ALHAMBRA >> A statewide search for the next city manager found a familiar face in Police Chief Mark Yokoyama, who has been tapped to take the city’s top job.
Yokoyama, 48, was one of five candidates considered to succeed outgoing City Manager Mary Swink, who retired last week. After she announced her plans in late January, the city hired Bob Murray & Associates to begin searching for her replacement.
Mayor Barbara Messina said she didn’t know Yokoyama was interested in the position until the search firm turned over a list of names to the council. She said it was a tough decision, but the council opted to go with someone who has already forged bonds in the community. Swink said he was the only internal applicant.
“It was really difficult because other candidates were really good, too,” Messina said. “When we interviewed him, he had really done his homework. He knew the issues facing the community and the city and offered good solutions for how to approach them.”
The City Council will finalize his employment contract on May 23. If approved, he will start the following day, Swink said.
Yokoyama called it a “natural progression” in his career.
He has 29 years of experience in law enforcement, beginning with his first job in La Palma when he was 21 years old.
Yokoyama earned a bachelor’s degree in public administration and holds two master’s degrees in the fields of behavioral science and executive leadership. He joined the Alhambra department as its first Asian police chief in 2011.
Yokoyama will have to transition from managing one department to leading 10, as well as learn to manage a budget of $58 million after controlling a budget of $24 million with the police department.
But he won’t be doing both jobs. Yokoyama plans to appoint one of his captains to interim chief in the coming weeks, he said. The city is also searching for a new fire chief after the previous one left the department last week to work for Santa Monica. Tom Phelps, a retired battalion chief, is serving as acting chief until a permanent replacement can be found.
News of Yokoyama’s appointment spread quickly through the community, and some residents expressed concerns, saying he doesn’t have the background or qualifications to run the city. But Yokoyama argued his law enforcement background is more of an asset than some might realize.
“The public only sees the enforcement side of what we do in our profession,” he said. “They don’t see the inner workings where every single day we work with the community to solve problems, deal with quality of life issues, and oftentimes, are the first responders to deal with those issues.”
He said the police department helps shape the community from a public safety perspective and a city manager does the same thing, only on a larger scale. He also said he would lean on department heads to handle day-to-day operations in their respective areas.
In addition, Yokoyama is not the first local police chief to make the transition to city manager. San Marino, in 2012, also named then-police chief John Schaeffer as its city manager. He still holds the position. Gardena made a similar move less than two weeks ago.
Since Yokoyama became chief in 2011, the department has been praised for its efforts to increase community outreach, especially with the immigrant community. The department has received national and international accolades for its progressive use of technology to build better community relations.
In 2014, Alhambra Police Department became the first law enforcement agency in the nation to begin using Weibo, a Chinese-language social media site akin to Twitter. The page now has over 40,000 “fans.” Other police departments in cities with majority Asian populations, such as Arcadia and San Gabriel, soon followed suit.
About 51 percent of the residents in Alhambra are Asian, and most are Chinese, according to 2014 U.S. census data. Of its 85,585 residents, about 75 percent speak a language other than English in the home.
“He’s very highly respected in his field so I trust he will bring that with him to the city manager position,” Messina said.
