City Manager Resigns, City Attorney Fired in Garden Grove Shuffle

Garden Grove Mayor J. Tilman Williams said Wednesday that the firing this week of the city attorney and the resignation of the city manager, both veteran city employees, was a “sad day” but would not change the course the city is pursuing in redevelopment.

Williams, who assumed office less than three months ago after narrowly winning a crowded special election, said the firing of City Atty. Eric Lauterer and the resignation of City Manager Delbert L. Powers on Monday night “was a coincidence.”

In his resignation letter, Powers indicated that he was leaving to pursue a “long-held interest” in becoming a redevelopment consultant.

“Del has been thinking about this for some time, and he wants to take a new direction,” Williams said. “But I don’t think this will change our direction. We still have many projects to complete.”

Both Powers, 51, and Lauterer, 52, will remain on the job until April 1.

Powers has served as city manager since 1980. Before that, he worked for the city for 17 years in various capacities, including public services director, employee relations director and assistant city manager.

Although the City Council accepted his resignation at Monday night’s meeting, it quickly became Powers’ first client in his new field. The city will pay Powers $5,000 a month to serve as a three-day-a-week consultant to the city’s Agency for Community Redevelopment.

As city manager, Powers was earning $82,500 a year.

Williams said Wednesday that Powers would probably be retained as a consultant until several major economic development projects the city has begun are completed. The city is now involved in rehabilitating its deteriorating downtown area, especially a 2-mile strip of Garden Grove Boulevard.

Powers said Wednesday that he had been thinking of quitting for the past year. He also said his new month-to-month arrangement was to help the city keep on course with its redevelopment plans until his replacement is found. Powers added that he did not anticipate being a consultant for the city for more than “five or six months.”

“For the last year or so, I’ve been thinking of shifting careers,” Powers said. “I’ve been involved in development and redevelopment, and it is a field that interests me.”

As for Lauterer, Williams said: “We thought it was better to let him go.”

The mayor said that Lauterer’s performance was evaluated last week and that some council members found that he had made mistakes on city contracts and had taken too many city-paid trips.

“It was a sad day for Garden Grove. But I was unhappy with a few of the city contracts. There were some reservations about him, and it finally came to me. I had to pull the plug,” Williams said. “It was up to me to make the motion. I hated to do that, but it had to be done.”

Williams said the city had lost $240,000 in Redevelopment Agency funds because of a poorly worded contract by Lauterer’s office.

In his first public statements after assuming office in November, Williams criticized city staff personnel for attending too many conventions and seminars at city expense.

Councilmen Robert F. Dinsen and Raymond Littrell voted along with Williams to oust Lauterer from his $82,164-a-year job. Councilmen Milton Krieger and W.E. (Walt) Donovan voted to retain the city attorney’s contract beyond the April 1 expiration date.

Lauterer, who has served for the past 18 years as Garden Grove’s first full-time city attorney, said Wednesday that he had done a good job and that his record “spoke for itself.” He declined to criticize the City Council for his termination and said he was not surprised at the move.

“That’s their choice. Under state law, they have the right to do that,” Lauterer said. “And I’m never surprised at what city councils do. I’ve been in this business for 26 years.”

Williams said the City Council will discuss next week how it would proceed with finding replacements for Lauterer and Powers. However, the mayor said he preferred to promote someone from the ranks as city manager.

The leading candidates are assistant city managers Mike Fenderson and George Tindall and Stewart O. Miller, director of development services.

“We have a lot of good people already here,” Williams said.