Hilary Straus
Board Member
General Manager
Citrus Heights Water District
Hilary Straus has worked for over 25 years in local government administration and currently serves as General Manager for the Citrus Heights Water District. During his time in the public sector, Hilary served as a City Administrator and City Manager in two cities in California. Hilary also has the unique experience of having worked with a team over a ten year period to transition the newly-incorporated/start-up City of Citrus Heights into a productive and cost effective municipal service provider.
During his career, Hilary has managed or been involved with developing and/or implementing best practices in administration and service delivery, including: resolving complex water and wastewater issues, helping to establish a municipal police department, reforming budget practices, introducing financial forecasting to communities, developing and implementing human resource policies to strengthen performance and accountability, identifying cost effective and improved insurance coverage, cutting red tape and promoting a “red carpet approach” to processing development projects, managing economic development (including leading downtown economic development), managing advanced planning/in-fill land use and economic development studies, coordinating organizational efficiency studies and strengthening public information and public engagement. Hilary began his career in public affairs as a college student working at the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation and for two chambers of commerce in northern California.
Hilary has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from the University of California, Davis and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the University of Southern California (USC). He has also served as President of the Municipal Management Association of Northern California (MMANC), as Chair of the California chapter of the International City/County Management Association (Cal-ICMA) and as a Member of the Board of Trustees of the California City Management Foundation (CCMF).
