City Manager Maraskeshia Smith has appointed Matt Hertel as director of the City’s Community Development Department, overseeing planning, building, code compliance and animal care services, effective May 30.
Hertel was selected following a competitive national recruitment process. He brings 25 years of experience in planning and community development across the public, private and nonprofit sectors. He has served in several leadership roles within the City’s Community Development Department over the past seven years, most recently as interim director and previously as assistant director.
“Matt has demonstrated strong leadership, deep technical expertise and a strong passion for public service, along with a clear commitment to delivering results for Sacramento residents and businesses,” Smith said. “He has helped lead significant efforts to modernize development processes, expand housing opportunities and strengthen community partnerships. I am confident he will continue moving the department forward.”
During Hertel’s tenure, the department achieved several major milestones, including helping Sacramento earn California’s first Prohousing Designation, expanding opportunities for multi-unit housing in all neighborhoods and implementing ministerial checklist approvals for housing projects up to 200 units.
Hertel also helped lead the design and implementation of Streamline Sacramento, a citywide effort focused on improving development review and permitting processes.
“These efforts reflect the City’s commitment to building more housing, advancing economic development, improving customer service and creating a more efficient and transparent development process,” Hertel said. “I’m honored to serve in this role and continue working alongside our talented staff, community members and partners to help shape Sacramento’s future.”
Hertel joined the City in 2018 as a long-range senior planner and later served as principal planner and long-range planning manager before being promoted to assistant director in 2024. Prior to joining the City, he worked for the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency and planning and engineering firm AECOM.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in broadcasting from John Brown University and a master’s degree in community development and planning from Clark University, where he now serves as an advisory board member for the School of Sustainability & Social Justice.
Hertel is also an AICP-certified planner and serves as the Immediate Past Director of the American Planning Association, Sacramento Valley Section. He has also been a dog foster volunteer with the Front Street Animal Shelter and his dog Buzz was one of those foster dogs and adopted by Hertel.
