Anaheim’s city manager has been pushed out of office with little explanation as to why. Paul Emery resigned Tuesday at the request of the city council following a 4-3 vote, with Mayor Tom Tait and Councilmembers Jose Moreno, Denise Barnes and James Vanderbilt voting in favor. City Clerk Linda Andal has already been appointed to the interim position.
Emery and Tait never did appear to get along. The two had butted heads extensively over actions affecting the city’s business community even prior to Emery’s hiring. Tait opposed his appointment to the city manager position in 2015. Both Tait and Vaderbilt voted against his employment agreement as well, taking issue with some of the contract terms.
A March decision to reduce the city manager’s contract signing authority may have also been writing on the wall. On March 7, the Anaheim City Council voted to limit the amount of contracts that the city manager can sign without council approval from $100,000 to $50,000. That vote was also 4-3, falling along the same lines as Tuesday’s vote. But it was the third time the council had altered a city manager’s signing authority since 2010.
Read more about Emery’s abrupt departure here.