California city manager accepts top job in Louisville government

LOUISVILLE — Diana Langley, Yuba City, California’s city manager since 2021, will begin work next month as Louisville’s new city manager after a contract was finalized by the Louisville City Council this week. 

She will receive a base annual salary of $300,000, according to city documents, and must move to Louisville within six months and reside in city limits for the duration of her employment. 

Langley was selected after a nationwide search led by Bob Murray & Associates that garnered 50 applications. 

Samma Fox, Louisville’s deputy city manager, has served at the city’s top unelected official since ex-city manager Jeff Durbin resigned last July. Fox will resume her previous duties as deputy city manager when Langley starts work.

Durbin resigned after city officials began probing an unspecified “personnel matter” related to the then-city manager. 

The Durbin personnel matter came to light last summer when the Louisville City Council held a special meeting on June 19 that included an executive session — held outside of the view of everyone other than members of Louisville City Council; Louisville city attorney Kathleen Kelly; and attorney Marni Kloster, described by Louisville mayor Chris Leh as a “special counsel.” The executive session was “for the purpose of discussing a personnel matter involving the city manager, an employee directly appointed by the City Council,” Kelly said at the time. 

At the end of the hours-long executive session, Louisville City Council voted, the motion language said, to “authorize the mayor and special counsel to take such actions as necessary for further handling of this matter, including, to the extent appropriate, an investigation.”

City officials have repeatedly declined to comment on the nature of the personnel matter.

“This is a personnel matter for which, at this time, I cannot comment, but if and when the city can comment we will,” a Louisville spokesperson said in an email after the June 19 special meeting.

“There’s not an awful lot that can or should be said right now by any of us,” Leh said during a July 2024 Louisville City Council meeting. “… This process is one we’ve taken very, very seriously.”

A city spokesperson told BizWest last month that actually “there was no investigation” into Durbin conducted by Louisville officials. 

While the City Council did authorize an investigation, one was apparently never initiated. When asked for clarification on the city’s process regarding the handling of the Durbin matter, the Louisville spokesperson said, “All that I can confirm is that there was no investigation.”

City officials have not described the content of last year’s executive-session discussions, nor have they provided rationale for authorizing an investigation into the Durbin personnel matter but not initiating one. The city has provided no details on the circumstances that led to Durbin’s resignation.

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