For Chris Constantin, his new gig as Los Gatos town manager is a sort of homecoming.
Constantin grew up in San Jose on the Los Gatos border and recalls time spent playing at Blossom Hill Park and being downtown with family. That background shines through in the weekends he still spends in the area to visit his 6-year-old daughter who lives in the Bay Area; his meeting at a coffee shop in town with this reporter was interrupted three times by members of the community who recognized him from his past and had to say hi.
The town council selected Constantin for the job last month, and he’s set to officially start in his role on Nov. 4. As assistant town manager Katy Nomura is serving in an interim capacity until that time, Constantin has been commuting up on the weekends from his job as the city manager of the Southern California city of San Dimas to visit his family and spend time in Los Gatos.
Constantin said he plans to spend time getting to know members of the community, town staff and its various departments as he replaces former town manager Laurel Prevetti, who officially departed on Sept. 6.
It’s no secret that he has big shoes to fill. The council honored Prevetti, who served in the role for nearly a decade, at a town council meeting on Sept. 3.
The meeting drew a crowd of residents, former coworkers, council members and local officials like state Sen. Dave Cortese and former Los Gatos mayor Marico Sayoc who spoke at the meeting to express their gratitude and appreciation for Prevetti.
“I sat with staff tonight because I am so proud to have worked for you, and to call myself a member of that team. Laurel, personally, I thank you. And professionally, from one public servant to another, I thank you for your service,” former assistant town manager Arn Andrews said at the meeting, his voice full of emotion.
Constantin said he’s honored to be stepping into Prevetti’s shoes, and the community’s appreciation and support for Prevetti’s work as town manager is only indicative of how involved and attentive it is, he said.
“I don’t want to be in a community that doesn’t care about how they live and the environment, the quality of education, safety, quality of our streets,” he said. “I want to be in a place [where] people are actively engaged.”
Constantin comes to Los Gatos as the town contends, along with other cities across the state, with the matter of building more housing after receiving final state approval earlier this year on its plan for all housing to be built in town over the next eight years. He’s also likely to be at the forefront of tackling issues like the town’s budget, which is balanced for the current fiscal year with a projected deficit in the years to come, and chronic understaffing at the Los Gatos Monte Sereno Police Department.
Though he has yet to officially start the job, Constantin plans to consult with experts to help identify root causes as the first step in addressing these issues.
“I don’t want to walk in and say I know all the problems and all the solutions. That’s not a constructive approach,” he said.
Constantin comes to the job from a more nontraditional background in local government, one that’s marked by a focus on financial management, law enforcement, elected office and even high tech.
Constantin holds a bachelor’s degree from San Jose State University in industrial and systems engineering, as well as a master’s degree in public administration from Syracuse University. He started out with a job in the technology industry, then found himself at 19 years old serving as a member of the West Valley Mission Community College District’s board of trustees.
He held the elected position for 13 years, an uncommon trajectory for most top city and town government officials.
“I went to graduate school in New York, flew back and forth every other week to go to board meetings at West Valley and decided this is the path I want,” Constantin said.
After that, he took a job as a government auditor for the city of San Jose until he left the Bay Area for San Diego. Constantin then held several positions with the city of Chico, helping to manage its finances, dealing with the 2018 Camp Fire and other challenges until he started his most recent gig as city manager in San Dimas.
Throughout this time, Constantin maintained his position as a volunteer reserve police officer with the city of Hayward, picking up a patrol shift as often as once a week. He plans to continue that service when he assumes his role as Los Gatos town manager, though he said his day job remains his first priority.
“You have to take your god-given talents and focus them on something that makes a difference and makes you happy doing it,” he said. “This is not a job for me; it’s a calling. And I’m going to use every talent I’ve been given to the best of my ability where I can.”