Tacoma City Manager Elizabeth Pauli is retiring. Now, the city will work to find a new leader
Tacoma City Manager Elizabeth Pauli plans to retire effective July 1 after eight years on the job and nearly three decades working for the city, she announced this week.
Pauli joined Tacoma in 1998 as a deputy city attorney before getting appointed as the city’s top administrator in 2017. She revealed her pending departure in a statement Wednesday.
She is the first woman in Tacoma’s history to serve as city manager.
“After much reflection, and with profound gratitude for the experience that I have had serving you and the community, I am announcing my intention to retire from my role as City Manager for the City of Tacoma, effective July 1, 2025,” Pauli said.
Pauli, 65, called serving the community “the honor of a lifetime” and expressed gratitude to colleagues, employees, partners and residents who she said shared a passion for making Tacoma a vibrant and thriving city.
“Together, we have accomplished so much, and I am incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved,” she said.
In February 2017, Pauli was selected to step in as interim city manager after ex-City Manager T.C. Broadnax left for the same role in Dallas. Following a nationwide search that cost nearly $25,000, Pauli was appointed to be the next city manager three months later when she was a late addition to a candidate pool of four finalists identified through the search, The News Tribune previously reported.
The City Council is expected to discuss the process for choosing an interim replacement for Pauli during a study session on Jan. 28, according to the city.
Pauli said that she would work closely with Mayor Victoria Woodards and other city lawmakers “to ensure a smooth transition to new leadership.”
During her tenure as city manager, Pauli has regularly received pay raises and positive reviews from City Council members. Her annual salary was bumped to more than $309,000 in January 2023. She was making $250,000 in 2018, a year after taking on the role.
City lawmakers have lauded Pauli for steering the city through the COVID-19 pandemic, progress made on transforming the city to an anti-racist organization, implementation of Home In Tacoma — an affordable and diverse housing initiative — and appointments made to executive leadership positions.
Woodards was in Washington D.C. on Thursday and unavailable for an interview on Pauli’s pending retirement, according to a city spokesperson. During a performance review in May 2023, Woodards said that Pauli found ways to move forward positively and solve issues when times were trying.
“In her role as City Manager, Elizabeth Pauli has demonstrated a commitment to transparency, equity, and excellence while administering all day-to-day functions at the City,” Woodards said in a statement following Pauli’s reappointment in 2019. “Her insightful guidance, long-range vision, and continued leadership are essential to making quality decisions that move Tacoma forward.”
Pauli has been credited with supporting police reforms, including the Tacoma Police Department’s adoption of a new use of force policy in 2022, and directing the creation of a Community Safety Action Strategy.
Her tenure hasn’t been without criticism or challenges.
She had faced repeated demands for her resignation in 2020 after she didn’t immediately fire the police officers involved in Manuel Ellis’ death. Three officers subsequently charged with murder or manslaughter were acquitted by a jury in December 2023, and each was given $500,000 by the city to resign, The News Tribune previously reported.
Pauli was accused by a neighborhood group leader in 2022 of lacking oversight on a planned mega-warehouse in South Tacoma that was argued to be misaligned with the city’s climate policy.
In late 2021, Police Chief Avery Moore was hired at Pauli’s recommendation to replace retired Chief Don Ramsdell. She placed Moore on paid administrative leave in September 2024 to investigate more than $1,000 in personal international charges he racked up on his city-issued phone during a family vacation in Sweden.
Moore returned to work shortly afterward. An outside investigation concluded in December that he hadn’t deliberately misled top city officials about his awareness of the bill, which he repaid.
During her 2023 performance review, Pauli’s management of Tacoma’s biennial budget was highlighted as a positive. The city’s financial situation has been dire more recently, faced with a $24 million structural deficit. The Council adopted a balanced budget in December but its work to close the shortfall included the elimination of at least two dozen positions.
Roughly six years after joining the city, Pauli was appointed acting city attorney before her appointment to that position outright in 2005, according to her city biography. She was previously a partner at Tacoma-based law firm McGavick Graves.
This story was originally published January 16, 2025 at 11:08 AM.
