Getting your
Trinity Audioplayer ready...PINOLE — With a hard financial road ahead, the city of Pinole found a new top boss in Naomi Kelly, a former San Francisco administrator who councilmembers say is the perfect person for the job despite ties to a highly publicized corruption scandal.
Kelly was named as city manager Tuesday night with a 4-0 vote following about a dozen comments from the public. Councilmember Norma Martinez-Rubin was absent from the meeting, but Councilmember Maureen Toms noted the council had voted unanimously in a recent closed session to move forward with the selection.
“Based on merit, based on credibility, and based on the extensive experience Naomi has, is why I’m supporting her as our next city manager. I know she can ferry us through difficult times. She’s done it over and over in other agencies,” Mayor Anthony Tave said Tuesday night.
The vote comes as the city of 18,500 residents faces mounting financial challenges, detailed in a recent Contra Costa County Civil Grand Jury Report, including growing unfunded liabilities currently worth about $80 million and capital improvement needs worth another $60 million.
But a handful of Pinole residents said the council was making a mistake by selecting Kelly to lead the city forward. Their concerns stem from a San Francisco government corruption scandal that led to the resignation and convictions of multiple city officials following a years-long federal investigation.
Among those involved was Kelly’s husband Harlan Kelly, a former San Francisco Public Utilities Commission general manager who was found guilty in 2023 of bribery and bank fraud, and sentenced to four years in prison, according to a 2024 U.S. Department of Justice statement.
“You’re kind of digging yourselves a hole and I don’t know if you’re going to get out of it,” said former Pinole Mayor Peter Murray. “I figured sooner or later you guys would come to reality and we wouldn’t even be talking about this tonight. It’s on you at this point.”
Though the Department of Justice asserted Naomi Kelly benefited from her husband’s crimes, she was never charged. She voluntarily left San Francisco government to focus on her family and avoid any distractions, according to her 2021 resignation letter.
Accusations brought against her husband were based on the testimony of a known liar, she said in the letter and reiterated in an interview with this news organization after Tuesday’s vote.
“It was hard to hear people rely on an indictment when you can indict a ham sandwich,” Kelly said.
Rachel Hall, co-founder of Bob Hall & Associates, the recruitment firm that led the city manager search, said the company conducted preliminary interviews and searched public records before presenting the 10 candidates to the council. Of the 46 who applied, 20 were screened.
The firm surveyed the public, council, and city staff on the qualities they’d like to see in an ideal candidate, held two public meetings and established a community panel to review those up for the job. Multiple members of the community panel said they did not recommend Kelly for the role, and only learned afterward of her connections to the federal indictment.
It was the council who selected Kelly out of the pack, Hall said. Once a contract offer was signed, the firm conducted a full background check and “all results came back with no issues or flags,” she said.
Kelly will be paid a salary of $305,000 annually, according to her three-year employment agreement signed with the city.
As to why Kelly was the best person for the job, Mayor Pro Tem Devin Murphy, who called some public comments “disturbing,” pointed to her resume, which details decades of experience overseeing multi-million dollar budgets, capital improvement programs, business development, and thousands of employees.
Councilmember Cameron Sasai highlighted Kelly’s supporters, including California State Treasure Fiona Ma who wrote a glowing letter of support for Kelly based both on her personal and professional qualities.
“Beyond her impressive professional accomplishments, Naomi is a person of exceptional integrity and character. She leads with humility, treats everyone with respect, and consistently demonstrates sound judgment, accountability, and an unwavering commitment to public service,” Ma said.
Councilmember Maureen Toms said the council was aware of the indictment when considering Kelly, but noted she was never charged. Though the community panel did not favor Kelly, Toms said city staff did and encouraged the public to support her moving forward.
“It’s very unfortunate for somebody who has to go through that, when a woman especially, works so hard on her career and then is judged by her partner,” Toms said. “She’s got a heavy, heavy load in front of her and she’s up for the challenge.”
Kelly comes to the role with a bachelor’s degree in psychology from New York University, a law degree from the University of San Francisco, and a current license to practice law.
Her career in government started in 1997 as a legal analyst for the San Francisco Mayor’s Office under Willie Brown, according to Kelly’s LinkedIn account. She went on to be the executive director of the city’s Taxicab Commission, a city purchaser, and director of the Office of Contract Administration before being appointed as city administrator in 2012.
Since resigning in 2021, Kelly has worked as a planning and public relations consultant through her firm NK Strategies.
Members of the public characterized Kelly’s appointment to the role as a step down from her previous work. To that, Kelly strongly disagreed, asserting the job is exactly what she wants at this time in her life. Unlike being a San Francisco city administrator, on the clock seven days a week, being Pinole’s city manager will be a more manageable five-day job. And unlike lonesome consultant work, she’ll now get to spend her days surrounded by people.
Set to take office July 1, Kelly said she plans to engage the public on how to address key issues in the city from filling potholes and addressing capital improvement needs to developing long-term solutions for addressing unfunded liabilities.
“I’m so excited to work here in Pinole. I miss people and it’s truly a diverse and beautiful place,” Kelly said. “It’s very clear this community cares about Pinole. We may disagree on some things, but we all care.”