The Sacramento City Council huddled behind closed doors Tuesday to discuss the contract it intends to offer its next city manager, even as Mayor Kevin Johnson continued to criticize the search process for City Hall's top executive and a watchdog group raised concerns over the leading candidate's past.

John Shirey, head of the California Redevelopment Association, is expected to be named the city's top executive as early as Thursday.

The mayor and council members would not say what salary they intend to offer Shirey, who has been executive director of the redevelopment association for nine years and is the former city manager of Cincinnati.

Bill Edgar, the city's interim city manager and its chief negotiator with Shirey, said he could not release the terms of the city's offer.

Shirey also would not discuss his salary when contacted by The Bee. His compensation package will not be released until both sides have agreed on the terms.

Just hours before the City Council went into closed session to discuss Shirey's pay package, a watchdog group sent a report to the mayor and council asking that the decision to hire him be delayed.

The report, by Eye on Sacramento, a local citizens group, cited media accounts from Cincinnati, where Shirey was city manager for eight years until resigning in 2001. The newspaper articles said Shirey resigned to avoid being fired by a divided City Council.

A Cincinnati Enquirer article on Shirey's resignation stated he had "been a lightning rod for council criticism throughout his tenure and has survived several firing attempts in the past." A councilman had moved for a vote to fire Shirey in the wake of riots touched off by a police shooting of an unarmed black man.

Other media reports cited by Eye on Sacramento detailed Shirey's sometimes tense relationship with some public safety, business and community groups.

Shirey called the report "wildly distorted and very unfair," noting that it relied upon media reports, not independent research.

In an interview with The Bee, Shirey said "you can't be in a job where you have to make tough choices and not cause people to take exception."

Shirey acknowledged his relationship with members of the Cincinnati City Council was at times fractious.

"There was never a time in the eight years I was city manager when the council got along with themselves," he said. "It would have been impossible for the manager to get along with all the members of the council all of the time, since they were continually divided among themselves. And there certainly were times when I became the target."

As for his resignation, Shirey said, "I felt that after eight years and a lot of contention around (the police shooting and subsequent riots), it was time for me to go."

"I just felt somebody was going to have to take the fall for the unrest and it was likely going to be me," he said. "I just felt that I had used up my capital and done what I could do, and it was time for me to move on."

Shirey is slated to become Sacramento's fourth city manager in 18 months.

Edgar, a former Sacramento city manager, has held the job on an interim, part-time basis since April. Prior to that, Gus Vina served as interim city manager for 13 months.

Vina resigned in March after the City Council, in a 5-4 vote, opted to conduct a national search for a permanent city manager instead of offering him the job. He is now the city manager in Encinitas.

Vina had replaced Ray Kerridge, who resigned in February 2010 amid unrest on the City Council. Kerridge is now the city manager in Roseville.

Earlier Tuesday, Johnson criticized the national search for the city manager post, lamenting that Sacramento attracted 30 applicants, while Davis recently chose its city manager out of a field of more than 80.

"People on the outside look at Sacramento and I think people feel it's dysfunctional," the mayor said.

Johnson added that the pool of applicants was made up of "good, steady hands that are good managers, they've been bureaucrats and that's fine."

Johnson said Shirey is "solid and has had a career where he's had a lot of accomplishments." Still, he added, the city is "worthy of having tons of candidates at the highest levels, and that did not take place."

Johnson said he has not focused on Shirey's public stand against granting city mayors more authority. The mayor is expected next year to resurrect his campaign to transform Sacramento into a "strong mayor" form of government.

For his part, Shirey said he had not yet met with Johnson, but added, "I'm going to do everything I can to work with him and all the members of the council and make them successful."

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