Anaheim appoints Jonathan Borrego as new city manager after nationwide search
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Jonathan Borrego, a former city employee with decades of civic experience, is returning to Anaheim to serve as its next city manager.
The Anaheim City Council unanimously approved Borrego’s at-will employment agreement on Tuesday after contracting for a nationwide recruitment effort in May.
Following several scheduled closed session deliberations since late August, Borrego emerged as the top candidate in a pool that included 160 applicants.
“We had a lot of great candidates and any city would be lucky to have them,” said Councilmember Carlos Leon. “I look forward to working with [Borrego], with our executive team, all of our city employees on the big picture work, on the day-to-day issues that come up in our neighborhoods.”
Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken appears to be sailing toward another term over aide’s public allegations and negative ad campaigns. Other incumbents in Anaheim City Council and school board races have taken commanding leads over challengers.
Borrego, who did not attend Tuesday’s council meeting in Anaheim due to work responsibilities, will step down in mid-December as Oceanside’s city manager, a position he has held since 2022, to take the Anaheim post.
“I’m deeply appreciative of the City Council’s decision to appoint me as Anaheim’s next city manager,” Borrego wrote in an email to TimesOC. “I look forward to returning to the city where I began by public service career and leaning on my extensive knowledge of the community to the benefit of its residents and visitors.”
Borrego also pledged a smooth executive leadership transition and a responsible management of the city’s budget.
According to a staff report, Borrego will earn an annual salary of $409,000, which makes his base pay the highest in the city.
His appointment follows former City Manager Jim Vanderpool’s hasty retirement in February amid an ongoing FPPC investigation into an unreported Lake Havasu retreat he attended with Anaheim power brokers in 2020.
Vanderpool now serves as Palm Springs’ interim city manager after its city council approved his hire last month.
He addressed his controversial Anaheim exit for the first time in a recent interview with KESQ-Palm Springs News Channel 3.
“It was completely voluntary,” Vanderpool said. “It’s no secret that the mayor and I were having disagreements about administration. It’s just not a healthy environment for a city manager and a mayor to not be aligned. For the benefit and the well-being of ... the city — and for my professional and personal reasons, as well — it was the best thing to do.”
Vanderpool described the retreat as a “personal weekend away with friends” and added that he had no knowledge of any accommodations paid for by the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce.
In turning a chapter, Borrego will take the reins from Greg Garcia, who has served as Anaheim’s interim city manager since Vanderpool’s departure.
Borrego began his career in Anaheim as an entry-level planner in 1988 and worked his way up to becoming a planning division manager.
In 2017, he departed from the city after 29 years to become Oceanside’s development services director and later became the first Latino city manager in the city’s history.
In endorsing his return to Anaheim, city officials credited Borrego’s work on a specific plan to rehabilitate Beach Boulevard while touting his contributions to the Platinum Triangle and Anaheim Packing District.
Borrego will assume his responsibilities as city manager starting on Dec. 28.
