Acting City Manager Makes Sudden Exit
After five weeks on the job, the interim city administrator of Pomona, Andrew Lazzaretto, resigned suddenly last week, leaving in his wake a contentious City Council disputing the reasons for his departure.
Mayor Donna Smith said Lazzaretto came to her office Friday at 4:30 p.m., shut the door and told her he was resigning, effective in 30 minutes.
“He could no longer work under such stressful conditions,” Smith announced at this week’s council meeting. “He said that on two separate occasions he saw a fist coming at him and he didn’t know if his face was going to be smashed. . . . He said he didn’t need the money that much.”
Smith said the blows were threatened by a councilman but would not identify the person.
The council then named Fire Chief Tom Fee as interim city administrator.
Lazzaretto had been hired May 16, two weeks after the forced ouster of City Administrator A. J. Wilson.
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