Enthusiastic South Lake Tahoe city manager on the job

South Lake Tahoe City Manager David Childs fulfilled a lifelong dream this March when he accepted the chief position in the only incorporated city in the Lake Tahoe Basin.

Impending issues - the solving of employee salary negotiations, developing an action plan for the city's struggling airport and seeing through the half-executed $350 million Park Avenue Redevelopment Project - await his attention.

But it wasn't the looming challenges that compelled Childs, who worked as city manager of Minnetonka, Minn. for the last seven years, to accept a job that offered less pay and less responsibility. As with so many other area residents, it was Tahoe's mountain charm that beckoned the Minnesota native.

"As kids, a friend and I used to ride motorcycles to Colorado and we always said we would move to the mountains some day," Childs said. "I kept that dream when I asked my wife Barb to marry me. She said 'Yes, but we'll have to move to the mountains within three to five years.' "

Just this week, and more than 13 years after the promise, their dream was realized.

Monday was Childs' first day managing the mountain community of South Lake Tahoe, population 23,000.

Childs, 48 and father of two grown children, adorned his new office with a wooden kayak paddle, a going-away gift from his co-workers in Minnetonka.

And while Minnetonka is far removed from South Lake Tahoe, which has roughly half the population of the Minnesota town, half the humidity and, potentially, half the economic cycle with a seasonal tourist industry, Childs said managing a city is surprising similar no matter what state it is in.

"The acronyms are different," he said. "It's just a different playing field with the same concepts."

Differing opinions on the governing board, which sometimes happens with the South Lake Tahoe City Council, is nothing new, he said.

He saw South Lake Tahoe's five-member council in action Tuesday as it worked through a day-long meeting agenda of budget reviews, redevelopment action and ordinary city council business. It was his second day on the job.

"I think there's a very diverse set of approaches to different issues, but everybody has great intentions with the city at heart," he said. "And that (difference of opinion) is really healthy as long as they are respectful of each other."

Childs said he heard that hasn't always been the case with the current council body.

"I'm hoping I can help them disagree without being disagreeable," he said. "You need that (diversity) because you get better decisions that way."

Childs is replacing Kerry Miller, who served as city manager for 12 years. Miller left in October to accept a city manager position in Encinitas, Calif. Assistant City Manager Sue Schlerf acted as interim city manager in Miller's absence.

Childs beat out more than 70 applicants who applied for the $105,000 per year job. His resume includes more than 20 years of city management experience. Before his job in Minnetonka, Childs served as manager to New Brighton, Minn. - a town roughly the same size as South Lake Tahoe. He's also managed two other Minnesotan cities with populations of fewer than 10,000 residents.

Childs said the South Lake Tahoe job came along with perfect timing, both personally and career-wise.

"I feel blessed to come here at such a pivotal time," he said. "A lot of things are positioned to move in a positive way and I want to make sure the right people get the credit for that."