One overlooked moment from the campaign trail occurred during the Kol Ami Candidate Forum.
After a question directed to me about City Hall management, I suggested that it might be time to begin the search for a new city manager. David Wilson, the current city manager, has two years remaining in his contract.
Following my statement, during the question-and-answer period, all the candidates were asked if they would vote to begin the search for a new city manager. Every candidate in attendance said “yes.” Present were Jordan Cockeram, Dorian Jackson, Danny Hang, George Nickle, John Erickson and.West Segmiller and myself. Stephanie LeHart did not attend the forum, and Rachel Schmeidler had dropped out of the race prior to the event.
David Wilson became the city manager in 2021 following the resignation and retirement of former city manager Paul Arevalo. At that time, City Council voted to appoint Wilson to the position without conducting an external search.
Since David Wilson has refused to acknowledge the mistake made by appointing incompetent personnel (Laura B., Danny Rivas, Janet Jimenez, and Steve Campbell) as directors, he proved he cannot be trusted. David Wilson lacks transparency and the first step in restoring trust to the community and staff is by firing him. He demonstrated lack of care to numerous concerns of nepotism, favoritism, bullying, harassment, retaliation, backdoor dealings, etc. and went as far as to avoid informing the then WEHO MAYOR of lobbyists being part of WeHo hiring panel. The man cannot be trusted and he needs to resign or be… Read more »
There needs to be a national search for a new City Manager. That search should be spearheaded by a committee that includes interested stakeholders: the business community and residents. The last process was performative and rather exploitive of the candidates and totally unprofessional. I would hope a Council sub-committee headed by our most senior Council members could co-chair a search committee. The current City Manager is not respected by the Council members who installed him; we need to have a City Manager whose professional opinion will be appreciated and heeded.
This was a telling moment during the debate that definitely was overlooked. Whichever challenger makes it past the finish line ought to enter office with a mandate to clean house, at last.