Antioch Council to discuss firing city manager, sale of lumber company lot, Tuesday
Lease of Humphrey’s, sale of city owned properties also on closed session agenda
By Allen Payton
During an afternoon closed session before their regular meeting, next Tuesday, March 14, the Antioch City Council will hold an employee performance evaluation of City Manager Steve Duran and then a vote for the dismissal of a public employee. That follows a discussion on the recruitment of a new city manager. The public employee dismissal is presumed to be related to the city manager.
Regarding the agenda items, Duran said, “The Mayor put these items on the Agenda…Sean has hired outside counsel. Things could get interesting.”
When reached for comment, Wright merely said “I have no comment, at this time, as it’s a personnel matter.”
The three items on the closed session agenda pertaining to the city manager are as follows:
5) PUBLIC EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE EVALUATION: City Manager. This closed session is authorized pursuant to Government Code section 54957.
6) PUBLIC EMPLOYEE APPOINTMENT: Recruitment of City Manager. This closed session is authorized pursuant to Government Code section 54957.
7) PUBLIC EMPLOYEE DISMISSAL. This closed session is authorized pursuant to Government Code section 54957.
View the complete council meeting agenda, here.
In a press release he sent out at 9:17 p.m. on Election Night in November, just minutes after the initial results were made public, Duran announced a tentative date for his retirement for this August 15. Those election results showed Monica Wilson and Lamar Thorpe winning election for the two council seats and Sean Wright closely trailing then-Mayor Wade Harper. (See related article, here.)
However, Duran said his announcement was unrelated to the election and that it was “not an official 45 day notice of contract termination as required under my contract.” He had planned to “set a firm retirement date and provide official notice as required” under the contract, sometime in the months following his announcement.
This follows the announcement on Wednesday by Antioch Police Chief Allan Cantando of his retirement from his position, effective the first week of April.
Should the council vote to terminate Duran’s contract, then a new city manager would hire the new police chief, instead of Duran. The council hires the city manager and city attorney, and the city manager hires each of the department heads, including the police chief.
Humphrey’s, Sale of City Owned Land
Also on the closed session agenda is the lease of the former Humphrey’s Restaurant building to Everett & Jones for another one of their barbeque restaurants.
The council will also discuss the sale or purchase, with Moses Libitzky and a partner with the last name of Orton, of the empty lot at the corner of West Second and L Streets, and an industrial property across from the Antioch Police Facility at the end of West Second Street. Those two are listed as APN’s 066110009 and 066101001.
Finally, the council will have discussions with City Ventures on 12 city-owned properties, including the old Antioch Lumber Company lot, known as the Yard. Those are listed as Assessor’s Parcel Numbers (APN) 066010020; 066055001; 066041004; 066051012; 066092001; 066107010; 066107011; 066107001; 066061010; 066051001; 066051002; and 066101001. The last one is the same parcel which the council will be discussing purchasing from Libitzky and Orton, during the same closed session under Agenda Item 1.
See the location for each of the parcels on the County Assessor’s website, below and here. 03/10/17 3:45 PM UPDATE: The parcel number listed as 066610010 on the agenda is incorrect. A portion of the number was transposed. The correct APN is 066061010 and has been updated, above and the map included, below. Questions were emailed to Duran on Saturday, March 11th asking if the remainder of the gravel lot next to that parcel is also owned by the city and one of the parcels being offered for sale. 03/12/17 7:18 AM UPDATE: Duran responded “Yes. The administrative error on the APN will be announced on Tuesday at CC mtg (the City Council meeting).” The parcel number for that property is 066061009 and the map has been included, below.
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Awesome news and read about first here at the Herald!
I’m feeling pretty good about voting for Sean. Finally some action. Still more work to do or rather undo Harpers mistakes.
Hope they get rid of him. The greedy leech threatening to sue for his quarter mil severance + benefits if they do go ahead and fire him. Unfortunately there may not be enough votes to get rid of him.