15 Oct New Assistant City Manager Named for San Pablo

Maria Lara-Ojeda is the new assistant city manager of San Pablo, effective Nov. 18.

By Michael J. Fitzgerald

Maria Lara-Ojeda has been named the new assistant city manager of San Pablo.

Lara-Ojeda has an extensive history of municipal work in California. She was selected from a field of 101 applicants. Her official start date is Nov. 18. Her position comes with an annual base salary that starts at $264,840.

For the last five years, she served as assistant city manager of American Canyon in Napa County. In 2019, she was interim finance director for the city of Benicia. Prior to that, she was in the finance director/treasurer position handling the budget, finance, investment and utility billing services for the town of Yountville in Napa County from 2015 to 2019.

From 2005 to 2015, Lara-Ojeda also served in a number of management positions, eventually becoming deputy city manager of Pleasanton in Alameda County.

“Ms. Lara-Ojeda brings forward a strong record in public service, serving in a number of local municipal organizations in the Bay Area region for the last 25 years, and has developed a diverse experience, and vast knowledge in managing administrative, budget, financial, and internal operations in those cities served,” San Pablo City Manager Matt Rodriguez said in a press release Sunday. “She will be a tremendous addition to our city organization, and will serve as a valuable member of the City’s Executive Team.”

Lara-Ojeda will serve as the city’s “number two” administrator and operational officer reporting directly to the city manager, with management and operational oversight over all city departments, he said. The assistant city manager position also directly oversees the city’s economic development/housing and human resources/risk management functions in the City Manager’s Office.

The new assistant city manager earned a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Kansas and a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology and Latin American Studies from Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont, Calif. She is also a graduate of the University of Virginia’s Senior Executive Institute, Center for Public Service Training in Charlottesville. Lara-Ojeda is married and has one child.