Pasadena Manager Applies in San Diego

City Manager Donald McIntyre, whose dismissal was demanded by hundreds of angry residents last month over a controversial proposed assessment district, is looking for a new job and is one of six candidates who have been interviewed for the city manager’s post in San Diego.

McIntyre, 54, was in San Diego on Thursday interviewing for the position, Pasadena officials said. Attempts to reach him in San Diego were unsuccessful.

Mayor Bill Bogaard said Thursday that McIntyre informed him earlier in the week that he was applying for the job.

“Mr. McIntyre believed that the professional opportunity in San Diego is extremely attractive to him as a city manager,” Bogaard said. “He felt that the challenge of that opportunity was such that he wanted to apply.”

McIntyre, whose yearly salary is $87,111, has been city manager of Pasadena for 12 years. He came under intense criticism last month for presenting an assessment district plan that would have levied yearly fees of up to $96.67 against the owner of an average single-family home to pay for repairs to curbs, gutters, street lights and sidewalks. The Board of City Directors rescinded their vote approving the district after hundreds of angry residents threatened to recall the board and demanded that McIntyre be fired.

Throughout the controversy, McIntyre never publicly reacted to the residents’ demands, nor to a later suggestion by Director Jess Hughston that Pasadena’s city manager position be dropped in favor of a directly elected mayor. The Board of City Directors agreed to study Hughston’s proposal but has yet to act on it.

Bogaard said Thursday that McIntyre’s decision to look for a new job “is really unrelated to the assessment district” controversy.

Interviews for the San Diego position were conducted by Mayor Roger Hedgecock and the City Council at the Naval Ocean Systems Command on Point Loma. The city manager’s post has been vacant since June 27, when Ray Blair resigned because of health problems, an aide to Hedgecock said.

Bogaard said he did not know when McIntyre applied for the position, for which Blair was paid a yearly salary of $91,440. City officials in San Diego said the salary range for the city manager’s job is between $53,592 and $102,348.

The San Diego City Council was scheduled to hold a special meeting on Friday to discuss the six candidates under consideration.