Letter: Is The Selection Of Laguna Beach’s Next City Manager Rigged?

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You decide. Consider this. The selection of Laguna Beach’s next city manager is determined by the five city councilmembers. Three of those members—a voting majority—had their political campaigns partially funded by Liberate Laguna, the pro-development, pro-growth, pro-commerce, pro-tourist political action committee which spent around $250,000 to back its chosen candidates in the last two elections.

One of these elected candidates was councilmember Peter Blake, who verbally assaults residents at City Council meetings. One of his first actions upon being elected was to push for a 5% over two years raise for city manager John Pietig and champion a 10% raise for assistant city manager Shohreh Dupuis. Some might construe this as buying influence.

Dupuis is campaigning for the next city manager position. The question has been asked if there are any restraints against her pressuring those who might ultimately work under her to endorse her appointment. Pietig, a 20-year city insider, has apparently been promoting Dupuis to replace him after he retires in June. But is she really the best choice for residents – given what looks to be her connections with the pro-development contingent? A close scrutiny of her record should show that many—if not most—of the plans she’s presented lack resident input and are development- and business-oriented instead of resident-focused.

Rather than just handing the position over to Dupuis, as some insiders wanted, residents called for—and not gotten—a city employee survey to assess performance and align the skills that will be needed. The public also called for an open search for other candidates who might be stronger in experience, finance and credentialing—and without any partisan baggage that ignores residents’ interests. A search firm was contracted and candidates are being vetted by the City Council behind closed doors. There is speculation about whether councilmembers are truly open-minded about vetting.

As part of the review process, the search firm called for resident input. Concerned residents spoke at three Zoom meetings and wrote letters and emails to the firm. Their recorded calls were buried deep on the city’s website. The calls, written emails and letters were never summarized nor distributed to the City Council or posted on the City’s website. So how does the public know if any of this resident response was even considered by the City Council?

Is the City Council’s search just kabuki theater, designed to appease the public, then do whatever its pro-growth plans desire?

I urge Laguna residents to email, write or call their councilmembers immediately (time is of the essence) and demand that a committee of unbiased residents be allowed to review all candidates’ applications (submitted without names or current city locations for the candidates’ security) so that the community can be assured that the process has been fair and not fixed and that all will be well served by the next city manager––not just business interests.

Jerome Pudwill, Laguna Beach

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  1. “Three of those members—a voting majority—had their political campaigns partially funded by Liberate Laguna, the pro-development, pro-growth, pro-commerce, pro-tourist political action committee which spent around $250,000 to back its chosen candidates in the last two elections. One of these elected candidates was councilmember Peter Blake, who verbally assaults residents at City Council meetings. One of his first actions upon being elected was to push for a 5% over two years raise for city manager John Pietig and champion a 10% raise for assistant city manager Shohreh Dupuis. Some might construe this as buying influence.”

    Thanks for connecting the dots Mr. Pudwill. IMO – YES.

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