Anaheim Post Goes to Longtime Staffer, but Controversy Isn’t Over : Politics: The mayor and a councilman are angry that an Ohio candidate was not chosen for the city manager job and accuse their colleagues of collusion.

After a contentious closed-door session in which the mayor and a city councilman stormed out, the City Council on Friday promoted Assistant City Manager James Ruth to city manager.

Mayor Fred Hunter and Councilman William D. Ehrle later called a news conference to ask the district attorney to investigate the other three council members for collusion. Council members Tom Daly, Miriam Kaywood and Irv Pickler all voted to select Ruth.

“We will support Mr. Ruth as the city manager and his efforts to provide Anaheim with strong leadership,” Hunter said. “However, we will also make sure that the three co-conspirators of this city are brought to light and that their continued unethical actions be made public.”

Hunter said the council met last Saturday and unanimously agreed to hire Philip Hawkey, the embattled city manager of Toledo, Ohio.

“Since Saturday, three members of the Anaheim City Council . . . have conspired, in violation of the secret meeting law, to hire someone else,” Hunter said.

California public meeting law prohibits more than two members of a decision-making body to gather privately to discuss public business. Although the council may have reached a consensus behind closed doors, the only binding vote is the one council members take during a public meeting.

Hawkey, 41, who flew to Anaheim this week with his wife, said he was surprised by the vote to select Ruth to run Orange County’s largest city.

“I thought I was the one who was going to get the job,” Hawkey said. Hawkey is a controversial figure in Toledo. He fired a city administrator who later sued the city for $1 million, and he launched a failed attempt to annex 1,200 acres bordering the suburban community of Maumee.

After Ruth’s selection was announced, Pickler praised the administrator as someone who will lead the city into the future.

“Jim’s a great guy,” Pickler said. “He knows the operation. He’s done a fantastic job.”

Ruth, who will turn 54 Sunday, has been a city employee for about nine of the last 12 years. He has been director of parks, recreation and community services; deputy city manager and director of public works.

He first became assistant city manager in 1982, then left Anaheim in 1984 to serve as Long Beach’s director of parks, recreation and beaches, a job he did for 3 1/2 years. He returned to Anaheim as assistant city manager in April, 1988.

“I’ve served the city in a variety of capacities,” Ruth said. “I’m looking forward to the challenge.”

Ruth will oversee a city with 234,000 residents, 3,000 employees and a $575 million annual budget. The city manager is responsible for the city’s day-to-day operations, from the repair of street lights to the negotiation of multimillion-dollar development deals.

In Anaheim, Ruth has spearheaded the city’s effort to build an $85-million sports arena in the Anaheim Stadium area, a project now stalled because of legal challenges to an environmental impact report.

Ruth’s salary as city manager will be $125,000 a year; he now earns $108,930 as assistant city manager.

In the press conference, Hunter also accused Daly, Kaywood and Pickler of conspiring to oust the current city manager, Bob Simpson, 59, who is scheduled to retire May 1. Simpson said his departure is voluntary and that he wanted to spend more time with his family, but Hunter said he will also ask the district attorney to investigate the circumstances of Simpson’s retirement.

Simpson was out of the office Friday afternoon and could not be reached for comment.

Kaywood dismissed Hunter’s allegations as “total nonsense” and said the mayor is “like a spoiled child not getting his own way and throwing a tantrum.

“We had two excellent candidates. It was a tough decision,” Kaywood said. “I don’t do any conspiring. I just work real hard for the city.”

JAMES RUTH Age: Turns 54 Sunday. Previous Position: Assistant city manager in charge of 11 departments. Ruth was director of parks and recreation in Long Beach for 3 1/2 years before returning to Anaheim, where he was an assistant city manager in 1982-84. Before that, he was parks and recreation director and public works director. Ruth started his career in Anaheim in 1976. Education: Ruth earned his bachelor’s degree in recreation education and master’s in recreation administration from Cal State L.A. Personal: Ruth is married and has four children.