Tracy Noonan Tracy Noonan returns to Thousand Oaks next month as the city’s top legal counsel.

Noonan, 43, replaces Amy Albano as Thousand Oaks’ city attorney on March 19. Her final day as city attorney for Simi Valley is March 9.

Noonan was assistant city attorney in T.O. for four years before her departure in 2009 to head Simi Valley’s legal department.

“(I’m) very happy to be coming back to Thousand Oaks but a little melancholy to be leaving Simi. When you’re happy with a job, it’s never easy to leave,” said Noonan, a native and resident of Simi Valley.

Simi Valley City Manager Mike Sedell said Noonan will be greatly missed.

“Tracy . . . is a highly skilled city attorney that’s not afraid to confront the issues, deal with the issues and provide solid, wellthought out recommendations,” he said. “Her leaving will clearly have an impact on the organization and a very positive impact, I’m sure, on Thousand Oaks’ organization.”

Noonan said it was the new challenges as chief legal counsel in T.O. that prompted her to take the job.

“It was a very difficult decision to make,” Noonan said. “I did a lot of thinking about it and a lot of soul-searching on it. But after talking with my family, I thought it would be a good move.”

Mayor Jacqui Irwin said this week that Noonan’s analytical thinking, articulate speech and work history in T.O. impressed her.

“(Tracy is) highly qualified, highly intelligent,” Irwin said. “She really is very good at seeing what the big issues are. She (has) very good ideas on how to keep her staff functioning at a very high level. I think she really understands Thousand Oaks.”

After Albano announced her resignation in October, the council hired a recruiting firm to advertise the job vacancy and cull through applications. The consultant narrowed down the dozens of applications to 10 recommendations.

The council chose four applicants to interview; all were highly qualified for the job, said Councilmember Tom Glancy. He agreed with Irwin that Noonan stood out.

“We thought she was the best qualified. . . . We selected her on her merits,” Glancy said.

“She works well with council; she presented a fit,” he added, noting his years as a council member and planning commissioner in working with Noonan. “It was obvious that we weren’t going to have trouble finding qualified people, but (what) we really needed to look at was how well those people would fit with council, because that’s extremely important.”

Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Billde la Peña said that, although Noonan’s work performance in T.O. was fine, she’ll vote against hiring her because she thinks the city is paying too much for her services.

Noonan’s contract will likely come before the council for approval at Tuesday’s meeting.

Other very qualified candidates who would have done “an exceptional job” were available for a smaller salary, Bill-de la Peña said.

“She was not my first choice, and I will not support her appointment, and I will definitely not support her luxurious salary and compensation package,” she said.

In Simi Valley, Noonan was reportedly making $185,629 a year. T.O. will pay Noonan an annual salary of $200,000. Add in all the benefits and Noonan’s total compensation is about $300,000, Bill-de la Peña said.

T.O. paid Albano $203,000 a year at the time of her resignation.

Glancy and Irwin defended Noonan’s salary. Glancy said the council has proven it’s been responsible with taxpayer money by maintaining a balanced budget year after year.

Irwin said the salary T.O. will pay Noonan is reasonable and comparable to what other cities pay their chief attorneys.

“We have a lot of difficult issues coming forward and . . . if you don’t have good legal representation you’re really being penny wise and pound foolish. We need to have an excellent, as we do, city attorney’s office because they can save (the city) a lot of money in the long run by being on top of things,” Irwin said.

“Certainly, when you want to attract a caliber of people that . . . (will) keep the city out of trouble, you have to be willing to pay for it. And people who have jobs are not going to be willing to leave for less money.”