Antioch Council moves forward on hiring search firm for city manager position
During special Closed Session meeting last Friday, less than two weeks before the election
“…the selection of the City Manager should be made by the new council members after the election.” – Councilman Louie Rocha
By Allen D. Payton
During the report out from the Closed Session at the end of the Antioch City Council’s special meeting on Friday, Oct. 23, 2026, Acting City Manager Ana Cortez said, “Today, City Council met on the item entitled, ‘Public Employee Appointment: Position Interim City Manager…the Council took no reportable action.”
However, the agenda for tomorrow night’s Oct. 27th Council meeting, under Item 19.3 entitled, Discussion of Recruitment Strategy and Plan for Council Identified Key Positions and Citywide Recruitment and Staffing Status Update, it shows under City Manager, the Status is Active Recruitment and the Plan is, “Council provided direction to post the RFQ (Request for Quote), which closes on 10/30/2026, Firm to be selected week of 11/9/2026, Position to be posted early January and Acting City Manager/firm to work with Council on the timeline for interviews prior to position closing.”
That means the city council decided to move forward with choosing a search firm for the hiring of the city manager with the deadline for the firms to submit their proposals by this Friday, just four days before the election. Plus, the current council will choose the firm before whichever candidates get elected and are seated in December. But the position of city manager will not be posted until January, so the new council members will be involved in the vote to hire one.
When contacted about waiting until after the election and the candidates who are elected are seated in December, District 2 Councilman Louie Rocha responded, “I agree that the selection of the City Manager should be made by the new council members after the election. However, when it comes to selecting an Interim City Manager to fill the gap until we are able to search for a permanent CM, we need to take action sooner than later.”
During Tuesday’s meeting Council will also discuss 44 other vacant City positions.
Questions for City Staff
Both Cortez and City Attorney Lori Asuncion were asked why the Council’s direction to Cortez wasn’t reported out and kept secret until the agenda was released early Saturday morning. They were also asked to clarify the aforementioned description regarding the city manager recruitment included in Tuesday’s meeting agenda.
In response Asuncion wrote, “At the October 7, 2026, special council meeting, there were two reports made regarding the Interim and Permanent City Manager positions:
- For the Interim, Council gave general direction that Ms. Cortez would remain Acting (no change) while the Council completes the process of selecting an Interim City Manager, authorized Ms. Cortez to negotiate an employment agreement with a candidate when selected, and that the appointment and agreement for an Interim City Manager would come to the council in open session at a regular city council meeting for consideration.
- For the Permanent, Council gave general direction for staff to move forward with a Request for Proposal process for the Permanent City Manager recruitment.
“For clarity, the Brown Act does not require a report out every time the Council meets in closed session. It requires a report of action taken in closed session for specified items (e.g., final action related to real property, litigation, appointment, dismissal, acceptance of resignation, etc.). Here in Antioch, the Council often opts for more transparency beyond what the law requires by reporting out general direction, where appropriate.
“I will of course defer to Acting CM Cortez regarding the specifics of the RFQ process that was used and the timeline for the permanent city manager, but it is my understanding that the RFQ was circulated for 2 weeks ending October 30, 2026, consistent with the October 7, 2026, direction. It is also my understanding, consistent with the report out on October 7, 2026, that the selection of an Interim City Manager and the selection of a Permanent City Manager are separate processes.”
Asuncion was then asked how and why would giving direction on hiring a search firm to fill a position even be a matter for Closed Session and shouldn’t that have been brought back to open session for discussion and direction. But she did not respond nor did Cortez, prior to publication time.
Please check back later for any updates to this report.
