The Arvin City Council is down to four City Manager finalists.
The top candidates are Peter Cosentini from Huntington Beach, California, Jeff Jones, current Financial Director and Interim City Manager, Ricardo Noguera from Cape Coral, Florida, and Donovan Olsen from Ames, Iowa.
Noah Cloud from Seoul, Korea was also a finalist, but he sent a letter to the council to inform them about a proposition that he took in Germany and he would no longer be a candidate for Arvin’s next City Manager.
Donovan Olsen informed the council that he was unable to attend both the Sunday community event and the City Council meeting on Monday because of distance.
The recruitment process for these candidates has been very rigorous. The search started in June and there were a total of 35 applicants who expressed interest to become Arvin’s next City Manager. The final candidates were given a deep background check, and several interviews with the council, the staff, and events with the community.
Peter Cosentini has a masters in Public Administration, and he has 23 years of experience in budget. He looks forward to an effective development in the city. His plan is to construct a 20 year plan of construction for Arvin. He mentioned that it is better to have a plan than to not have a plan at all.
Peter Consentini wants to focus on a master plan of development by having a set plan. He wants to help the community grow, and he is looking forward to helping police and fire personnel.
“The first thing that I look at when I come to a new city is: do we have a lot of developer plans coming into town or are we running out,” Consentini stated.
Jeff Jones has been the Finance Director in Arvin since 2017 and the Interim City Manager since late May. He has demonstrated admiration for the community, and he has helped the community grow from ruin to a sustainable budget. He looks forward to helping bring employee attraction to the community, and he wants to bring mentorship programs to train employees. He believes employers should focus on turning weaknesses into strengths.
“To change one thing in Arvin, probably the public perception,” Jones stated. “People have the public perception of Arvin as Arvin has a lot of crime and a lot of negative things going on. Turn that around to a positive. There are a bunch of positive things here in town.”
Ricardo Noguera has 23 years of experience transforming communities. He describes himself as a game changer and he wants to create development opportunity sites. He believes that more local jobs will bring money back to the city. He wants to focus on local hiring programs and job opportunities for the locals.
“Well, I can’t do one thing — I gotta do more,” Noguera stated. “I would say at least three things: improving the tax base, creating more jobs, good paying jobs for the people, and improving its image.”
