Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Council Extends City Manager’s Contract to 1997

The City Council has granted Jim Gilley, Lancaster’s $127,194-a-year city manager, a three-year contract extension that will run through August, 1997, city officials said.

The council granted the extension during a closed-door meeting Monday and announced the decision at the public council meeting that night. City officials refused to disclose the vote, but Councilman George Root said he was the lone dissenter.

Lancaster Mayor Arnie Rodio said the extension was designed to give Gilley job security beyond next year since the council is pleased with his work. Three of the five council members will be up for reelection in April, and Gilley’s original three-year contract was due to expire in August, 1994.

Gilley said he suggested that the council consider the extension now, even though he still has more than a year remaining on his original contract, because this was the time for the council’s annual review of his performance. He refused to say whether the three-year period was his suggestion.

Rodio said the extension does not make any immediate change in Gilley’s present salary, although the council could grant him a merit raise in mid-1994. Gilley was hired in August, 1991, under a three-year contract that began with a $120,000 salary.

Gilley, 44, had been Lancaster’s top executive from July, 1981, to July, 1988, when he was ousted by three City Council members who have since left office.