City Attorney and Chief Planner Leave Goleta

By the second week of the new year, the City of Goleta lost two of its high-ranking officials. On Tuesday, City Attorney Tim Giles resigned, and the week before, Jennifer Carman, head of Planning and Environmental Review, did the same.

Carman is headed for a similar job up north, and Goleta spokesperson Valerie Kushnerov couldn’t say where as that city has not yet made the announcement. Carman oversees Goleta’s second-largest department, — surpassed only by Public Works — employing a dozen planners and technicians for the small city that has seen explosive growth in recent years. She’d held the job since 2012 and was paid more than $155,000, according to Transparent California. Her last day is January 26.

Giles has been the only in-house city attorney for Goleta; the city had contracted with Burke, Williams & Sorenson of Camarillo before hiring Giles in 2008. He came from Thousand Oaks, where he was assistant city attorney. Giles told The Santa Barbara Independent that he will be helping the city during the transition period, and stated his tenure had included “exciting and challenging legal issues for Goleta.” He praised the “talented and dedicated city employees” he’d worked with. Giles headed a staff of three, including Deputy City Attorney Winnie Cai. His salary was over $213,000.

Questions of why the two were leaving could not be answered, Kushnerov said, as personnel matters are confidential.