San Juan Bautista City Council members fired City Manager Jan
McClintock on Monday in a unanimous decision, Mayor George Dias
confirmed today.
McClintock had served as city manager since February 2006.
San Juan Bautista City Council members fired City Manager Jan McClintock on Monday in a unanimous decision, Mayor George Dias has confirmed.
McClintock had served as city manager since February 2006. Her annual salary was $75,000.
Dias declined to give a reason for McClintock’s termination or what qualities he would seek when council members hire her replacement, citing his reluctance to divulge “personnel issues.”
Dias said it was “business as usual” around the San Juan City Hall office after her departure and that he hopes the council can hire a temporary replacement “soon.”
McClintock’s firing comes during a troubling time for the Mission City, where the economy has fell flat due to declining tourism and sales tax revenues. This past year, city officials under McClintock’s guidance failed to get a sales tax increase approved by voters and lost a $3.5 million federal grant that had been pegged to fund the town’s much-needed, new water system.
Former San Juan city council member Chuck Geiger said he thinks McClintock is being made a “scapegoat” by the council who had to make “heads roll” when the EDA grant was axed.
“The city manager works only at the pleasure of the council,” Geiger said. “Perhaps it’s time for the elected officials who lost the grant to resign. The real losers of all of this mess are the people of San Juan. I want to know, ‘Who’s running the city right now?'”
In a letter from the EDA sent eight months ago, in which the group explained the reason for terminating the grant, EDA Seattle Regional Director A. Leonard Smith said that during an audit by the U.S. Department of Commerce Inspector General, the city did not provide adequate information regarding its ability to use the grant wisely.
