City Manager Terminated

City Manager Stephen Compton was terminated following an over two-and-a-half hour closed session by the council last Thursday. According to staff reports the reason for the decision was so "the city can pursue a different direction." The motion to pass the resolution firing Compton was made by Councilmember David Toro and seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Isaac Suchil and passed unanimously. Compton was not present at the meeting. Compton was placed on paid administrative leave in June after an investigation found Compton approved funds in an amount nearly double his $25,000 expenditure limit in contracts and allegedly without the knowledge of the public works director. Compton was also accused of hiring personnel without following procedure. Mayor Zamora read this statement after the vote: “The city council understands that this has been a difficult and trying process for the community. After considering the investigator’s findings, the city council has concluded that it is in the city’s best interest to pursue a different direction with a new city manager. This action has a primary goal of moving forward in that direction.” Councilmembers did not give further comment. Compton was hired in March 2013 to fill the position in the interim left vacant by former city manager Rod Foster. In October 2013, Compton was given the position permanently. An Aug. 5 article published in The Sun reported Compton said he was investigating why the city didn’t have as much money as it should, a process that started about a month before he was ordered on paid administrative leave. According to the report by The Sun, “City Manager Stephen Compton said he was trying to understand why about $3 million was not billed in water fees, why the city used $2.2 million from its reserves to backfill capital improvement projects, why the council wasn’t being told where the money was coming from and whether utilities income was being overstated.” Compton told The Sun that he did not do anything wrong and was investigating various financial problems in the city, one of which included an accounting error discussed at Tuesday’s meeting that left a large portion of $642,000 in accounts receivables unaccounted for, meaning the council passed a budget believing there was over half a million more dollars present in revenue than there actually was. This investigation ended when he was put on leave. In the public comment portion of last Tuesday’s regular meeting one resident called Compton a “whistleblower” who was “exposing corruption” and making the council “do their jobs.” Mayor Zamora told residents that the council was making decisions that residents may not think are beneficial because the residents don’t have all the information. “We we are privy to information that no one else in this room is privy to,” Zamora said. Up to and including their decision to fire Compton, council members have not given details regarding the investigation of Compton’s activities nor the reason he was put on paid leave. Councilmembers argued during a July 1 council meeting involving an agenda item laying out six public works contracts approved by Compton without knowledge or consent from the public works department. Ultimately the council voted to pull the item from the agenda. Councilmember David Toro said at that meeting that there were items the council should not discuss publicly due to the ongoing investigation. Councilmember Frank Gonzales said the council should push for answers on the spending but was outvoted 6-1 that night to have the item removed. The findings of the investigation on Compton were presented during a special meeting Aug. 4, but no action against Compton was announced by the council at that time. The Council did not present information on actions taken prior to last Tuesday’s meeting, including in regards to Compton. Following Compton’s leave, Police Chief Steve Ward sat in as acting city manager up until July 22 when the council voted to have the city’s department heads rotate in the role until a permanent replacement is hired. Shortly after vacating the seat, Ward issued a resignation letter accusing Colton's top management of being "childish" and "selfish." Compton is entitled to severance pay equal to four months his base salary, totaling $64,000, according to his contract.