Former City Manager Files Suit Over Firing : Government: Mamaux alleges that Oceanside council majority wanted him to engage in illegal practices.

Former Oceanside City Manager John Mamaux on Thursday filed a lawsuit alleging he was wrongfully fired by a City Council majority intent on forcing him to take illegal or unethical actions.

The suit, filed in Vista Superior Court, names the city and council members Melba Bishop, Nancy York and Don Rodee individually, and asks unspecified damages for loss of income, retirement benefits, sick leave and vacation pay. It also alleges as a result of his firing that he suffered emotional distress and medical problems.

The council trio fired Mamaux from his $107,000-per-year job in January, saying they disagreed with the way he was running the city and that he had proven himself to be pro-growth. Mayor Larry Bagley and Councilman Sam Williamson Sr. opposed Mamaux’s dismissal.

Mamaux claims he was fired after he refused to illegally promote three firefighters owed political favors by Bishop, refused to engage in possibly unethical property sales and refused to let the council members micro-manage city departments.

“Those are all crazy allegations,” Rodee said. “It’s just off-the-wall stuff.”

York said that Mamaux’s suit and a $1.3-million claim he filed against the city earlier this year are politically motivated.

“He’s trying to time it for the election,” York said. “He told (Bishop legislative aide) Janet Jaworski the night he was fired that he was going to haunt Melba during the election.”

Bishop, who could not be reached for comment, is expected to seek a third four-year term in November.

Mamaux referred all questions to his attorney, Peter Dean of Escondido.

Dean on Thursday said he was not surprised by allegations of political motives.

But Mamaux--hired by the same council majority in January, 1991, as someone who could help bring business to Oceanside--was fired because he refused to follow its orders when he thought they were wrong or unethical, Dean said.

For example, he said, Mamaux refused to promote three firefighters who had supported Bishop during a failed recall election.

“When you are going to promote somebody, you give everybody a fair shake regardless of race . . . or whether they helped somebody in a political campaign or not,” Dean said. “These City Council members wanted to promote these three firefighters . . . simply to return a political favor.”

Mamaux’s claim also alleges that the council trio tried to force him to buy and sell property without open public bidding in situations which involved potential conflicts of interest.

It also asserts that Mamaux got into hot water with the council majority by refusing to let them micro-manage city departments that are lawfully his responsibility.

York denied that Mamaux was ordered to promote the firefighters and said that, from the start, Mamaux had said he only wanted to stay in the position a year.

“He told us . . . he would leave quietly and with dignity at the end of one year,” York said. “He did neither.’

Mamaux, who was city manager of Carlsbad from 1964 to 1967, also served a term on the Carlsbad City Council. He was defeated in the November, 1990, election.