Longtime Westlake Village employee departs




Scott Wolfe

Scott Wolfe

Westlake Village is bidding goodbye to a longtime employee. For the second time.

Scott Wolfe, the city’s planning director and deputy city manager, has been with the city for 19 years. He started in 1996 but left in 2000 to pursue other career opportunities. He came back in 2005, but now he’s leaving for good. Wolfe has been named the new city manager for the City of Buellton in the Santa Ynez Valley.

Wolfe said that while he’s excited to start in a new city, he’ll miss Westlake Village.

“Of all the places I’ve worked, I’ve really loved the community of Westlake Village. The residents seem to be very happy with the city in terms of generally what it does,” Wolfe said. “I think by and large they appreciate their local government, and that’s not something you find everywhere. It’s not something I’ve found anywhere to the extent I see it in Westlake Village. I hope I’ll find something similar in Buellton.”

He’ll start his new job July 1.

Wolfe holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s degree in public administration from Cal Lutheran University. He’s pursuing a doctorate in public administration from Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Ga.

Aside from his work with Westlake Village, Wolfe has worked for the cities of Thousand Oaks, Moorpark and Palmdale.

During his tenure with the city, Wolfe oversaw a variety of development projects, including the Westlake Village Community Park and the Shoppes at Westlake, which he said he’s particularly proud of.

“That’s something I spent a lot of time and energy helping piece together, working with the developer and the City Council to find a project (for that land),” Wolfe said. “Every time I drive into that center, I’m happy as can be.”

Buellton, about 45 minutes north of Santa Barbara, is 1.5 square miles and has a population of around 5,500 residents. The city government is larger than Westlake Village’s, though, because it doesn’t contract for its water and wastewater services, as Westlake Village does.

Wolfe and his wife raised three grown children, and also have sons ages 12 and 14 and daughters who are 10 months and 2 years old. He said his sons are slowly coming around to the idea of moving.

“They were not real happy when we told them (we were moving), but they’re getting used to the idea,” Wolfe said. “They’re junior high and high school age, and right now their friends are everything and I’m disrupting their life. It’s a little bit rough, but we’ll get through it.”

Westlake Village City Councilmember Brad Halpern, who has worked with Wolfe for six years, said Wolfe is a talented city planner.

“He understood the needs and desires of the community at large,” the council member said.