Ousted City Manager a Finalist for Texas Job : Oxnard: David Mora is a competing for the same position in San Antonio. But this has not changed the minds of those who want him out.

Less than four months after he was asked to leave his post in Oxnard, City Manager David Mora has beaten out more than 55 competitors to become a finalist for the same position in San Antonio--the nation’s ninth-largest city.

But Mora’s chance of being hired by San Antonio, where he will be interviewed this weekend, has not altered the opinions of some who wanted him out of Oxnard.

“I’ve got no second thoughts,” said Councilwoman Ann Johs, who voted with Councilwomen Dorothy Maron and Geraldine Furr against Mora in December.

Mora, who has been blamed by some council members for the city’s financial crisis, will leave Oxnard on July 1.

Johs said Mora had some excellent qualities and “came across great” in interviews.

“Unfortunately, he just didn’t work out well for us,” Johs said.

Maron said she thought Mora did a good job but believed he had made too many concessions to developers.

“Remember, essentially our difficulty was in philosophy more than anything else,” Maron said. “I wish Mr. Mora luck.”

Mora’s supporters said San Antonio’s consideration of him proves that he is a good manager who was blamed unfairly for Oxnard’s problems.

“I think that he has been the best city manager that we’ve dealt with in terms of being open and knowledgeable about finances,” said Councilman Manuel Lopez, who is in his 12th year in office. “When they asked me what I wanted in a new city manager, I said, ‘Look at what we have and duplicate that.’ ”

Mayor Nao Takasugi, who also voted to keep Mora, said Mora’s position as a finalist in the San Antonio search demonstrates his abilities.

“It certainly speaks well for the qualities and qualifications of Mr. Mora,” Takasugi said. “That’s major league.”

Mora was unavailable for comment.

Mora will be interviewed Saturday in San Antonio, where he is one of eight finalists for the managerial post in the city of about 900,000.

The San Antonio City Council is searching for “someone with management background, who has a given level of financial experience and multi-ethnic or cultural experience,” said Skip Noe, director of management services for San Antonio.

Salary for the city manager is negotiable depending on experience. However, Louis J. Fox, San Antonio’s current city manager, has a base salary of $106,000. That does not include incidental or car expenses, Noe said.

Mora now makes $95,700 in base salary with an additional $7,500 in deferred funds and $3,600 for a car.

Fox, who has held the San Antonio post for eight years, will leave June 1 to become director of the department of urban studies at Trinity University in San Antonio, Noe said.

Meanwhile, debate over Mora’s ouster continues in Oxnard.

An Oxnard group calling itself Community Concern has launched a recall effort against Maron and vowed to campaign against Johs’ reelection in November.

Community Concern, consisting of organizations such as the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People and the Assn. of Mexican-American Educators, claims that the council majority has not adequately explained the reasons for firing the city manager, who is a Latino.

But the council members opposed to Mora, who toppled him in a bitter 3-2 council vote, have refused on the advice of legal counsel to describe their reasons for the ouster.

The decision came after weeks of surprise disclosures about the city’s confused and desperate financial situation.

The city lost $9 million, or 75% of its emergency reserve funds, during a four-year period, forcing the council to make more than $1 million in politically unpopular cuts this fall.

Maron also has indicated that Mora was making too many concessions to developers in city deals.

Mora came to Oxnard in 1985, from Los Gatos, Calif., where he was town manager.

When he arrived, the City Council had just ousted his predecessor. At the time, two council members were being recalled over an unpopular utility tax and residents were angered by fiscal problems.

Mora will leave the city in July after helping the council with its $6,000 nationwide search for his replacement. Eight finalists chosen by a consultant will be presented for council consideration in late April or May.