The Victorville City Council on December 5 selected Keith Metzler, the city’s assistant city manager since 2011, to serve in the capacity of city manager upon current city manager Doug Robertson’s departure on January 1. It was revealed on November 24 that Robertson would be leaving Victorville at the end of the year to become town manager in Apple Valley.
Metzler is deemed a fit choice to move into the city manager’s post, given that the city’s three previous city managers – Robertson, Jim Cox and John Roberts – either served, as in the case of Robertson and Roberts, in the capacity of assistant city manager in Victorville or, in Cox’s case, as city manager in Victorville before taking on the city manager’s post.
Nevertheless, Metzler faces the challenge of having a major demand on his time, intensity, energy, attention and focus coming up as a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission against the City of Victorville in which Metzler is named as a defendant is set to go to trial on January 23, 2018. In that suit, the city is accused of overvaluing hangars at Southern California Logistics Airport in marketing airport bonds. Metzler oversees airport operations in his capacity as assistant city manager.
In closed session on Tuesday, the city council voted to appoint Metzler acting city manager as of January 1 and detailed city attorney Andre de Bortnowsky to negotiate a contract with him.       -Mark Gutglueck