After more than 25 years in public service, Dan Albert retired as Mayor of Monterey in November 2006. He held the position of Mayor for 20 years, longer than anyone else in Monterey's 225-year history. Dan Albert was elected to the City Council in 1979 and elected Mayor in 1986. Prior to that time, he served on the City of Monterey Parks and Recreation Commission for several years and, served as Forman of the Monterey County Grand Jury. He is a former member and Chair of the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO).
He has numerous awards including Monterey Peninsula Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year, Public Official of the Year and last year was awarded with his wife, Joanne, the Monterey Peninsula College Presidents' Award.
Dan Albert served as Chair of the Monterey County Mayor's Association for ten years. He served as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Monterey Regional Waste Management District and on many subcommittees and liaison committees as a representative of the Monterey City Council. He also served as Monterey's representative to the Ft. Ord Reuse Authority. Presently, he is a member of the Monterey Peninsula College Alumni Association of which he is one of the founding members.
During his long tenure on the Monterey City Council as Council member and Mayor, Dan Albert played a critical leadership role in the economic revitalization of the City of Monterey. When first elected to the City Council, Monterey was in economic doldrums. The fishing industry had disappeared, the tourism industry was weak, and the military economic activity was being continually threatened.
Under his leadership, the Council and community formulated a new General Plan that has revitalized the community for its residents and provided a diversified economic base that has allowed us to weather many of the financial crisis's that have faced California cities. Dan helped bring consensus on a plan that revitalized and capitalized on the historic Cannery Row area of the community, transformed our waterfront from looking like a junkyard low end industrial area to a beautiful expansive park. While on the Council he helped create a political environment for the creation of the world-class Monterey Bay Aquarium that has become a foundation for our tourism trade. Dan has been a prominent leader in the effort to ensure active grassroots political participation by our residents through several programs designed to unite the people who live and work in Monterey with City government.
Dan played a critical regional leadership role in organizing the efforts to challenge Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) 1993 and BRAC 1995 in their consideration to relocate the Defense Language Institute and Naval Postgraduate School. He has been a very strong proponent of the City of Monterey in providing municipal services to the local installations to reduce DoD costs.
One of his greatest joys as mayor was attending many local festivals, one of which was the Festa Italia. He took great joy in celebrating the Italian/Sicilian culture and its fishing history in the City of Monterey. One of Joanne and Dan's fondest memories as Mayor was a 14-day trip to Sicily where he was able to visit many towns, villages and cities that he often heard about from his many Sicilian and Italian friends.
Before taking on his public duties Dan retired from 37 years of teaching at Monterey High School. While there he coached for 28 years including 23 as Head Coach of the Monterey High varsity football team. In that 23-year period his teams won 15 championships and had a winning record percentage of 80%. Nine of his players played in the NFL and three played in Super Bowls. He also was a successful baseball coach for 16 years.
Dan Albert and his wife, Joanne, are lifetime residents of Monterey and both attended Monterey High School. They have four grown children, ten grandchildren and five great grandchildren.
Through his many accomplishments he gives credit to a team approach involving many players, fellow council members, staff, boards and commissions and many individuals of the community. Another part of his philosophy is in what he terms, THE DELICATE BALANCE, of a strong economic base while preserving this beautiful environment and history that makes Monterey what it is, a great place to work, live and play for our citizens and visitors alike.
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