Soon after new Sacramento mayor, council are sworn in, they’ll face critical decision
Moments after Kevin McCarty is sworn in as Sacramento’s mayor, and Phil Pluckebaum and Roger Dickinson are sworn in as council members, they will need to decide whether to keep City Manager Howard Chan in his post.
Chan, who is eligible to work without a contract, requested the City Council extend his contract to Dec. 31, 2025, former Mayor Darrell Steinberg has said. The council in October voted 7-2 to punt that decision to Tuesday for the new mayor and council to decide. Chan’s existing contract expires Dec. 31.
Councilmember Lisa Kaplan said she wants to vote Tuesday to extend the contract a year.
“I’m in favor of extending his contract for one year because the city needs stability as we get through the next year budget deficit,” said Kaplan, referencing the projected $77 million deficit for the fiscal year that starts July 1. “By the time the budget is passed, this new mayor and council will know whether we should continue to extend the city manager’s contact or go out and find his successor, thus giving the city appropriate time to do a national search.”
The city was able to avoid layoffs or serious cuts when it approved its current budget, but that may not be possible with the next one.
Pluckebaum said he is prepared to vote at his first meeting. He did not respond to a question of whether he supports a year-long contract extension. Chan attended his Election Night party in March.
During an October debate, Mayor-elect Kevin McCarty said he supports keeping Chan on for another year.
McCarty, a former councilmember who worked with Chan when he was an assistant city manager, said he wanted to keep Chan as city manager through Dec. 31, 2025.
“We need stability at City Hall,” McCarty said during the debate. “I support having the city manager stick around one more year ... I have worked with Howard Chan before the in past when I was a councilmember. He’s a fine public servant. I can work with him in the first year. I think it’s important we have continuity in the early days.”
The rest of the council members did not immediately respond to requests for comment for this story.
McCarty would not support a raise for Chan, however, he said during the debate.
Chan’s salary has been the subject of criticism. He earned $593,240 in total wages last year — more than Gov. Gavin Newsom and any other city manager in the state.
The contract extension does not include a salary raise, though other aspects of compensation are affected.
The council last year awarded Chan a raise, then rescinded it in January after The Bee reported the council had violated the Brown Act, the state’s transparency law.
In October, the City Council removed a clause from Chan’s contract that says if he is going to quit, he has to give a 60-day notice or he loses the ability to effectively stay on city payroll for the next year.
Steinberg, in October, said the council will be able to delay the contract discussion until Dec. 17, adding a new meeting to the calendar, so they don’t have to vote on it during the celebratory swearing in meeting. Kaplan said Monday she does not believe the city charter allows the council to call a meeting Tuesday.
Councilmember Mai Vang was the only current member who voted in October against placing the item on the Dec. 10 agenda.
Whether to keep Chan in his post was a point of disagreement between McCarty and his mayoral opponent Flojaune Cofer, who wanted to let Chan quit, as he told her he would do if the contract isn’t extended before the end of the year, she said.
The leaders of the Downtown Sacramento Partnership, Midtown Association and Visit Sacramento spoke ahead of the contract extension vote praising Chan and urging members to extend it. Those groups also sent a letter to council members, along with the leaders of the city police officers and firefighters unions urging the extension.
Chan has been a city employee for more than 20 years and has been city manager since 2016, the entirety of Steinberg’s term.
The council meeting will take place at 5 p.m. Tuesday. Members of the public can attend in person at City Hall, 915 I St., or watch it online.
This story was originally published December 9, 2024 at 1:33 PM.
