Solvang City Manager Xenia Bradford resigned Friday from the job she had held since 2019.
The city issued a succinct press release — two paragraphs — with a statement from Bradford late Friday afternoon.
“Both parties came to an amicable agreement to pursue different paths,” according to the statement attributed to Bradford.
The press release didn’t identify who would fill the job on an interim basis.
The city manager also had emailed city staff on Friday afternoon to alert them of her departure.
“It is with mixed emotions that I leave the role of city manager as of today,” she wrote to employees, “but I know that you will continue to do great things for the City of Solvang. I wish you the very best as you move forward in service to the residents of our community.”
Speculation about her employment status began circulating in recent weeks as the city sent out a Sunday morning notice on Sept. 18 about a special meeting for the council the following day at which the only topic was a closed session discussion on the city manager performance evaluation.
The resignation comes as the city is asking voters to approve Measure U, a 1% sales tax hike on the Nov. 8 ballot.
Under her leadership, the city laid off several employees citing COVID-19’s impacts on tourism and the city’s budget in 2020.
The layoff of one employee, City Clerk Lisa Martin, led to a civil lawsuit alleging harassment, retaliation and more against Solvang. The complaint includes allegations leveled at Bradford and former city attorney Chip Wullbrandt.
Solvang’s council has received complaints in recent weeks about large fines for residents and businesses failing to reduce water usage despite severe cutbacks that they have already made.
Bradford was named city manager by a different City Council during a time of turmoil when the prior city manager, David Gassaway, was fired only five months after his hiring. Gassaway now works as the interim city manager for Fairfield, a city with a population of 120,000.
At the time of her hiring, Bradford had gone from consultant to administrative services director to city manager in less than a year.
She filled the city’s top job on an interim basis for several months before being named the city manager.
Bradford previously worked for the City of San Luis Obispo, where she managed a team of 18 employees as finance director, after being appointed to the job in July 2017 following a year as interim finance director.
Months later, on March 27, 2018, Bradford resigned from the job and her last day was in April 2018.
Previously, she had jobs with Santa Barbara County as well as private-sector roles.
She earned two degrees from UCSB — a bachelor’s degree in business economics with an emphasis on accounting and a master’s degree in economics with an emphasis on business. Bradford also earned a master’s degree in public policy with an emphasis in local government and international relations from Pepperdine University’s Graduate School of Public Policy. She also attended the Santa Barbara College of Law and graduated in 2008.
Since late 2018, Solvang has had four city managers — longtime leader Brad Vidro, who retired; Rick Haydon, a veteran administrator filling the job temporarily between managers; David Gassaway, hired after a search and fired months later; and then Bradford.
— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.