LAMORINDA WEEKLY | Orinda's Gilmore moves on


Photo Sora O'Doherty

As a small city, Orinda functions as a stepping stone for staff to gain valuable experience for a few years before moving on to more challenging venues. So it is that Tonya Gilmore, who has served as assistant to the city manager for five years, is moving over to Oakland to serve as assistant to Oakland City Administrator Sabrina Landreth. Gilmore is excited about the opportunity. "Everything that happens in a city happens in Oakland," she enthused. She added that Oakland is a full-service city, providing its own police and fire services with over 200 employees. Gilmore's goal has always been to be involved and have a positive impact on people's lives, so she is happy that Oakland provides services to its residents through its Human Services Department.

Of course, she'll still have close ties to Orinda, because she'll be dropping her son, a student at Miramonte High School, off at school everyday on her way from their home in El Sobrante to work in downtown Oakland. No stranger to Oakland, she lived there in her 20s when she was first out on her own, and now her mother lives in Oakland. One of the things that pleases Gilmore is that she will be working at the architecturally significant Oakland City Hall in the Uptown District.

City Manager Steve Salomon says that he won't be filling Gilmore's position because his priority is to strengthen the city's financial team. There is currently a half-time position he'd like to bump up to a full-time position. Salomon is okay with Orinda's role as a city where people polish their skills before moving on to a bigger city. On the other hand, he notes, Drummond Buckley, director of planning who worked for Orinda and then left, eventually returned.