Capitola’s New Chief: Andy Dally • Matt Huffaker Tapped as Santa Cruz City Manager • Cal Fire’s San Mateo Santa Cruz Chief Ian Larkin

COMMUNITY NEWS Capitola’s New Chief: Andy Dally

The next Capitola chief of police will be Captain Andrew “Andy” Dally, succeeding Terry McManus, who retires Nov. 14.

Dally was chosen after a nationwide search and a competitive testing and selection process.

Dally is very familiar with Capitola after serving in the police department for 22 years. He came to the city after five years with the Butte County Sheriff’s Department.

During his career, Captain Dally has taken a variety of policing assignments, including patrol operations, field training officer, detective, sergeant, and most recently police captain overseeing both Administration and Patrol Divisions.

“Captain Dally is dedicated to the safety of our community,” Mayor Yvette Brooks said. “His years of service demonstrate his commitment to Capitola. His problem-solving approach to community issues will benefit all. We are lucky to have him as our next Chief.”

Capitola City Manager Jamie Goldstein added, “Andy’s willingness to listen and collaborate make him the right person to lead Capitola Police Department. Captain Dally understands the dynamics of our local community and will bring new ideas to engage with all aspects of our community.”

Dally has a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice administration and is a graduate of the Leadership Santa Cruz County Class 33.

He lives in the city of Santa Cruz with his wife, Christy, and has called Santa Cruz County his home for 22 years. He anticipates further development of his young police department as well as a critical engagement with the citizens of Capitola and the larger Santa Cruz County community.

When notified of the appointment, he said he was honored. n

Capt. Andy Dally

Matt Huffaker Tapped as Santa Cruz City Manager

Watsonville City Manager Matt Huffaker is on track to become Santa Cruz city manager on Jan. 3, replacing Rosemary Menard who is doing the job on an interim basis.

The city council unanimously recommended his appointment after a closed session, and a vote is slated for the Nov. 9 meeting.

Huffaker, 37, started as deputy city manager in Watsonville and became city manager three years ago. Before that, he held leadership positions with the City of Walnut Creek for 10 years, advancing to deputy city manager.

In Watsonville, Huffaker doubled the city’s General Fund reserves while expanding aarks, Arts and recreation services. He led an inclusive public outreach and education effort that resulted in a 79 percent voterapproval for a half-cent sales tax, funding for police, fire and parks and recreation in perpetuity. Huffaker spearheading the city’s first Employee Engagement Action Plan to build a more connected, empowered, and valued organizational culture.

Before this news came out, he and Watsonville Mayor Jimmy Dutra visited staff at Jacob’s Heart Children’s Cancer Services,

which is looking for a new home of 10,000 square feet. He’s vice chair of the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership and treasurer of Second Harvest Food Bank. Matt Huffaker He’s a 2006 political science graduate of Point Loma Nazarene University with a master’s in public administration from Cal State East Bay, and he attended UC Berkeley’s Executive Leadership Program. He’s married to Jocelyn Huffaker and they have three children. “Matt has a unique set of qualifications to make a positive impact for our community quickly, said Mayor Donna Meyers. “Not only will he bring a wealth of operational experience to the role, but he will also arrive with deep relationships across the region already in place.”

She added, “The Council was particularly impressed with his breadth of creative ideas that stem from his experience, vision, and leadership values.”

Huffaker said, “I think my local experience and established regional partnerships will allow me to hit the ground running. I’m ready to get to work.”

His 2019 salary in Watsonville was $206,000. Terms of his employment in Santa Cruz will be announced. n

Cal Fire’s San Mateo Santa Cruz Chief Ian Larkin Retires

Cal Fire Chief Ian Larkin, who since 2016 oversaw the San Mateo Santa Cruz Unit, where 86,500 acres burned in 2020 after lightning strikes, is retiring Nov. 5.

He has served with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection for 28 years.

His replacement is yet to be named.

Born and raised in Watsonville, he now makes his home in Scotts Valley with his wife and two daughters.

Larkin began his fire service career in 1988, as a paid call firefighter with the Salsipudes Fire Protection District in Santa Cruz County and began his professional career as a Firefighter I with Cal Fire in the San Mateo – Santa Cruz Unit (CZU) in July 1990.

In October 1991, he took a permanent firefighter/operator position with the Aromas Tri-County Fire Protection District, returning to Cal Fire on July 1, 1993, in the San Benito Monterey Unit as a fire apparatus engineer through an agreement with the Aromas district. He was assigned to the Aromas Station and the Peninsula Battalion at the Pebble Beach and Carmel Hill Fire Stations. In November 1996, he promoted to a permanent fire captain position in the San Benito Monterey Unit, worked in the Monterey Emergency Command Center beginning February 2000, then returned to the Aromas Fire Station in September 2001.

In December 2004, he returned home to Santa Cruz County as a fire captain specialist-rraining officer in the CZU Training Battalion, where he made significant impacts to the Santa Cruz County Fire Department volunteer firefighter training program and development of the Ben Lomond Training Center.

In February 2007, he promoted to battalion chief-operations, responsible for Battalion 3 of CZU’s South Division, which covers stations from Saratoga Summit to Davenport.

In January 2012, he promoted to division chief as the unit administrative officer and promoted again to deputy chief of operations in March 2013, overseeing all of the Santa Cruz County Fire Department Operations, as well as CZU’s Battalions 3 and 4, Training, and the Emergency Command Center.

He also served as interim CZU Unit Chief following the transfer of Chief Scott Jalbert in April 2016.

Larkin is a registered fire instructor with the Office of the State Fire Marshal in several fire service disciplines.

He has been a member of Cal Fire

Ian Larkin Incident Command/Incident Management teams since 2011, held the position of Resource Unit Leader on Incident Command Team 1, Plans Section Chief Trainee on Incident Management Team 6, and currently serves as the Deputy Plans Section Chief on Incident Management Team 2. n