PITTSBURG -- The City Council has decided to stay in-house with its choice for a new city manager.

Assistant City Manager Joe Sbranti, 49, will succeed Marc Grisham, who will retire sometime before the end of June.

"Joe runs building, planning and engineering and has been the person who has made things happen in those areas," Grisham said. "I think he will do an excellent job."

Sbranti said the council's selection of an internal candidate validated its confidence in the performance of the city's entire staff.

The city has had an aggressive redevelopment program under Grisham and has spent millions to upgrade a formerly rundown downtown with attractive housing, restaurants and retail stores.

"The council's selection of an in-house candidate is an indication to me that it is supportive of what the team has been doing," he said. "We've seen a result of improved city infrastructure, lowest crime rate in 50 years, with the downtown starting to come alive."

Councilwoman Nancy Parent said that Sbranti was especially appealing because he has succeeded in finding alternative ways of raising money from government sources.

Sbranti organized an outreach program for improvements to Small World Park, a children's amusement park, and is working to obtain state money that is set aside for parks improvements and does not have a matching requirement, Parent said.

"He has already organized the campaign and done the homework with public meetings," she said. "He will be able to say, 'This is what the public wants,' rather than just 'Give us the money.' "

The city cannot begin new redevelopment projects because it withheld a required payment to public schools last year, but it has several projects under way that Sbranti must see to completion.

"Things will certainly be more limited than when (Grisham) started," Sbranti said. "There will be limitations we will see moving into the future."

Sbranti has been with the city for more than 14 years, serving as city engineer and senior civil engineer before becoming assistant city manager.

Sbranti and the council will decide how to fill his assistant city manager job by assigning the responsibilities to one person or more than one, said Marc Fox, assistant city manager for internal services.

The City Council evaluated 28 candidates before picking Sbranti, Councilman Ben Johnson said.

The council will negotiate the terms of Sbranti's new contract. He was the second highest-paid city employee in 2010 behind Grisham, receiving $173,162 in gross salary and $231,025 in total compensation, according to Bay Area News Group's public employees salaries database.

Grisham earned $235,298 in gross salary in 2010 and $287,272 in total compensation.
Contact Rick Radin at 925-779-7166.