According to the City of Bellevue, Steve Sarkozy, Bellevue city manager since 2000, has resigned effective May 15.
The City Council approved an agreement for Sarkozy’s separation from service at the end of Monday night’s meeeting, after an executive session, city spokeswoman Emily Christensen said.
In a news release, Mayor Conrad Lee said, “The City Council appreciates all that Steve has done for Bellevue. In discussions between the council and Steve as part of his annual review process, it became clear that both of us were ready for a change. During the past two weeks, we’ve been working on the details of that transition.”
“Serving the City of Bellevue for the last 12 years has been a great privilege. Bellevue is known nationally, and more importantly by its citizens, as one of the finest places in the world to live, work and play. This is due in no small part to the central role the city government plays in almost every facet of the community,” said Sarkozy. “I’m proud of our accomplishments, and I am grateful for the opportunity to have worked with such a great team of dedicated and professional public servants.”
Deputy City Manager Brad Miyake will become interim city manager.
The City of Bellevue’s website lists Miyake’s key roles in developing the city’s budget process, obtaining the Utilities Department’s first professional accreditation and spearheading efforts to improve city management processes. He was Utilities Director from 2003-2005.
Maybe it’s because he never got that stadium built in time.
Riding off into the sunset with a nice pension… lucky!!!
Given that he was doing what looks like a darn good job, and that this was all so sudden, my conspiracy instincts tell me something fishy is going on.
Perhaps he was not willing to let Sound Transit bully the city into accepting some cost saving alternatives for the light rail. Or perhaps the Rockefeller group wanted to build 100 stories tall in the B&N lot and it didn’t fit his vision for Bellevue. I do hope it’s the latter 🙂
In any case we ought to thank Mr. Sarkozy for a great job done for the past 13 years! Bellevue remains to be a wonderfully managed city compared to others in the region or the country.
And regards to some snarky comments above, I don’t think he is overpaid. His public salary is about $220K, a rather modest sum for a position that affects a lot of us, and he earns much less than a lot of Microsoft engineers across the road.
LOL “rather modest”, I love this city. (no offense intended)
I am a nobody working across the street from Mr. Sarkozy and my income is much higher than his “rather modest” 220K salary.
LOL @ you I guess.
Awesome! You are so great, Kevin. I especially respect how you have so much money while remaining modest and level headed about it all. Genuinely, your wealth really makes me think of you as a better person. It’s good to see that you haven’t let your income level cloud your judgement in any way whatsoever. If only there were more people like you in Bellevue, I’m sure our city would not have the undeserved reputation for being filled with stuck up, out of touch, snobs. Too bad, really.
KD, I am level-headed enough to know that it takes a respectable salary to hire a competent city manager, who oversees hundreds of millions of budget and affects no less than 100000 people’s daily lives.
I am sure you are not just a whiner and loser who wants everything without paying for it and you definitely don’t have sour grapes for people who have ability to earn more than minimum wages.
Everyone wants the government to run as efficiently as private business, so I just showed you that hiring a nobody at a private company requires a lot more money, so as a Bellevue resident I am very happy with Mr Sarkozy’s service and the wage we pay for him. Pay up, or shut up.