San Luis Obispo city attorney takes job in Pleasanton

Jonathan Lowell, who has worked for SLO for six years, is among three top City Hall officials who are stepping down next year

By Sally Connell

Comments (0) |

E-Mail

Text Size:

tool goes here

San Luis Obispo City Attorney Jonathan Lowell has announced he will leave his position to become city attorney in the Bay Area community of Pleasanton, bringing to three the number of top officials who will leave the city’s administration in 2010.

Lowell said he plans to step down at the end of the year. He has worked for San Luis Obispo for six years.

Lowell previously worked for a private law firm that did employment and labor work for a number of cities. He also worked as assistant city attorney in Hayward and Livermore, and served as city attorney in San Bruno.

Pleasanton has a population of 66,000, compared with San Luis Obispo’s 43,000. Lowell said he will be moving back to courts and a legal arena he knows well.

“I’ve really enjoyed being here,” he said. “It’s the best job I’ve ever had, and I’m not just saying that.”

He said he and his partner will be able to move closer to their elderly parents “who are all getting to where they need me close by.”

City Manager Ken Hampian and City Finance Director Bill Statler have also announced they will leave their city posts. Hampian and Statler have both stated they will pursue consulting and other career-related opportunities.

In closed sessions set for Friday at 8 a.m. and Saturday at 8:30 a.m., the City Council will interview seven candidates for Hampian’s position.

City officials did not release the candidates’ names because they say it could jeopardize the candidates’ current employment status, but Assistant City Manager Shelly Stanwyck did not apply for the job.

Decisions on how to proceed with recruiting for Lowell’s position will probably go before the City Council next week.

Lowell had hired an entirely new office staff, including Assistant City Attorney Christine Dietrick, who is expected to apply for his position.

The three administrative positions represent some of the highest paid at City Hall, particularly the positions occupied by Hampian and Lowell.

The city manager post pays between $156,000 and $195,000 per year, though Hampian is at the top of that pay range.

The pay range for city attorney is $140,000 to $175,000.

And the pay range for finance director is $123,000 to $155,000.

About comments

Reader comments on SanLuisObispo.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Tribune. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.

What you should know about comments on SanLuisObispo.com

SanLuisObispo.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. See our full terms of service here.

Here are some rules of the road:

Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "report abuse" button. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.
Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.
Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.
Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand. If you want to discuss an issue with a specific user, click on his profile name and leave him a public message.
Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.
Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.
Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.
Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.

You should also know that The Tribune does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "report abuse" button to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at webmaster@sanluisobispo.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.

If you submit a comment, the username of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them, but you may ask our staff to retract one of your comments by sending an email to webmaster@sanluisobispo.com. Again, make sure you note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us your profile name.