I am pleased to announce that I have officially appointed Liz Habkirk as Assistant City Manager, effective December 25, 2021.
Liz’s extensive background in public service, including experience spanning across many areas of local government, and her commitment to teamwork continue to be valuable assets to the City of Napa. Her new role will position Liz to support myself and the City Manager’s Office directly, helping us to carry out the many initiatives and priorities that originate in this office.
Liz first joined the City as Deputy City Manager in January 2020 after a lengthy tenure with the County of Napa, where she served in a variety of roles, including Deputy Public Works Director. In this role, she oversaw the General Services Division which included 70 staff working in diverse service areas – the Airport, Animal Shelter, Fleet, Property Management, Fairgrounds and Real Estate with a combined budget of over $21 million. Prior to her work at the County, Liz spent time with the City of Reno in the City Manager’s Office.
After receiving her Bachelor of Science in City and Regional Planning, from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, Liz completed her Masters of Public Administration, with honors, at the University of Kansas, Lawrence. Throughout her career, Liz has participated in a number of organizations and has held numerous board memberships, including Municipal Management Association of Northern California (MMANC) and International City/County Managers Association, among others. Liz currently serves on the Board of Directors for Regional Government Services, and is also a member of their executive committee.
Since coming to the City of Napa, Liz has led a variety of major City initiatives including implementing process improvements, policy updates and ordinance amendments to improve services. Perhaps most notably, Liz has served as the Project Manager for the new Enterprise Resource Planning project, with the latest milestone being the implementation of the new payroll system. She has also been deeply involved in labor management, including negotiating contracts with police management, fire and general employees and most recently, fire officers
In her role as Assistant City Manager, Liz now has oversight over the Human Resources, Finance and IT, Fire Department and Community Relations division of the City Manager’s Office, as well as other administrative responsibilities including ERP implementation.
Liz lives in Sonoma with her husband, Dave, and two young children, Owen (10) and Allison (7). When she isn’t working, Liz enjoys participating in her kid’s sporting events and Girl Scouts, as well as hiking, reading, watching and playing sports (Go Jayhawks!) and spending time with her family.
As you may recall, in 2020, in direct response to the budget impacts of the pandemic, the Assistant City Manager position was suspended as the City worked to respond to the impacts of the pandemic, with plans to reinstate the position at a later date. As efforts got underway to fill vacant and previously frozen positions earlier this year, the Assistant City Manager position was reinstated as a part of the Council’s FY21/22 Budget approval, effective mid-fiscal year, and replaces the Deputy City Manager position which has been eliminated.
Steve Potter
City Manager, City of Napa