O.C. city manager fired ‘without cause,’ leaving questions about a divide on the city council
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Good morning. It’s Wednesday, May 14. I’m Carol Cormaci, bringing you this week’s TimesOC newsletter with a look at some of the latest local news and events from around the county.
Great city managers — and I’ve met a few in my career — have well-honed leadership skills that help unify their city hall departments tasked with meeting the needs of the community they serve. City managers set the tone for interactions with the public by all city employees and ensure their teams follow the policies set forth by the city councils who hired them. These public servants face tremendous daily pressures and, in my experience, the best of them handle their loads with utmost integrity and grace.
I can count on one hand the number of city managers Times Community News has covered over the years who didn’t rise to the occasion and, in turn, make their city councils look good to the public. So I was as surprised as anyone to read last week the Daily Pilot story by my colleague Sara Cardine detailing the unexpected termination of Costa Mesa City Manager Lori Ann Farrell Harrison.
Farrell Harrison first stepped into the top post at Costa Mesa City Hall in 2019, according to the story. But six years later, for some reason that’s not being made public (although we are told the firing was “without cause”), she’s been ushered out the door on a curiously split vote of the City Council.
She will likely land softly from this bump in her career path, as she entitled to severance pay, according to the terms of her employment contract, which stipulated that if the city were to terminate Farrell Harrison without cause, she would be entitled to six months’ base salary and the payout of any unused, accrued vacation leave, payable as one lump sum. Her base salary at the time of the termination, according to city records, stands at $330,216, meaning the severance would amount to at least around $165,108, in addition to the value of any unused vacation days, Cardine reported.
What’s most interesting about the story is how divided the seven-member council she served was over this decision. The announcement of Farrell Harrison’s termination came immediately following a closed-session meeting that was a personnel review for the erstwhile city manager.
According to the story, the motion to fire Farrell Harrison during that closed meeting came from Councilmember Loren Gameros, was seconded by Councilmember Mike Buley and supported by Mayor Pro Tem Manuel Chavez and Councimember Jeff Pettis. Council members Arlis Reynolds and Andrea Marr opposed Gameros’ motion, while Mayor John Stephens abstained, the city attorney reported.
Reynolds, described in the story as “speaking through tears,” lauded the work Farrell Harrison has done for the city.
“The team that she has built, the culture she’s supported and fostered, the staff that she’s recruited to the city and her personal interactions have made residents of Costa Mesa feel welcome in Costa Mesa,” Reynolds said. “While I’m certainly [having] a crisis of confidence in this City Council, I have full confidence in the staff here, full faith in the staff that we have, and I thank you all for your service.”
Marr too expressed her concern, equally ominously, over what lies ahead for the city.
“[Marr] issued a prophetic warning to residents, seeming to reference earlier periods of turmoil and upheaval in Costa Mesa’s political past,” Cardine writes.
“We have seen this movie before, and it did not end well,” Marr is quoted as saying. “I am extremely concerned that instead of getting some of our priorities across the finish line, we are now going to spend the next 18 months mired in self-imposed chaos.”
Marr reminded the public attending the meeting that city council members often work full-time jobs in addition to their jobs on the governing panel, “and must rely on the professionalism and competence of staff to do the work of running a city — a task she said Farrell Harrison handled with aplomb,” according to the story.
It’s hard to say how Farrell Harrison might have felt about another rather glowing endorsement of her work in City Hall by one of the very people who voted to terminate her, the mayor pro tem.
“Thanks to her work, we have a really healthy budget surplus of $60 million, we’ve seen more community outreach to marginalized communities and staff morale has been at a real high,” Chavez said. “For that, I’ll say thank you, Lori Ann, for your service,” he said.
MORE NEWS
• How hot was it last weekend in Orange County? It was scorching enough that at least 15 people in O.C. were rescued for heated distress, including 11 who were on a Newport Coast trail, according to a spokesperson with the Orange County Fire Authority.
• The Fullerton City Council last week on a split vote approved bestowing historical landmark status on a 1917 Craftsman bungalow on Hillcrest Drive that was once the home of Louis E. Plummer. Plummer was a longtime superintendent of Fullerton High School and Fullerton College. Giving pause to two members of the council, Mayor Pro Tem Shana Charles and Ahmad Zahra, is the belief the educator belonged to the Ku Klux Klan in Orange County during the 1920s. Charles and Zahra preferred the city designate the house without the Plummer name on a plaque to be installed there, but they were overruled by their council colleagues Mayor Fred Jung and Councilmembers Jaime Valencia and Nicholas Dunlap.
