve deeply enjoyed working here, and I’ve learned much and grown more as a professional city manager. I will miss the friends I have made both inside City Hall and in our community, but I look forward to the opportunity to apply the lessons and insights that I’ve gained from my experience in Milpitas.”
Among the City Manager’s accomplishments cited by Mayor Tran are the appointment of seasoned professionals in multiple key positions to rebuild the depth of the City’s management team; renewing strong partnerships with the Milpitas business and educational communities; overseeing the launch of the city’s participation in the regional Silicon Valley Clean energy consortium; addressing long-term budget and capital improvement programs; and focusing on the regional challenges of affordable housing and homelessness.
Steve McHarris rejoined the staff of the City of Milpitas in May 2018 as the city’s deputy city manager for community development. He had previously served as director of the Milpitas Planning and Neighborhood Services Department for three years until 2015, when he joined the City of San José as its planning official and deputy director of the San José Planning, Building, & Code Enforcement Department.
“Steve has both the breadth and depth of professional planning experience that we need to lead the incredibly fast-paced growth of our city,” said Mayor Tran. “Combined with his extensive knowledge of our community, his familiarity with the challenges of planning, development, and housing in Silicon Valley, and his positive vision for Milpitas, he’s an outstanding fit for our community and the city organization.”
According to recently elected Councilmember Carmen Montano, “I’m confident we’ll be in good hands with Steve McHarris at the helm. He knows both this organization and this community extremely well, and I’ve found him very professional and supportive of the city council.”
McHarris will serve as interim city manager until the City Council determines its next steps for naming the next city manager for Milpitas.
