There are a few that question the wisdom of the City of Manteca going with a city manager that has roots deep in community services – aka parks and recreation.
Toni Lundgren — after 15 months as acting and then interim city manager — is the top choice of the Manteca City Council to fill the city manager’s position on a permanent basis. She started in the city 16 years ago as a recreation supervisor.
Lundgren was elevated to Manteca’s city manager’s job last month. Her experience includes over four years in the city manager’s office.
Beverly Hills’ civic leadership didn’t think coming from the parks and recreation side was an issue nor did Roseville — a Placer County city of 151,000 that’s home to NEC Electronics, HP, and the north state’s largest shopping all, The Galleria.
Still, Manteca’s decision to go with city manager who wasn’t brought up in the silo of city administration or via public works or police as most cities do is still fairly rare.
Nancy Hunt-Coffey took over as Beverly Hills as top executive on Jan. 1 of this year. She started her career 15 years prior to the City of Beverly Hills as an assistant director of community services.
Mike Shellito retired in 2010 after 30 years with the City of Roseville where he started in a frontline recreation supervisor job and ended retiring as city manager.
Lundgren grew up in Linden, 20 miles to the northeast of Manteca, where she graduated from Linden High.
After Delta College, she earned a degree at Long Beach State.
Recently, she earned her masters degree in public administration from Long Beach State as well.
Lundgren has 25 years working in municipal government. Before starting in Manteca 16 years ago, she worked in Stockton, Lodi, and Escalon.
Lundgren for the first part of her career worked in parks and recreation departments.
She pointed out it is a department heavily reliant on the general fund and healthy municipal finances to be able to provide the services that citizens want.
Over the years when trying to initiate programs the community wanted, she said she grew weary of always hearing the word “no.”
Lundgren said that one of the goals — and that of the council — is to have the city on a strong financial footing so that the city can provide the general fund services that citizens need and desire.
Three future Manteca leaders
captured in a photo by Lundgren
Toni Lundgren’s official start as Manteca’s permanent city manager is July 1— the same time Taylor Hasal replaces Jeanne Beattie as Manteca Chamber of Commerce as executive director after serving in that position for nearly 10 years.
Lundberg was Hasal’s supervisor in the parks and recreation department — now the Recreation and Community Services division.
In a photo Lundberg took a few years back as recreation supervisor, she snapped three future “civic leaders” after they completed a joint water city training exercise.
Included was Hasal, a lifeguard at the time.
There was also two fire captains. One was Dave Breitenbucher who is now serving his second term as a Manteca City Council member as well as Dave Marques who is now the city’s fire chief after serving as battalion chief.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
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