It’s been a little over two months since I started as the Roseville City Manager. While working for the City of Sacramento, I always saw Roseville as a worthy competitor. With every day here, I am reminded why.

I have been truly impressed by the quality of the staff I inherited, and we’ll be recognizing many of them tonight at the annual Pride of Roseville ceremony in the Civic Center.

I’ve also been energized by how deeply committed our residents and businesses are to maintaining and improving the quality of life we have here.

Certainly we face some challenges. But they are just that, challenges. Some of our regional neighbors are facing budgetary disasters. Because of the work already done here, Roseville is poised to ride the wave of economic recovery (whenever that may be) much faster with much greater rewards. My job is to make sure we are at the front of that wave, not over run by it.

Because of the necessary budget cuts and service rollbacks due to declining revenues, it’s been tough for Roseville to maintain an A+ status. Others have gone from B+ to D-. Coming from one of those other cities, I think it is important we keep that perspective.

The City Council made it very clear when I was hired that one of their major goals was a vibrant downtown. It’s easy to see the potential there. The vision and plans are already in place. I’ve been fortunate to be a part of similar projects in Portland and Sacramento. I hope to bring the lessons and best of those experiences here.

We have some ideas to give downtown redevelopment a jumpstart. One is creating a Development Advisory Commission, a sounding board for ideas from our business customers and residents.

Another is creating a Development Corporation. It would allow us access to financing options to combine the strength of private and public funds in ways we cannot now.

We also need to get tougher on those who leave unfinished structures around our city. Abandoned buildings devalue nearby properties and are a community eye sore.

We’re also taking a look at how to streamline our processes, whether it’s a development project or how we pick up the garbage.

The challenge is for us to do what we do in the most efficient way.

I’m looking forward to working with our businesses and community to meet our challenges head on. This is a great place. I feel very honored to be here.

Ray Kerridge is the city manager of Roseville.