New city manager
With no discussion, the City Council voted unanimously on May 19 to appoint Willie Hopkins Jr. as Milpitas’ next city manager, making him the sixth person to hold that position in the last seven years.
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A U.S. Army veteran with about 25 years of government administration experience, Hopkins has been serving as city manager of the City of Compton since late 2023. Before that, he held the same position with the City of Barstow.
In April, Hopkins was placed on paid leave by the Compton City Council during an investigation of a Compton councilmember who rang up unauthorized charges on a credit card.
Milpitas Police Chief Jared Hernandez has been serving as acting city manager since January following the exit of interim city manager Deanna Santana, who left the position last October after a dispute with a councilmember over a potential violation of the Brown Act. Santana was brought on as interim city manager in April 2025 after Ned Thomas resigned from the position in March. Her resignation followed a series of city managers who have come and gone from Milpitas in previous years, including an unexplained exit by Julie Edmonds-Mares in May 2019. Steve McHarris, the next city manager, left in 2023 after his contract wasn’t renewed, then sued the city over alleged misconduct by current and former mayors.
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The annual salary for the Milpitas’s new city manager is $350,000, with benefits valued at $166,027.
Neighborhood clean-up
The City of Milpitas and Milpitas Sanitation are holding Neighborhood Clean-Up on June 13 to provide debris bins for residents who would like to dispose of large, bulky items. The event is open to all Milpitas residents free of charge with prior registration to https://bit.ly/4dKR8Jn.
The clean-up will be held at Pearl Zanker Elementary School from 9 a.m.-noon, or until bins are full. Each household is limited to one truckload (up to 3 cubic yards) of items for disposal.
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Email questions to [email protected] or call 408-586-3341.
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