City Council Holds Reception for New City Manager Steve Mermell

The Pasadena City Council held a reception for new City Manager Steve Mermell in the City Hall courtyard on Wednesday afternoon.

“Typically these events are to introduce a new person that isn’t known to the locals,” Mayor Tornek said in opening remarks. “Clearly that is not the case here today.”

Mermell has been a Pasadena city employee since 1989, working his way up the ranks from his first job as an administrative analyst at Pasadena Water and Power. He was appointed as the permanent City Manager by a unanimous vote of the City Council last month and assumed that position on July 11.

Dozens of City staff, uniformed personnel, two former Pasadena City Managers and civic leaders mingled in the courtyard before a brief ceremony led by Mayor Tornek that was sprinkled with frequent laughter.

Tornek, Congresswoman Judy Chu and six Councilmembers introduced Mermell, each noting what the Mayor called common themes in their remarks: selecting Mermell out of a challenging field of contenders was actually an obviously easy best choice, and how well-received Mermell’s appointment has been.

“I can tell you the response that we have received, the appointing authority, the City Council, has been universally favorable,” Tornek said, adding this “is something that virtually never happens, in my experience, in Pasadena.”

Mermell was both light-hearted and weighty in his remarks.

“For me this is extremely overwhelming. Having worked here for so many years, and attend so many events in this courtyard for other people, I sort of feel like I should be retiring…” he quipped at the podium.

With virtually the entire City Council flanking him on the steps leading into the courtyard, Mermell told the gathering he has been fortunate throughout his career.

“I have so much to be thankful for, the City has provided me with so many great opportunities,” he said.

“Yes we are going forward, we’re making decisions. In order to make the right decisions for the future, you’ve got to know where we came from, and that’s going to shape and mold what we do,” he said. “We have some challenges, the budget primarily, but we’ll work through it together and we’ll make the best decisions for this community.”

Mermell acknowledged the importance of city staff in running the city and also the Councilmembers (“I’m just one of many” who get the job done at City Hall, he said).

He closed by saying in part, “This is a family community, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else” before acknowledging his wife, Rachel, and Jacob, one of his two sons, who were in the audience.

“I couldn’t be more pleased than to be here today, he said.