A Cypress city resident who often advocates on behalf of citizens indirectly asked the City Council to create a position of Assistant City Manager.
During the second oral communications period at its Feb. 24 meeting, former construction company owner Bob Youngsma questioned why Cypress does not have an Assistant City Manager.
Seal Beach had an Assistant City Manager who recently assumed the job after former City Manager Jill Ingram suddenly resigned. The smaller cities of Los Alamitos and Loma Linda both have Assistant City Managers.
La Palma, a much smaller city, has two Assistant City Managers, yet Cypress does none.
“I gotta bring this up because I feel that the city, the Councils, now, and for many, many years, have not been doing it justice to the city,” said Youngsma.
“And the reason I say that is the city has no backup. God forbid say something happens to the city manager. What’s the city going to do? Has no backup,” he said.
“Most cities of our size, apparently do. I looked around, and I see this is not a small city (Cypress). Everybody keeps saying, 50,000 people, 50,000 people. That’s not a small city. Having 10,000 people is a small city, he suggested.
The Cypress Charter suggests the Council appoint an Assistant City Manager, which it terms “Manager Pro-tem.” It is unclear why the Council has not appointed one.
According to the City Charter posted on the city’s website, Section 602 calls for the appointment of an Assistant City Manager.
It reads. “Section 602. Manager Pro Tempore. The City Manager shall appoint, subject to the approval of the Council, one of the other officers of the City to serve as Manager Pro Tempore during any temporary absence or disability of the City Manager. During such absence or disability, the Council may revoke such designation at any time and appoint another officer of the City to serve until the Manager shall return or his disability shall cease.”
Youngsma said without one, the city is playing with fire and should have one. Youngsma has long complained that past Councils have ceded too much civic power to the city administration, which he says diminishes the role of candidates who run for office.
“We should be making sure that we don’t have somebody collecting the salary he’s collecting, and making sure we have an assistant,” Youngsma told the Council.
“That way, if something did go wrong, the assistant has back up information, and the city operates because otherwise it forces you people to get a replacement a hurry, to go find somebody in a short time that you may make a bad decision,” said Youngsma.
“I think you need to look at getting a backup. And I think we should be addressing that. I brought it up a few times. I think everybody kind of knows which way I’m going, but I’m not happy with the management that we have.”
“There’s been too many things I’ve watched that I don’t like. This is not his city. This is our city.,” he added.
“That means you up there, and everybody is a resident. He’s not even a resident, and he makes decisions, and you guys have been handing him responsibility after responsibility, because he keeps coming in and asking for more power, and you keep giving him the power, and he shouldn’t have the power,” reasoned Youngsma.
“The council is the power. He takes directions from the council, not from himself. So anyway, do you know where I’m going. I recommend you look at it seriously,” said Youngsma, suggesting City Manager Peter Grant’s last published salary and benefit package of $477,000 a year is “an awful lot of money.”
According to Salary.com, the average City Manager salary in the United States is $116892 as of March 01, 2025, but the salary range typically falls between $107368 and $132334. In California, Salary.com said the range is higher, from $118427 and $145,965.
According to the respected Glassdoor.com, the average for city managers in the USA is between $85,000 – $141,000.
These averages do not reflect healthcare, pension and other benefits generally included in total compensation.