SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : City’s Temporary Manager to Stay On

George Scarborough, the interim city manager since Stephen B. Julian was fired in the fall, was named city manager this week.

Meeting in closed session Tuesday night, the City Council approved a salary plan that will give Scarborough $93,500 for one year, plus $6,000 for his position as executive director of the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency and additional retirement, health and vacation benefits. Scarborough, 42, will also get a $400-a-month car allowance.

“We are pleased we were able to keep him on,” Mayor Gil Jones said Wednesday. “George is a very diligent city manager.”

Scarborough’s contract was for substantially less money that the one Julian, who left in October, received. Julian received a $126,000 base salary.

Figuring in all benefits, Scarborough’s salary is worth an estimated $136,000 annually, compared to Julian’s $165,000.

In addition, the council will not fill Scarborough’s old position of assistant city manager. “My old responsibilities are either staying with me or being diverted to other top-notch people on our staff,” Scarborough said.

Nor will Scarborough get a severance plan such as the one that allowed Julian to leave the city with a year’s salary plus benefits, a package that added up to nearly $200,000. Scarborough, who will be working without a contract, will have his job performance reviewed in a year, Jones said.