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Sometimes, things just work out. Craig Robinson's mother was a busy community activist in Gilroy when he was growing up, interacting often with one aspect or another of city government. Young Craig found it interesting enough that he decided early on to seek a career in municipal government.
Today he is the city manager of Roseville, responsible for directing the operations of a municipality that has been doing things right for many years.
"Vision is the fundamental force that drives everything else in our lives," he says. "Roseville is now the No. 1 sales-tax-per-capita generator in California for cities with under 100,000 population, and that's a testament to the city's vision. City officials actually had not only a vision but the will to work toward that vision decades ago, Robinson said, with the result that the city today has a financial footing so firm that recent major capital outlay projects have been completely paid for, and are debt-free.
Roseville's success in attracting and keeping job-rich businesses to the community and managing its economy has made it 'a real boon to the entire Sacramento region," he says.
BACKGROUND
* Age: 49
* Native of: Gilroy
* Resident of: Roseville
* Education: B.A., political science, M.A., public administration, Brigham Young University
* Family: Wife Linda, daughters Heather and Genna, son Craig Jr.
COMING TO ROSEVILLE
Weary of commute: "I came to Roseville in April of 1989. I had been working in Southern California and had grown weary of the commute. We had gone to Colorado for a vacation, and coming home I realized that I needed to leave Southern California. I didn't know a lot about Roseville at the time, except, as a Brigham Young University alum, that the quarterback on the 1984 BYU national championship football team was Robbie Bosco, who had gone to Roseville High School.
"That perked my interest so I did a little research on the community and sent up a resume. When Allen Johnson was promoted to city manager in 1989 I was hired as the administrative services director. When I first came here I couldn't have told you that I'd still be in Roseville 14 years later. During my career here I had a number of opportunities to become a...