Lieutenant Anna Jatczak former top city administrator in San
Jose brings skills southward
Gilroy – Anna Jatczak can size up success.
As a top city administrator in San Jose for a decade, she honed the ability to measure the performance of hundreds of employees, strip away inefficiencies, and mold the priorities of America’s 10th largest city into multimillion-dollar budgets.
Now Jatczak’s bringing her skills in “performance-based budgeting” to Gilroy, where she will serve as the city’s first Assistant City Administrator starting in December. The new position is part of a broad effort to restructure City Hall as Gilroy transforms from a rural town into a business and shopping hub at the doorstep of Silicon Valley.
In her new role, the 43-year-old will manage the city’s fleet, facilities, information technology and public information divisions.
“We are extremely excited to have recruited someone with Anna’s level of professionalism, knowledge and experience in administrative management positions,” City Administrator Jay Baksa said. “Her experience in leading diverse city divisions should give her a great advantage in her new position.”
Jatczak currently oversees 380 people and a $37-million operating budget as deputy director of general services for San Jose, where she heads the fleet management and administration divisions.
She emerged as the top candidate in Gilroy after an exhaustive review process that began with 114 applicants.
“I think the reason I stood out from the rest of the field is that I have a lot of experience in roughly two or three areas that Jay wanted to get addressed,” Jatczak said. “And that has to do with achieving a performance-based budgeting system based on outcomes that you want to achieve. I’ve been doing that here in San Jose for at least 10 years. Another area is setting up leadership academies and training programs.”
Efficiency and prioritization are vital as the city looks to chip away at a $100-million list of “unfunded liabilities” such as cracked sidewalks and deteriorating roads and alleys, all while maintaining police protection and other basic services.
Jatczak’s job will be to help city council make those tough decisions by translating priorities into numbers and squeezing the highest level of efficiency out of each department under her supervision.
Though Jatczak has spent 16 years in a big city, she said she’s a “small town gal” at heart who grew up in a city of 300 people. On the lakes of Wisconsin, she developed a lifelong love of sailing and other water sports.
“I was one of the first crazy people in the Midwest to start windsurfing on the lakes of Wisconsin,” she said. “It can get pretty cold.”
When she’s not working, Jatczak spends much of her time volunteering in Morgan Hill, where she now lives, and caring for her dogs – a pair of Newfoundlands.
“Those are the love of my life,” she said. “They’re my kids and they take up a lot of my time outside of work.”
She has managed to weave the animals into her extensive community involvement. Her volunteer efforts include organizing a dog-safety awareness program for Morgan Hill elementary schools, teaching courses in canine water rescue and tracking, and offering pet-assisted therapy at nursing homes and the Special Olympics.
Jatczak is a renaissance woman of sorts. She has an undergraduate degree in molecular biology, a master’s degree of international business management, and a police science certificate from the Waukesha County Law Enforcement Academy in Wisconsin.
She tried her hand at a number of private sector businesses before settling on a career in public service.
“When I started working in a public sector job, it was kind of a transition while I looked for more private sector work,” Jatczak said. “But when you get into public work and you see all the hard work that people are doing, it’s really a warm feeling to see how you can benefit a community. I don’t think you see that as much in the private sector where it’s more about the tangible profits. But in the public sector, it’s really about the more intangible things you can do. You really can make a difference.”
Jatczak, who will receive a starting salary of $146,750, could eventually replace Baksa as the city’s top administrator. He has served in the position for 23 years and plans to retire in the next three or four years.
“In the future, Anna can work in the best interests of the city, whether it be as an interim acting administrator when Jay leaves, or perhaps to replace him,” Mayor Al Pinheiro said.
In the meantime, he predicted that “Jay, as a mentor, will help Anna understand our city.”
gilroydispatch.com.
