Davis, CA – On Wednesday, the City of Davis announced that it was officially naming Sherri Metzker to the role of Community Development Director, effective immediately.
While Ash Feeney served as both Community Development Director and Economic Development Director before leaving to become City Manager of Citrus Heights, the city is now splitting the role and is now seeking a Director of Economic Development to start in 2023.
Metzker joined the City team in 2018 to lead the daily operations of the City’s Planning Department as Principal Planner. Previously, Metzker served as the Community Development Director for the City of Rocklin and had her own consulting business, with the City of Folsom as one of her primary clients.
As Director of Community Development, Sherri will be responsible for the vision and direction related to community change evolution, enhancement and preservation.
“Sherri stepped up during a time of need and has shown great leadership and collaboration,” said Davis City Manager Mike Webb. “Sherri has been instrumental in leading the myriad tasks related to Community Development. Her dependable and steady hand, combined with her considerable experience, is a tremendous benefit to our projects and planning services.”
“I truly appreciate the confidence that the City Manager has placed with me,” said Metzker. “This is a challenging yet exciting time for the City, both with the Downtown Plan coming to completion and with determining the future direction for Davis in the General Plan update ahead. I look forward to working on both.”
Metzker earned her bachelor’s degree in Urban, Community and Regional Planning from Iowa State University and a master’s degree in Public Administration from California State University, San Bernardino.
In addition to naming Metzker as Community Development Director, the City is also announcing the recruitment for an Economic Development Director to oversee and implement programs and projects designed to promote community vitality, nurture our existing business climate and shepherd expansion of the local economy.
As noted above, the City Manager split the role of the vacant Assistant City Manager position, previously held by Ashley Feeney, into the Community Development Director and an Economic Development Director.
Economic Development will be housed in the City Manager’s Office in an effort to streamline city-wide initiatives and to actively engage across all city departments.
In a related move, the City is also working to shift the Sustainability program from Community Development to the City Manager’s office to assist in the implementation of climate action goals in the community and across all city departments.
