Councilmember Kennedy Calls for Council to Discuss Hiring of City Manager in Closed Session Next Week

At the conclusion of Monday’s City Council meeting, Councilmember John Kennedy called on Mayor Victor Gordo to agendize the hiring of a permanent city manager in closed session on next week’s agenda.

Former City Manager Cynthia Kurtz is scheduled to take on the role next month on an interim basis after City Manager Steve Mermell retires on Dec. 2.

The city manager, who is responsible for all but two of the city departments, serves as chief executive of the city and is responsible for hiring department heads.

Kennedy, who previously worked for the city under Kurtz, praised her and cited several upcoming vacancies at City Hall as cause for alarm.

Along with Mermell, the city will lose Police Chief John Perez, Assistant City Manager Julie Guitierrez, Water and Power General Manager Gurcharan S. Bawa, and Human Resources Director Jennifer Curtis within the next two months.

Kennedy said the city’s executive leadership team will be “decimated” by the departures.

“Additionally, there are a number of second- and third-level management positions that are either departing or vacant,” Kennedy said Monday night.

“We cannot tarry in bringing an excellent permanent city manager aboard to rebuild his or her own team to run this city. It is not fair or equitable to expect our interim city manager to run the city with a skeleton crew into the indefinite future, and yet it is not appropriate for an Interim to make permanent appointments,” he said.

The city manager position will not become vacant until Dec. 3. Kurtz will assume the interim city manager position on that date.

Kurtz will start off in an “extra help capacity” on Nov. 10 as she works with Mermell to ensure a smooth transition. During that time, she will earn $120 an hour.

When Mermell announced his retirement last month, he promised to assist in the transition to a new city manager.

“Over the years, I have had the pleasure of getting to know a lot of city employees and I count many of you as friends and all of you as colleagues,” Mermell wrote. “Day in and day out you provide exceptional service to our community and it shows. It will always be a great source of pride for me to have served as your City Manager.”
Gordo did not say on Monday if the item would appear on the City Council’s Nov. 8 agenda.

Kennedy also called for open session discussions at the next few meetings.
“The City Council as a whole must select the recruiting firm, finalize the position specifications and determine the outreach process,” Kennedy said. “If there is any subcommittee assigned to these tasks, it must be approved by the entire City Council. Likewise, the time period must be approved by the entire City Council and all of this disclosed to the public.

“I believe it may be prudent for the City Council to commission a confidential exit interview of all departing staff to determine whether there are factors relating to their departures of which the City Council needs to be aware,” he added. “Such will enable the City Council to undertake a better recruitment of qualified candidates for this essential position and ensure retention of our staff as a general matter.”

The city is expected to use an outside firm to conduct a nationwide search for the next city manager. Gordo has promised an open and transparent selection process.