Appointed Riverbank's interim city manager after longtime City Manager Rich Holmer was placed on paid administrative leave, Pam Carder said she would be willing to serve for longer than the specified 30 days if the council so wishes but is not interested in competing for a permanent post.
"Definitely not. I'm retired," she said, noting her post is only part time and supposed to be no more than 20 hours a week, although she probably exceeded that in her first hectic week on the job.
Carder, 60, was city manager of Lathrop from 2000 to 2007 after serving 10 years there as a community development director and "retired" in 2007.
"That was after they fired me," she said. "Though I'd done nothing illegal. There simply was a difference of opinion. City managers have an average work span of three years. I stayed seven years as manager."
A resident of Riverbank since 1985, Carder has served its city government before.
She was planning director here, the city's first planning director, from 1979 to 1990 before she took a similar post called community development director in Lathrop.
Some six months after retiring from Lathrop, she said she "got bored" and eagerly accepted an offer from Holmer to work part time with Economic Development & Housing Director Tim Ogden on preparing the city's downtown specific plan, then on sewer rates and then with Local Redevelopment Agency Director Debbie Olson on conversion of the former ammunition plant.
She was a "project management specialist" working with Olson when the council chose her in closed-door personnel session on April 1 to be interim city manager, after placing Holmer on administrative leave on March 30.
Her previous experience as Lathrop's city manager probably gave her an advantage over some Riverbank department heads also considered for the position, she said.
Carder sees her job "mainly as keeping things going." With the shortness of the term, she's not planning on making any major changes.
"There a number of documents that have to be signed, a change order in construction contract documents for instance, a grant report that's due this week and lease arrangements with the Army."
Born in San Francisco, Carder moved with her family to Portland, Oregon at the age of three, returned to Lodi 11 years later and arrived in Turlock in 1964. She is a graduate of Lodi High and of Stanislaus State University with a bachelor's degree in political science with emphasis on public administration. She met her husband Larry in college and they married in 1973 and settled first in Modesto and then Riverbank. Her husband is a teacher and still works for the Patterson school district. They have a 23-year-old son Andrew attending Modesto Junior College.
Outside her work, Carder said she reads a lot and would like to travel. She also enjoys retirement and spending time with her family.
"Definitely not. I'm retired," she said, noting her post is only part time and supposed to be no more than 20 hours a week, although she probably exceeded that in her first hectic week on the job.
Carder, 60, was city manager of Lathrop from 2000 to 2007 after serving 10 years there as a community development director and "retired" in 2007.
"That was after they fired me," she said. "Though I'd done nothing illegal. There simply was a difference of opinion. City managers have an average work span of three years. I stayed seven years as manager."
A resident of Riverbank since 1985, Carder has served its city government before.
She was planning director here, the city's first planning director, from 1979 to 1990 before she took a similar post called community development director in Lathrop.
Some six months after retiring from Lathrop, she said she "got bored" and eagerly accepted an offer from Holmer to work part time with Economic Development & Housing Director Tim Ogden on preparing the city's downtown specific plan, then on sewer rates and then with Local Redevelopment Agency Director Debbie Olson on conversion of the former ammunition plant.
She was a "project management specialist" working with Olson when the council chose her in closed-door personnel session on April 1 to be interim city manager, after placing Holmer on administrative leave on March 30.
Her previous experience as Lathrop's city manager probably gave her an advantage over some Riverbank department heads also considered for the position, she said.
Carder sees her job "mainly as keeping things going." With the shortness of the term, she's not planning on making any major changes.
"There a number of documents that have to be signed, a change order in construction contract documents for instance, a grant report that's due this week and lease arrangements with the Army."
Born in San Francisco, Carder moved with her family to Portland, Oregon at the age of three, returned to Lodi 11 years later and arrived in Turlock in 1964. She is a graduate of Lodi High and of Stanislaus State University with a bachelor's degree in political science with emphasis on public administration. She met her husband Larry in college and they married in 1973 and settled first in Modesto and then Riverbank. Her husband is a teacher and still works for the Patterson school district. They have a 23-year-old son Andrew attending Modesto Junior College.
Outside her work, Carder said she reads a lot and would like to travel. She also enjoys retirement and spending time with her family.
