New Colton Interim City Manager to Keep Business as Usual Mantra

The City Council last Tuesday evening voted unanimously to approve the contract to hire Joesfina “Josie” Mendez Kenline as the interim city manager over the next few months while the Council looks to find a permanent city manager. Before being presented with this new assignment, Kenline stated, “I’m coming here to help bring a common unity to city operations and tackle the major issues confronting the city at the present time. I want to provide a smooth transition with the community and the next city manager that is chosen to make sure the city is moving in the right direction in all areas when that changeover occurs.” Kenline was a part of the Colton community back in 2005 through 2007, when she was working as an assistant to the city manager. She proceeded to leave Colton in 2007 to take a like position in the City of Indio, and then in 2010 she became the city manager of La Puente, in Los Angeles County, which she later retired from due to political unrest in the city. Kenline is happy to be returning to Colton to assist in the growth of the city and to lend a hand in overseeing the current budget and hopefully increasing the amount of reserves for future needs. Kenline is entering into a contract where she only works a total of 960 hours during the 2014-2015 fiscal year, because she is currently a retired government employee. She will have no health, retirement or insurance benefits while receiving $70 an hour for her employment. She seems to want to provide a fresh start to the city manager role in the city, and eliminate the past issues that have plagued this position in last few months. Hopefully, the city embraces her as the interim city manager.