Chan asked Sacramento’s City Council for one sweetener too many and got shown the door | Opinion

In the end, embattled Sacramento City Manager Howard Chan asked for one too many favors from his City Council. By seeking a one-year extension of a contract that has made him California’s highest-paid city manager, he was actually putting the city on the hook for two years of additional pay.

For six of the council’s nine members, including newly-elected Mayor Kevin McCarty, that math simply did not add up to a prudent move. They anticipated that saying “No,” which they resoundingly did Tuesday night, would likely lead to Chan’s imminent departure.

Chan did not utter a word during a meeting that lasted more than two-and-a-half hours.

Chan had held outsized influence at Sacramento City Hall, considering he was not elected by a single voter. At times, he dominated the previous mayor and council, as he held the strongest connections to business and public employee labor. But it all fell apart during the last year as his endless pursuit of greater compensation, which sometimes included breaking open meeting laws, resulted in Chan finally wearing out his welcome.

“I think I’ve had conversations about the city manager contract at least 10 times a week,” said Councilmember Karina Talamantes. “We’re caught up in this drama with our city manager. I’m just tired. I think it’s time to move on.”

It was time. City Hall had become toxic among factions of Democrats who were sometimes at odds, depending on whether they were friends or foes of the city manager. This was unhealthy for the City Council, for Sacramento and the region at large.

Voting to reject a longer contract were Talamantes, McCarty and council members Eric Guerra, Roger Dickinson, Caity Maple and Mai Vang.

Council members Lisa Kaplan, Rick Jennings and Phil Pluckebaum supported a motion for a year’s extension.

Whether the future is one of healing or widening divisions, it is now largely in the hands of McCarty and state Sen. Angelique Ashby, the de facto leaders of Sacramento’s government who are often at odds. May they choose wisely.

A case study in greed

Chan became a case study in greed as the City Council abdicated its responsibility to set performance standards and enact clear policies, neither of which exist at City Hall.

When the council granted Chan a ridiculous 64 extra weeks of leave in 2022 in two separate actions, elected officials created a governance problem without a solution until Tuesday. Chan wouldn’t stop pushing, so the people who were actually elected by the voters chose to move on.

In 2023, Chan sought an additional six weeks of leave on top of the near-six weeks of leave and holidays he already gets as a veteran city employee. But by placing it on a December council agenda as a special meeting with scant notice, he broke the law. And when the City Council revisited the matter last January, it did not have the stomach to grant Chan a raise or allow him to retain the authority to put his own salary increase on a council agenda.

Since then, Chan has tried everything to get his way. The council held numerous closed sessions to discuss Chan’s “performance.” Meanwhile, Chan repeatedly defied the council, skipping his annual report in public, failing to complete diversity training and underhandedly rewriting the council’s approach to racial equity.

Back in 2021, then-Mayor Darrell Steinberg already had his successor in mind when Chan’s contract was amended (along with a raise) so that it would expire at the end of this year — the former mayor’s gift of a clean slate. Mind you, it was Steinberg who had previously elevated the long-time city employee to the top city management position back in 2017.

The business community wanted Chan to stay on and clearly trusted him more than elected council members. Because of that external pressure and Steinberg’s feeling (rightly or wrongly) that he could get more done with Chan than without him, the council caved to Chan’s insistence that he stay on. This morass of questions about Chan’s contract was deferred to the new City Council.

Chan’s contract just too sweet

But the contract, thanks to a provision added in 2019, had one too many sweeteners for the new council to bear. A year’s extension would not only commit the council to another year’s base pay in excess of $400,000, it also would guarantee Chan an additional year’s salary at the highest assistant city manager level should Chan decide to quit.

That, Maple said Tuesday night, is “almost a million dollars for the city,” an accurate figure when all the non-salary benefits. are included. “This is also a financial decision for the city.”

The meeting ended as if it were some hastily-arranged farewell for Chan, with allies such as Police Chief Kathy Lester and Ashby hanging around after McCarty banged the gavel for one last photo op in the council chambers.

“This is not the graceful landing you deserved,” Kaplan said.

But grace was never this city manager’s priority. He wanted more, again and again and again.

Chan forced the question, and now he’s got his answer. Sacramento is better off for it.

This story was originally published December 18, 2024 at 5:00 AM.