• The Irvine Company recently received the blessing of the Newport Beach City Council to construct 1,500 out of a planned 2,349 new residential units in the Newport Center area on the promise they develop a project with at least 105 units of affordable housing. In exchange, according to the Daily Pilot report on the city’s decision, the company will be responsible for street and landscaping improvements. It will also pay the city a projected $53 million to help fund parks, public safety and public works.
PUBLIC SAFETY & CRIME
• Sara Jacqueline King, 40, a suspended Newport Beach attorney, was sentenced last week to 21 months in federal prison for stealing $8.7 million in a loan fraud scheme. U.S. District Judge David O. Carter ordered King to pay $8,785,045 in restitution. King pleaded guilty to the charges on July 24, 2023, .
• The Newport Beach Police Department last Wednesday released footage of the fatal shooting of an unarmed motorcyclist who was seen running a red light on Pacific Coast Highway, then assaulting an officer last month. The dead man, Geoffrey Shyam Stirling, was later identified as the brother of Lydia McLaughlin, a former Real Housewives of Orange County cast member. A few days ago, it was announced McLaughlin and her family intend to sue the NBPD in connection with the case.
• Officials last Wednesday released the name of a 16-year-old driver killed in a crash in Dana Point the day before that left several other teens injured. The victim was identified as Rebecca Cespedes of Dana Point, according to Sgt. Gerard McCann of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. Like the four teens riding in her vehicle, she was a student at Dana Hills High. She was behind the wheel of a pickup truck that slammed into a tree shortly before noon May 6 on Dana Point Harbor Drive near Island Way, McCann said.
• An Orange County man, Zeta “Jimmy” Dhanapanth, was convicted last week of molesting two boys he tutored in Anaheim. Dhanapanth, 53, who acted as his own attorney and referred to himself in the third person throughout the proceedings, faces a sentence of up to 225 years to life.
SPORTS
• Ending their play at 12 under par, the team from hosts Big Canyon Country Club captured their 12th Jones Cup tournament victory last Thursday. The Jones Cup is an annual competition between the country clubs of Big Canyon, Mesa Verde, Newport Beach, Santa Ana and Shady Canyon. Mesa Verde came in second this year.
• Several Orange County high school athletes made it through the state diving qualifiers last week and will be competing tomorrow through Saturday in the CIF Swimming & Diving Championships held at Clovis West High School.
• Top seeded men’s beach volleyball players Andy Benesh and Miles Partain captured their second title in Huntington Beach and the top-seeded women, Taryn Brasher and Kristen Nuss, also prevailed at the AVP Huntington Beach Open held Sunday on the north side of the Huntington Beach Pier.
LIFE & LEISURE
• Members of the nonprofit Share Ourselves joined with local dignitaries and city officials Saturday to celebrate the opening of a new Costa Mesa healthcare clinic on Adams Avenue with a community health fair and ribbon-cutting ceremony.
• An open survey published last Wednesday by the California State Parks Foundation pegged Crystal Cove in Newport Beach as the best beach in the state. It got the nod for its diverse set of habitats like tide pools and underwater kelp forests, as well as a variety of attractions like hiking trails, a historic district with 1930s-era cottages for overnight stays and more.
CALENDAR THIS
• Best-selling author Victor Villaseñor will be in O.C. Saturday, May 24, for a special reading and book-signing event to publicize his latest work, “Gathering StarDust,” at LibroMobile, 1150 S. Bristol St., #A3, in Santa Ana. For details visit libromobile.com. Villansenor’s appearance will take place from 1 to 3 p.m. In a recent interview at his Oceanside ranch with my colleague Sarah Mosqueda, Viilaseñor said he hopes his book helps readers find joy in even life’s most challenging times
• History buffs, nature lovers and Shakespeare fans can all find a little something to explore this Saturday, May 17, at the Spring Open House at Arden: Helena Modjeska Historic House and Gardens in Silverado. The event takes place in three scheduled time slots (10 a.m. to noon, noon to 2 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.) that visitors can sign up to for free. The Orange Town Revival will perform live music, docents will lead tours of the home and grounds, and the Modjeska Shakespeare Players will also perform.
• More than 90 local artists are expected to participate in the 30th Annual Balboa Island Artwalk on the South Bayfront Promenade from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. this Sunday, May 18. Shop for original paintings, sculpture, photography, ceramics, jewelry and more. Local bands will perform throughout the day. Admission is free.
• The 21st annual Rossmoor Woman’s Club Spring Outdoor Living and Garden Tour will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, May 18. Six to seven gardens and yards will be featured; the amenities include popular design trends with potted plants, pools, bars and outdoor kitchens. Tickets for this community fundraiser are $20 and available for purchase online at rossmoorwomansclub.org, or on the day of the event in the Arbor Village, 10651 Los Alamitos Blvd., Los Alamitos.
KEEP IN TOUCH
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