City of Coachella Seeks Community Input

City Manager Community Input Survey Launched

COACHELLA – Coachella City Councilmembers are seeking community input as they move forward in their process of searching a new City Manager.

To help gather community input an anonymous online survey went live today for residents to voice what they consider to be the most important criteria when selecting a new city manager.

The 15-question survey will be made available through the city’s website by clicking here from February 1st to February 12th.

“This survey is an important part of the process. We want to hear from our residents what qualities and characteristics they want to see in the next City Manager” said Mayor Steven Hernandez. “I encourage everyone to participate.”

The City’s current City Manager Bill Pattison announced his retirement in December. Pattison has been with the city of Coachella since 2010. During his tenure, the city’s reserves have gone from $6.5 million to $16.5 million.

Coachella is one of California’s fastest-growing cities; when it incorporated in 1946, it had 1,000 residents, but at the 2010 census the population had grown to 40,704. The city is officially bilingual in English and Spanish, though 90% of residents speak Spanish.

Much of its population consists of younger Latino families (an estimated 90 percent of Hispanic origin) and, in the outlying areas, migrant farm workers. The city is officially bilingual in the English and Spanish languages, although city council meetings are nominally spoken and performed in English. Historically, Coachella was predominantly Mexican/Latino (including Central America) and/or Native American, but had other ethnic groups like Arabs, Armenians, Filipinos, Italians, Japanese and recent immigrants from Southeast Asia and the former Yugoslavia.