Stockton City Council plans to hold a confidential meeting Monday, about the recruitment of a new city manager.
A special closed session meeting is scheduled for 1 p.m. at City Hall, according to an agenda the city published Thursday afternoon. Community members will have a chance to voice their opinions about the city manager recruitment at the start of the meeting during public comment.
As with all closed sessions, little detail about the topic of the meeting is disclosed on the agenda, except that it relates to recruiting a city manager. Councilmember Mario Enriquez and Vice Mayor Jason Lee are scheduled to attend virtually, since they’ll be out of town, the agenda says.
What we do know is that Monday is the first of two days that executive search company Peckham & McKenney — which the city hired to aid in the recruitment — set aside for City Council to choose and interview between one and three finalists for the job.
Stocktonia obtained a copy of the company’s recruitment schedule for Stockton’s city manager search under public records law.
Mayor, councilmembers clash over search
The search was scheduled to start June 3, with a meeting between Peckham, Stockton’s city attorney, its human resources director and a temporary ad hoc committee including Mayor Christina Fugazi, Councilmember Mario Enríquez and Vice Mayor Jason Lee.
The council formed the committee in February to help “interview and recommend candidates to the full Council for potential appointment,” according to the council resolution. At the time, Steve Colangelo had just been appointed interim city manager in a 4-3 vote, with Vice Mayor Lee and Councilmembers Michele Padilla and Mariela Ponce joining Mayor Fugazi to put him in the seat.
The committee’s role in the process was disrupted, however, when Fugazi disbanded it sometime before June 27, claiming both that the group’s work was done and that Enríquez had broken confidentiality laws regarding its work.
Enriquez denied the accusations, calling them “irresponsible” and “misleading.”
Fugazi gave multiple reasons at various times as to why the committee needed to be disbanded.
It’s also not clear that Fugazi had the power to unilaterally dismiss the committee, since it was created through a council vote. However, the city attorney later said that in this instance the mayor did have the right to do so because at least one of the tasks assigned to the committee was under the purview of the mayor’s authority assigned by the city charter in selecting final candidates, though Fugazi had voted unanimously to both create the committee and its identified tasks.
According to the city manager search schedule, from early July through early August, Peckham, Fugazi, the City Council and HR were to create a profile of a desirable candidate.
Recruitment would start in August, with interviews in September and the City Council picking some finalists toward the end of the month before final interviews in October.
Stockton sees multiple leadership changes
Former City Manager Harry Black was forced to resign in January following a changing of the guard due to the 2024 election. Deputy City Manager Will Crew was then immediately named acting city manager.
A few weeks later, the council then appointed long-time event planner Steve Colangelo as interim city manager in a move that was both unexpected and controversial. Colangelo did not have the experience or education typically required of a city manager. His tenure as interim was also marred by several controversies, including allegedly using diversity, equity and inclusion funding to hire another city manager to teach him how to do his job.
On July 29, the council then voted to replace Colangelo with Will Crew, who was once again selected to step in as acting city manager when Colangelo’s six-month contract ran out. It’s unclear why the council did not reup the contract.
When asked that day if he expected the council’s decision, Colangelo told Stocktonia, “nothing surprises me,” and “I work at the pleasure of the council.”
But an email Stocktonia obtained last week under public records laws sent July 30 says city staff told Stockton’s attorney that Colangelo said the replacement was temporary while the council worked on another contract for him.
If Colangelo made the statement, he could’ve violated closed session laws. The former interim didn’t respond to Stocktonia’s request for comment.
On Aug. 12, a vote to reappoint Colangelo as Stockton’s interim chief executive showed up on the City Council agenda. It was removed without explanation during the meeting following closed session talks on the city manager position, and no such vote has been scheduled since.
Overall, the former county fairground CEO’s stint as interim included a series of controversies that raised questions about his qualifications and competency to serve as Stockton’s top bureaucrat. Fugazi often came to his defense.
City manager must have experience, schooling
According to a job posting by Peckham, Stockton’s future city manager should have “7 to 10 years of experience as a Chief Executive, Assistant/Deputy Chief Executive or Department Head in a government agency of comparable complexity and size.”
The ideal candidate should also hold a bachelor’s degree and have experience working with elected officials, the job description says.
Among a long list of other qualities in the city’s pamphlet about the job, the ideal candidate should thoroughly understand city finance, embrace diversity, equity and inclusion, and demonstrate trustworthiness, credibility and honesty.
Also coming up
On Monday, the City Council will hold a study session on homelessness at 3:30 p.m, according to the agenda.
The council is set to discuss how local organizations can seek government money for housing and homelessness projects and other community development work.
Councilmember Michele Padilla, who leads the council’s temporary committee on homelessness, will also present about strategies to address the issue.
The next regular City Council meeting is set for Sept. 21.