The San Bernardino City Council has settled a complaint with Steve Carrigan – the city’s one time top choice for city manager – who claimed the city interfered with his former employer, costing him his job.
City officials announced the council voted 5-1 – with Councilmember Sandra Ibarra dissenting and Councilmember Kimberly Calvin absent – to approve the $800,000 settlement after closed session at an Aug. 7 meeting.
Carrigan, the former city manager for Salinas, filed a complaint in November 2023 alleging that Salinas fired him after San Bernardino intentionally interfered with his job there.
The complaint claimed San Bernardino extended him an offer at its Sept. 6, 2023, meeting to replace its former city manager who resigned earlier that year.
He sought $2.2 million in damages — including $731,250 that he would have earned during the remainder of his contract in Salinas, $500,000 for damages to his reputation and $1 million from loss of future employment opportunities.
Carrigan could not be reached for comment. His attorneys at Executive Law Group did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
City spokesperson Jeff Kraus, City Attorney Sonia Carvalho, and Ibarra did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The council in its 2023 meetings kept Carrigan’s name private at the meeting – which is permitted under the state’s open meetings law, the Ralph M. Brown Act – but the information was allegedly leaked to Salinas officials, according to the complaint.
Though Carrigan wrote to Salinas officials that he intended to stay in his position instead of taking San Bernardino’s offer, as reported by the Monterey County Weekly newspaper, the Salinas City Council fired Carrigan on Oct. 3.
“The city (of San Bernardino), without (legal) privilege or justification, intentionally interfered with the existing employment agreement between Carrigan and the City of Salinas,” Carrigan’s claim stated. “That interference resulted in the City of Salinas terminating Carrigan’s employment agreement.”
The claim also alleges that San Bernardino has a pattern of interference with prospective candidates’ current employment.
Another San Bernardino city manager candidate withdrew from the process in fall 2023 after the information was leaked to the candidate’s employer, according to the claim.
“Council members leak the candidacy of those who are disfavored to the city council where the candidate then works,” the claim said. “The wrongful intent and purpose of the city in this effort is to undermine a candidate’s current employment, so that the disfavored candidate becomes insecure and withdraws his candidacy.”
Carrigan’s claim also alleged the city didn’t hire him because of his race, which violates the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
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“After Carrigan’s possible appointment as city manager of San Bernardino was considered in a closed session of the San Bernardino City Council, (the recruiter) informed Carrigan that three of the council members wanted a different candidate,” according to the claim. “Pressed for information, (the recruiter) told Carrigan ‘this is about race.’ Carrigan is White. Two of the three council members who did not vote to extend an employment offer to Carrigan are African American and they wanted the other candidate, who is African American.”
The city ultimately hired Charles Montoya, who previously worked as the city manager of Avondale, Arizona.
Staff writer Beau Yarbrough contributed to this report.
