Acting Antioch city manager leaving for new position in Modesto
Ebbs’ last day is July 14, will leave City without manager, assistant manager, community development director
By Allen D. Payton
Acting Antioch City Manager Forrest Ebbs announced to the city council and staff, on Thursday, June 14, 2023, that he will be leaving for a new position with the City of Modesto as a Deputy City Manager. His last day will be July 14. With the expected departure of City Manager Con Johnson who has been on paid leave since middle of March, following council’s direction to the city attorney during their closed session this past Tuesday night, that will leave Antioch without a city manager, assistant manager and community development director, which Ebbs retained as his official title during the brief time as acting city manager.
It has been “a little over eight years as Community Development Director,” Ebbs said when reached for comment.
Asked about the accomplishments during his time in the position he spoke of the three divisions in the department saying, “the Building Division has grown to be more appropriate for a city of our size. We have gone to an online submittal process for building permits. We just launched it.”
“In Planning, we’ve created many new opportunities for housing and ways to revitalize commercial corridors,” Forbes shared. He oversaw the entitlement process of all projects in the new home Sand Creek Focus Area, except for Kaiser during his tenure.
“In Code Enforcement we’ve grown from four budgeted positions to 18 to better serve the community,” he added.
Asked about how long he’d been considering a new position, Ebbs said, “Throughout my career I’ve looked for opportunities to try out new challenges. But this is something I’ve been pursuing for a couple years.”
Asked if the current acting position helped prepare him for his new one Ebbs replied, “I’ve learned a lot in the last three months and I’m appreciative of the council for having the confidence allowing me to do that.”
He will be one of two deputy city managers for the city with a population of a little over 200,000. Modesto’s official motto, which can be seen on an archway sign at the intersection of 9th and I Streets is “Water, Wealth, Contentment, Health”.
Asked when he started the process with Modesto, Ebbs said, “It’s been a typical recruitment process. I applied to them a couple months ago. It was a competitive national recruitment.”
Asked about his replacement in Antioch he shared, “The city council will make a decision on the acting city manager in the next couple weeks. I will be presenting some names to them and they will ultimately make the decision of how they want to proceed with an acting city manager.”
Asked about an acting Community Development Director he said, “I’ll be looking internally to backfill that position. The reality is the department staff have stepped up so it’s not going to be much of a transition.”
Ebbs is married with three children – the oldest is 19 and a freshman in college, another, age 16 is in high school and a 12-year-old in middle school.
“It was a family decision,” he shared.
They live in Lodi so his commute will be shorter.
“It’s the same distance but it’s a quicker drive,” Ebbs added.
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