The San Bernardino City Council will take a closer look at the roles of the city attorney, city manager and city clerk.
The council voted 6-1 in closed session, with Councilmember Fred Shorett dissenting, to task Tustin-based consultants Jacob Green & Associates with evaluating City Attorney Sonia Carvalho, Acting City Manager Rochelle Clayton and City Clerk Genoveva Rocha, Mayor Helen Tran announced Wednesday, Dec. 4.
The evaluation will take place during a special meeting scheduled for 2 p.m. Dec. 11.
Prior to going into closed session at the meeting Wednesday, Tran and Shorett had clashed over her announcement that she was bringing in Jacob Green & Associates to advise the council about Carvalho’s job performance.
“Do you have the authority to hire outside council?” Shorett asked. “You’ve gone against a supermajority of five council members who voted (at a previous meeting) not to discuss this in public.”
“I’m not the only one requesting this,” Tran replied, saying that Jacob Green & Associates were already under contract with the city.
The vote Wednesday came three weeks after Tran unsuccessfully tried to fire Carvalho. Carvalho and Rocha have been in their roles since 2020, the first year the city attorney and clerk were appointed, rather than elected, under a revised City Charter.
At the Nov. 20 council meeting, Tran had objected to Carvalho placing her own performance evaluation on the agenda, something Tran said only the mayor, city manager or a council majority could do.
It isn’t clear what issues the mayor or other councilmembers may have with Carvalho or other appointed officials. Much of the discussion about the issue has apparently taken place in closed session, where personnel and legal matters are discussed out of the public eye.
At the Nov. 20 meeting, Tran blamed Carvalho for “instability” at City Hall.
“What is the root? The city attorney’s advice has created instability,” Tran said at that meeting.
Reached by phone Thursday, Councilmember Theodore Sanchez said he believed Tran’s move against Carvalho is retaliatory. He would not go into detail.
Tran and other council members did not respond to requests for comment by early Thursday afternoon.
In recent years, San Bernardino has had difficulty holding onto top officials.
The council fired City Manager Charles Montoya in May after eight months on the job, appointing Clayton as his temporary replacement. Montoya was the city’s seventh city manager in 12 years.
He was hired after a tumultuous nine-month hiring process.
The mayor and council offered the job to Steve Carrigan, the former Salinas city manager, in September. But Carrigan emailed Salinas city staff to say he had withdrawn from the San Bernardino search. In early October, the Salinas City Council fired Carrigan.
Carrigan, who is pursuing legal action against the city, claims San Bernardino officials leaked word of his job offer to the Salinas council, leading to his firing. The San Bernardino council has asked the San Bernardino County district attorney and the civil grand jury to look into Carrigan’s allegations.
Carrigan’s legal claim alleges that another city manager candidate also withdrew from consideration after word got back to that candidate’s employer.
This is the sort of chaos that Jacob Green & Associates say they can help clear up.
“Organizational challenges are our specialty,” the firm’s website reads in part.
More about San Bernardino city government
- San Bernardino transitions to appointed city attorney, clerk
- San Bernardino appoints first city clerk under new charter rules
- San Bernardino hires Berkeley recruiting firm to find next city manager
- Former city manager candidate claims San Bernardino officials cost him his job in Salinas
- San Bernardino council refers city manager candidate’s claims to prosecutors
- In wild meeting, San Bernardino City Council debates firing attorney
