BY ALLISON LEVITSKY
Daily Post Staff Writer
The city of Palo Alto’s chief communications officer is quitting to move back to Southern California after six years with the city, the latest in a streak of resignations from top city positions.
Claudia Keith, 60, said her family’s planned move had been “in the works for a little while, but somewhat unpredictable in terms of timing as we were selling our residence.”
Her townhouse in Mountain View was sold on April 22, according to the real estate website Redfin.
Keith didn’t say when her last day on the job would be, but directed the Post to contact city Communications Manager Lisa Caracciolo for future news inquiries.
Keith joined the city in April 2013 after seven years as the assistant vice chancellor for public affairs at CSU-Long Beach.
The city paid her $280,242.81 in salary and benefits in 2017, according to the government salary website Transparent California.
City advertising for a replacement
Keith’s position has been posted on governmentjobs.com. The city is accepting applications until May 28.
According to the job advertisement, city officials are looking to hire someone with at least 10 years of communications experience, ideally in an “in-house” leadership role within a government or nonprofit entity that is complex in its number and variety of constituents.
Keith’s replacement should have experience with social media, writing newsletters and press releases and communicating with the public, elected officials and boards.
“The ability to take knowledge and transform it into exciting and useful messages, and disseminate it to the right audiences through the best distribution channels is critical,” the job posting states.
City officials are looking for someone with a “commitment to working collaboratively” with co-workers, elected and appointed officials, volunteers, citizens and the business community.
“The CCO will be a self-starter, able to work independently, be entrepreneurial and enjoy creating and implementing new initiatives,” the job ad states.
The city is also looking for someone who demonstrates “skill and comfort” in proactively building relationships with the media as well as “community representatives and influencers.”
Exodus of city employees
Keith’s departure follows a number of other resignations at the upper ranks of the city government.
Other open positions include deputy city manager, chief transportation official, chief information officer and fire chief.
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