New city manager comes to Clayton from San Pablo

CLAYTON, CA—The city of Clayton has hired Reina Schwartz as city manager, taking over from interim city manager Frances Robustelli.

Schwartz currently serves as assistant city manager for the city of San Pablo.

“I’m delighted and honored to have been chosen by the City Council to serve as the city manager for Clayton,” Schwartz said. “Clayton is an extraordinary community and environment, and I look forward to working collaboratively in support of our vision to be a premier small city focused on customer service and excellence.”

Schwartz has more than three decades of public sector experience. She began her career as a fiscal analyst with the California Legislative Analyst’s Office, which lead to a 24-year career with the city of Sacramento. Schwartz served in several key roles in Sacramento, including strategic planning director in the city manager’s office and budget, policy and strategic planning manager with the Finance Department. She rounded out her career in Sacramento with an 11-year stint as director of the Department of General Services, prior to leaving for San Pablo 5½ years ago.

“We look forward to welcoming Reina Schwartz to the Clayton community as our new city manager and working with her on the many challenges ahead,” said Mayor Julie Pierce. “Her creativity and breadth of experience in finance, planning and administration will serve the city well.”

Schwartz holds a bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley and a master’s in public administration from Harvard. In addition, she has attained certification as a credentialed manager with the International City/County Management Association – one of only 1,417 managers worldwide to have done so.

At the Nov. 17 meeting, the Clayton City Council presented Robustelli with a proclamation lauding “her service as our interim city manager and helping us through this difficult time with everything from COVID to contracts, and digital challenges to wild pigs. We thank her for her service to our community and wish her well in future endeavors.”