Jones Calls Murray Ouster ‘Inhumane’ : But Councilman Skirts Questions on Whether Move Was Racially Motivated

San Diego City Councilman William Jones, the only council member who voted in closed session this week to retain City Manager Sylvester Murray, said Thursday that Murray was treated unfairly and inhumanely and was fired for reasons that remain unclear.

Clearly emotional but still restrained, Jones deflected questions on whether he believed the firing was racially motivated, but said he canceled all of his appointments for the month and stayed out of City Hall on Wednesday because he was “deeply affected” by the fate of Murray.

“It’s a very gut-level issue,” Jones told reporters after he returned to his office Thursday. “It’s not something one can easily intellectualize, or one can easily factualize. I ask any of you why he was terminated, why was he asked to resign? Have you heard a specific reason?

“I just can’t put my finger on why a man of that caliber, a man of that integrity, cannot make it in San Diego.”

George Penn, Murray’s assistant and close friend, said Thursday that he and his boss were surprised by the resignation demand, especially since they thought relations with council members had thawed since the council reprimanded the top administrator in June for his remarks in an interview with The Times. Murray told the newspaper he had an “orgasm” being the boss of police and also remarked on the conservative attitude of the city’s black community.

“Obviously . . . the whole office thought we were making good progress, that we were attacking the problem that council had concerns about, that we were making an impact, that things were turning around, put us on a good footing, a good management footing,” Penn said. “So, it came, to me, as a surprise. It has been for many of the other people. It came as a surprise to him.”

But Penn added that Murray also feels a sense of “relief.”

“I think there’s a relief there,” he said. “Not a relief that ‘Finally this burden is off my back,’ but a relief that probably ‘It’s out in the open.’ It’s nothing to point a finger at, that he mismanaged. It doesn’t affect his career at all.

“He realizes it does not affect his career because there was not a malfeasance, misfeasance or he committed a felony, stole money or misappropriated money or mismanaged. It was a management style.”

Asked if he thought Murray had been treated fairly by the City Council, Penn said Murray has long realized his employment can be terminated “at any council meeting with five votes. . . . In terms of fairness, in terms of the management world, that is the bottom line.”

Murray declined comment Thursday. His departure from City Hall could come as early as Monday, when the City Council will meet to consummate the terms of his severance, a spokesman for Mayor Maureen O’Connor said.

Council members had agreed in closed session Tuesday to let Murray keep his job for three months so he could quietly look for other employment. When he left, he was to have received six months’ pay as severance, said Paul Downey, O’Connor’s spokesman.

News stories, however, spoiled that plan, and Murray handed in his resignation Wednesday. Because the city manager’s post must be vacant before a formal search for a replacement can be conducted, the latest offer asks Murray to clean out his desk sometime next week in exchange for nine months’ pay, or about $76,500, Downey said.

Though Jones--the council’s only black, who represents the predominantly minority 4th District--declined to say whether he believes the move to oust Murray was racially motivated, he said, “It must have the appearance to some because I’ve heard, directly and indirectly, from people that there must be some racial overtones.

“But I think, most importantly, it appears as though this was not the most humane way to treat any employee. And I do not think the treatment was fair. I do not think the treatment extended to a newcomer to San Diego was the kind of treatment that we should, would want to, extend to newcomers to San Diego.”

Jones said the council members who hired Murray more than 13 months ago from Cincinnati knew they were getting a man with a strong personality.

“He’s a strong city manager,” Jones said. “We knew that when we hired him. (He) made it very clear he was a strong city manager. He seemed to have been the toughest one to walk through that door when we interviewed on that day. And we knew.

“People on the council at that time felt that Sy Murray was the man for the job because he was strong, he had the ability to say no, he had the ability to lead several thousand employees, he understands inner-city problems, he understood development issues. All those things were important to the council at the time.

“In 12, 13 short months, he certainly hasn’t had an absence of memory, he certainly hasn’t lost those same resources.”

Referring to the political turmoil in city government, Jones said life at City Hall has been “difficult” for everyone and “certainly for Mr. Murray.”

“The last year alone, he’s served under three mayors--Mayor (Roger) Hedgecock, acting Mayor Ed Struiksma and now Mayor O’Connor. I would imagine it may have been very difficult for him to have basically served under three different city councils.”

Penn also mentioned the change in administrations as a possible source of friction with Murray.

“There has been a change in mayor. There’s been a change in council,” Penn said. “That in any jurisdiction would cause concern. That is, to me, what may have caused it. That to me is legitimate. You change mayors, you change council members and it does have an effect on that body. It has an effect on how they think about things, how they think about the administration.”

Murray’s style, Penn said, was “democratizing the bureaucracy” of city government.

“The public knows that we in the bureaucracy have a lot of decision-making authority to affect their lives,” Penn said. “He or she as a manager should be out there, trying to get a feel for what citizens want, why they are conveying their problems to elected officials, so we can more effectively meet their needs as well as the political needs of the council.”

Penn said Murray also was a person who “read the City Charter and believed it. And he does. ‘If this is the way you want me to go, if this is the way you outlined for me to do, I’m going to do it until you tell me to stop. And when you tell me to stop, I’m going to ask you why you want me to stop.’ ”