City Administrator Quits Unexpectedly in Hawaiian Gardens

After guiding city government through one of its worst financial crises, City Administrator Darwin G. Pichetto has unexpectedly quit the post he held for barely five months.

In a telephone interview last week from his Long Beach apartment, Pichetto said he decided to leave this small, working-class city to protect his “own best interest.” He remained vague, however, about details leading up to his sudden departure, which became all but official when he submitted a resignation, effective immediately, to the City Council last Monday.

“I felt I had to look out for my future career,” Pichetto said. “I felt it was in my own best interest to resign.”

At a hastily called special meeting Thursday night, the council accepted Pichetto’s resignation. Pichetto did not attend.

Officials Had No Comment

Details of the resignation were worked out in an agreement between Pichetto and the council, officials said. But when asked if the executive had been forced from his job, council members declined to comment.

“We’re trying to give you a little stability in the city manager position,” Councilman Donald E. Schultz told the audience of mostly city staff members.

Pichetto, 57, is the third city administrator to vacate the city’s top post in less than two years and the fifth since 1978, when Jack A. Simpson resigned after nine years. Simpson eventually became administrator in Bellflower. Two interim Hawaiian Gardens administrators have also held the post since Simpson’s departure.

Pichetto recently weathered a storm of controversy surrounding the city’s faltering financial condition. In September, while the council wrestled with making deep cuts in the city’s operating budget, Pichetto announced that over the past two years the city had apparently spent $1.78 million more than it had collected.

Assistant New to Job

Assistant City Administrator Ronald Downing, appointed by the council to replace Pichetto, had been hired by the manager only two months ago to help prepare the overdue city budget and unravel the financial problems.

Three days before Pichetto announced his resignation, the council also met in closed session, presumably to discuss the matter. State law permits closed sessions only where legal or personnel matters are to be discussed. City officials declined to comment after that meeting.

Pichetto was hired in August, 1987, as executive director of the Community Redevelopment Agency. He assumed the $68,000-a-year administrator’s job in June.

‘Best for Everyone’

Pichetto’s departure “is for the best of everyone,” Mayor Kathleen M. Navejas said before the special council meeting.

Also previously, Schultz had pointed out that he had opposed hiring Pichetto as city administrator. “I thought it was too much work for one person” to serve as both administrator and redevelopment director, Schultz said.

Schultz has long complained that the Redevelopment Agency has not moved fast enough. In a telephone interview, however, he declined to comment on whether Pichetto’s performance was a factor in his resignation.

Downing was more positive in assessing Pichetto’s contribution as city administrator.

“He was an asset to the community,” Downing said. “I’m sure that the great deal of work he started, we will be able to continue.”

Downing, 41, holds degrees in political science and public administration from UCLA and Harvard University, and has worked in city, state and federal government for the past 15 years. He served as city manager for Glenarden, Md., and assistant manager in Kansas City, Mo., and Maywood, Ill., according to a statement released by the city.

He was hired after another successful candidate withdrew his application after reading newspaper reports about the city’s financial deficits, officials said.

“(Downing) has a formidable task ahead of him,” Pichetto said.

Pichetto said he has “several opportunities” for employment. But for now, he said he is going to “relax and enjoy a small vacation.”

“After 10- and 12-hour days I need a vacation,” Pichetto said. “After 15 months with the city, I need one.”