by John Glidden | glid24@protonmail.com | May 5, 2026
VALLEJO – Despite going through a shakeup at the city manager position, the city of Vallejo announced on Tuesday that Leonard “Brad” Job has been hired as the city’s newest public works director.
Job was hired by outgoing City Manager Andrew Murray, the city’s public information officer, Robert Briseño, confirmed to JohnGlidden.com in a separate email last week.
According to the city, Job recently served as Director of Engineering for the U.S. Forest Service Region 5 in Vallejo, “where he managed more than $200 million in annual engineering and fleet expenditures spanning 18 national forests and 20 million acres across California.”
“Prior to that, he served as the Forest Engineer for the Tongass National Forest in Alaska—the nation’s largest national forest—where he led a 35‑person engineering team responsible for 3,500 miles of roads, more than 500 bridges, and over 100 structures across 16.7 million acres of temperate rainforest,” according to the same city press release announcing his hiring.
Job previously served as deputy director of public works for the city of Arcata and water resources control engineer with the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board, the city further said.
Job lives in Vallejo with his wife and their dogs.
“He is deeply committed to strengthening the community he calls home and is dedicated to advancing Vallejo’s infrastructure, environmental sustainability, public services, and long‑term economic vitality,” the same press release states.
Job replaces Oscar Alcantar, who has served as interim public works director since the departure of longtime public works employee, Melissa Tigbao. Tigbao left Vallejo to become the public works manager with the city of Pacifica in May 2025.
Tigbao spent seven years in Vallejo City Hall, first as assistant public works director from July 2018 to November 2021, before she was tapped to serve as acting public works director in November 2021, following Terrance Davis’ elevation to interim assistant city manager.
The announcement of Job’s hiring comes days after Harry Black was named interim city manager on April 28 by the Vallejo City Council. Black will begin his new role on May 16.
Black’s hiring came after Murray announced his resignation from the CEO position on April 8, a day after the city council met in closed session for more than four hours as they evaluated the city manager and city attorney positions, respectively. Murray signed a resignation and separation agreement on April 7 the same night of the closed session.
Other staff vacancies
Black inherits a city hall that has numerous departments filled with interim appointments, including fire, IT, economic development, and the finance department, amid a projected $29 million budget deficit for the upcoming fiscal year.
In February, city hall began a fresh search for a permanent fire chief after a failed recruitment in 2025. Vallejo has been without a permanent fire chief since City Manager Andrew Murray fired Kyle Long in June 2024.
The job search was scheduled to close on March 16 with city hall, at the time, anticipating hiring the new chief in early May.
In January, city officials announced that Brad Paul had been hired as interim economic development director.
According to the city, Paul served as deputy director and as acting director of the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG), and later as deputy executive director for local government services with the consolidated ABAG/Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) staff.
Vallejo has been without a permanent economic development director since early 2025 after Michael Nimon accepted a similar position with the city of Walnut Creek. Nimon was originally hired in August 2022 as special advisor to the city manager for economic development replacing Paul Kelly, who served in the position from May 2020 to June 2022. Assistant City Manager Gillian Haen served as acting economic development director between prior to Paul’s hiring.
The city lost its longtime Chief Innovation Officer & IT Director Naveed Ashraf in August 2025 as he accepted a similar position with the city of Fairfield. Lance David is currently serving as interim IT director.
Finally, the city’s finance department is led by Assistant City Manager Nalungo Conley, who took over the department after longtime Finance Director Rekha Nayar accepted a similar position with the Hayward Area Recreation and Park District in October 2025.
JohnGlidden.com 