City council could appoint acting city manager today
Apr. 30—An acting city manager could be named by the end of the day today.
The Lodi City Council will hold a special closed session meeting at 5 p.m. to consider appointing an individual to take over administrative duties on a temporary basis in the wake of the fallout with City Manager Scott Carney.
The council spent nearly three hours interviewing two candidates in closed session last Tuesday, after which Mayor Cameron Bregman said he was "ecstatic" about both.
Carney was placed on administrative leave April 9, a week after he read a prepared statement during a council meeting alleging that city attorney Katie Lucchessi and city clerk Olivia Nashed edited staff reports without his knowledge or approval.
He claimed the pair redacted parts of his approved reports protect some employees, and that internal reviews of purchasing activity revealed evidence of widespread misuse of public funds and city credit cards to purchase personal items.
He added that there was resistance to his investigation among staff and that there was evidence the city had been failing as a steward of public trust.
Bregman ordered Carney to stop speaking before he could finish his statement during the April 2 meeting.
Bregman later said he stopped Carney from continuing because he began speaking about ongoing personnel investigations and a non-agendized item, which opened the city up to litigation that could cost "millions of taxpayer money."
The Brown Act forbids city staff and elected officials from discussing personnel matters that are not placed on an agenda.
The council appointed Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services director Christina Jaromay acting city manager on April 11, and Bregman said Carney's leave was expected to last 45 days. Bregman added the city would investigate Carney's claims of financial misappropriation while he was on leave.
The council hired Carney last May to replace former city manager Steve Schwabauer, who retired in 2023.
Prior to coming to Lodi, Carney served as the deputy director of administration for the California Department of Health Care Services for three years.
He also served at Stockton City Hall from 2014 to 2020 before taking a sabbatical.
Wednesday's meeting begins at 5 p.m. at Carnegie Forum, 315 W. Pine St. It will also be livestreamed at www.facebook.com/CityofLodi.
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The bill passed through the House of Commons Friday in two votes, after House Speaker Francis Scarpaleggia ruled to split the legislation into two parts. All parties supported a less contentious section to lift federal barriers to trade and labour movement inside Canada. The other, more controversial part dealing with major projects also passed with Liberals and Conservatives voting en masse in favour, and Bloc Québécois, NDP and Green MPs voting against. Toronto Liberal and former cabinet minister MP Nate Erskine-Smith also voted against the national projects part of the legislation . The version of the bill now moving to the Senate came with a suite of amendments, including some that the government supported, aimed at increasing transparency and restricting some of the powers the legislation would create. 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Bloc MP Sébastien Lemire accused the government of reproducing the 'condescending and colonialist spirit' of the last century towards Canada's Indigenous Peoples. And Don Davies, the NDP's interim leader, alleged the bill creates 'Henry VIII' powers that allow the government 'to override laws by decree. 'It guts environmental protections, undermines workers and threatens Indigenous rights,' Davies said. 'This bill will end up in court.'
