San Leandro City Manager Chris Zapata was expected to be returning to work soon, having been freshly exonerated of improprieties by an independent investigator’s report. But just weeks after a 6-1 vote to reinstate the city’s top administrator, we’ve learned he is out of a job.
Zapata and the city council reached an undisclosed settlement Monday night following a scheduled performance evaluation. Per the agreement, discussed here, Zapata will no longer serve as San Leandro’s city manager.
Speculation about Zapata’s fate had been mounting before last night’s meeting. In addition to the scheduled performance evaluation, there was the peculiar fact that Zapata had not attended any city council meetings since returning to work on June 5.
Zapata was placed on administrative leave in January after the head of a non-profit accused him of propositioning her for a romantic relationship in return for city funding. An independent investigation later exonerated Zapata and raised questions about his accuser’s credibility. But she stood by her accusations.
While the summary of the independent investigation has been released to the public, we have yet to see the full report. The city has said it will be released this month.