For City Council Meeting [August 22, 2023]
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council
APPROVAL: Henry Garcia, Interim City Manager
FROM: Eric S. Vail, City Attorney
Title
Request that the City Council Introduce for First Reading Ordinance No. 1687, Amending Section 2.04.050 of Chapter 2.04 of the Rialto Municipal Code to delete paragraph C related restricting the authority of the City Council to remove a City Manager not-for-cause.
(ACTION)
Body
BACKGROUND
Paragraph C of Section 2.04.050 of the Rialto Municipal Code ("RMC") currently provides:
"The city manager shall not be removed from office during or within a period of one hundred twenty days prior to or one hundred twenty days next succeeding any general municipal election held in the city, at which election a member of the city council is elected or following appointment of a new councilperson. Prior to the one hundred twenty-day period and after the expiration of the one hundred twenty-day periods mentioned herein, the provisions of subsections A and B of this section as to the removal of the city manager apply and are effective."
Such provisions are generally known as "cooling-off" periods and are intended to restrict the ability of city councils to terminate the employment of a city manager during a specific period after (and sometimes prior to) an election in which a new council person is or maybe elected. Most commonly, cooling-off periods only restrict termination without cause, but allow for termination for cause. Generally such cooling-periods follow the election of a new councilmember and allow a reasonable period of time for a new councilmember and city manager to attempt to get to know and work together.
The cooling-off period was first added to the RMC by Ordinance 708 in 1977 providing for a 90 day cooling-off period both before and after council elections. The cooling-off period was later expanded to 120 days both before and after council election by Ordinance 1627 in 2019.
ANALYS...
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