The Hollister City Council voted in closed session on Oct. 21 to fire City Manager Ana Cortez, who has been the subject of increasing criticism for her approach to cutting costs and issuing layoff notices to dozens of city employees in recent weeks.
All 36 layoff notices were then rescinded at Monday’s meeting, following continued outcry from the affected employees.
Still in need of finding significant savings to dig out of the city’s dire situation, the council met again on Oct. 26 in closed session for a “conference with labor negotiators,” says the meeting’s agenda. After a two-hour meeting behind closed doors, the council reported that it voted unanimously to rescind all recent layoff notices, which Cortez had initially issued Oct. 14.
City staff had been pleading with councilmembers to both fire Cortez and take back the layoff notices in recent weeks. Hollister Mayor Roxanne Stephens cautioned even though the recent layoff notices are no longer active, the council still will likely still need to make major cuts to resolve its financial crisis—and that could mean new layoff notices.
The council will continue to meet at least once a week to discuss potential ongoing savings, Stephens said.
“We need some very solid concessions from all of our unions,” Stephens said. “This is really, really hard work because we are not out of the woods financially. We need to come up with a different plan to move forward…The more concessions we can get, the fewer job losses we can anticipate moving forward.”
The city’s human resources staff have been meeting with local union representatives since firing Cortez.
Numerous city employees addressed the council during public comment before the Oct. 26 closed session, asking the officials to rescind the layoffs. Hollister Police Officers Association President Bo Leland said the council should “write the final chapter of Ana Cortez’s legacy.”
“It’s become abundantly clear that the previous administration either manipulated financial information to advance a political agenda or fundamentally failed to understand the city’s finances,” Leland said. “Neither explanation is acceptable. The financial information presented to this council can no longer be trusted, yet that same information was used to justify laying off dozens of dedicated city employees.”
City officials have said the current financial state is the result of years of inattention and mismanagement by previous councilmembers and city staff. At the Oct. 2 meeting, Cortez claimed the city had only $178 in its general fund bank account, and would not be able to pay employees’ next paycheck.
Also on Oct. 2, the council approved a loan of $18 million from its impact fees fund to the general and water funds in order to make payroll.
After the council returned to the City Hall chamber following the Oct. 21 closed session, City Attorney Dayna D. Louie said the council voted 3-2 to terminate Cortez’s contract “for convenience.” Vice Mayor Priscilla de Anda and Councilmember Rolan Resendiz voted against Cortez’s firing.
It is unclear if the “for convenience” reasoning protects the city from having to pay Cortez for exiting her contract.
Louie added that the council also agreed to appoint Hollister Airport Director Jeff Crechriou as the acting city manager. Crechriou will serve as City Hall’s top staff person while the council considers its options for permanently filling the city manager’s position.
The council did not discuss a timeline or the next steps in a potential search for a new city manager.
Cortez’s firing comes after she has faced mounting accusations that she issued layoffs without consulting the city’s labor unions, department heads or other city officials.
Shortly after those layoff notices were issued, members of the HPOA and the local chapter of the Service Employees International Union reported votes of no confidence in Cortez, and demanded that the council terminate her employment as city manager.
The layoff notices that have since been rescinded informed the affected employees that they were to be placed on administrative leave, with their employment with the City of Hollister set to end on Nov. 13. The affected employees included nine civilian police staff members, as well as employees in the city’s public works, airport, parks and recreation and finance departments.
The council hired Cortez in February, at an annual salary of $265,000.
The council called the Oct. 21 meeting as a special session, after taking actions at the Oct. 19 meeting that reversed previous decisions recommended by Cortez to address the city’s ongoing financial challenges.
Specifically on Oct. 19, the council voted to reverse a declaration of “financial emergency” that it approved on Oct. 2; and to end the laid-off employees’ administrative leave.
Hollister SEIU President Frank Garcia, who works in the city’s stormwater division, said at the Oct. 21meeting that city officials have acknowledged errors in City Hall financial reporting that may have influenced the recent layoff notices.
“Your employees should not bear the pressure of that (Nov. 13 layoff) deadline while the city sorts out its errors,” Garcia said. “Please rescind the layoff notices. Give us a fair opportunity to reach an agreement based on accurate financial information.”
