California city manager arrested just three weeks after taking over top job

Sausalito’s new city manager was arrested early Saturday on suspicion of felony burglary after Marin County sheriff’s deputies responding to a noise complaint found her aboard a yacht that authorities say belonged to someone else.

Authorities said Elaine Forbes told deputies she was having “a bad morning” and insisted they leave what she claimed was her boat.

Forbes, 53, was taken into custody less than three weeks after starting as Sausalito’s top administrative official.

The arrest came two days after the Sausalito City Council placed her on administrative leave following a closed-session meeting.

Deputies responded to the Sausalito Yacht Harbor shortly before 7 a.m. Saturday, where they said Forbes was found aboard a vessel she did not have permission to board.

According to the Marin County Sheriff’s Office, Forbes initially told deputies the yacht belonged to her. Investigators later contacted the vessel’s owner, who said Forbes was not authorized to be aboard.

Forbes was booked into the Marin County Jail on suspicion of felony burglary.

Bail was set at $50,000.

Authorities have not released additional details about the alleged burglary or explained why the City Council placed Forbes on leave Thursday.

In a statement following the arrest, the City of Sausalito called it “a difficult development for our City staff and our community” and said it would not comment further while the investigation remains active.

The City Council is expected to address the matter at its regular meeting Tuesday.

Forbes was appointed Sausalito’s city manager in May after announcing in September that she would step down as executive director of the Port of San Francisco, where she served for nine years.

She became Port director in 2016 after serving as interim director and was, at the time, one of the few women in the country leading a major US port.

During her tenure, she oversaw a staff of about 270 and managed major waterfront initiatives, including seawall reinforcement and planning efforts related to sea-level rise along the Embarcadero.

In her final year at the Port, Forbes was a public face of the Fisherman’s Wharf Forward initiative, which proposed replacing the shuttered Alioto’s Restaurant building with a public plaza overlooking the wharf’s fishing fleet.

Before leading the Port, Forbes served as its chief financial officer and deputy director for finance and administration.

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She previously held public-sector roles in San Francisco and Oakland, including serving as finance director for the San Francisco Planning Department, and worked in nonprofit land-use and economic-development organizations.

She began her role as Sausalito city manager on July 1 with an annual salary of $275,000.