For the first time in 10 months, Stockton has a permanent city manager.
The City Council voted 7-0 Tuesday night to appoint Johnny R. Ford as Stockton’s new city manager. The appointment sailed through as part of the consent agenda, in which councilmembers vote on multiple proposals without discussing each separately.
The former city manager of Compton, who also in the past led parks departments in Cincinnati, Shreveport, Louisiana and Durham, North Carolina would be returning to Stockton city leadership after being forced out of his deputy city manager job in 2009 for allegedly accepting free tickets.
An investigation by a council committee later exonerated him.
Ford will succeed Acting City Manager Will Crew, who has led the city since summer when the council installed him in place of former Interim City Manager Steve Colangelo, who served for about five months.
A proposal to hire Colangelo again was placed on an August council agenda, but was removed and never received a vote.
As city manager, Ford will receive $325,000 in base pay yearly, start the job with 30 vacation days and get several hundred for car and technology expenses, according to a summary of his contract Mayor Christina Fugazi read before the vote.
Though councilmembers didn’t discuss the item, at least 10 members of the public showed up to City Council chambers to voice their support for Ford’s appointment during the public comment period. Ford did not attend the meeting.
Several people expressed hope that Ford’s hiring would help unite the City Council after months of constant battles on the dais.
The council “needs somebody that can bring everybody together,” said Dennis Smallie, a onetime assistant to former Stockton Mayor Edward Chavez who said he had worked with Ford.
Bobby Bivens, president of the NAACP in San Joaquin County, said Ford “has been able to work across boundaries, lines, ethnicities.”
He added, “He was crazy enough to make a decision to come and work with you all. I would not do that.”
Multiple people said they were confident in Ford’s integrity.
“One thing that has not been said is the man has wonderful morals. Fabulous ethics,” Charlene Leathers said.
No member of the public spoke against Ford’s appointment. But one commenter, Julie Dunning, stressed that she hoped the City Council had made the right choice, for its own sake.
“It’s our only hope to recover from where we are now,” she said.
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