Oxnard Council Votes to End Contract of City Manager

In a packed council chamber, the Oxnard City Council on Tuesday voted 3-2 to terminate City Manager Tom Frutchey’s contract after more than four hours of debating his fate.

Councilmen John Zaragoza, Bedford Pinkard and Mayor Manuel Lopez voted against the embattled city manager, who was named to the position in October 1993. Voting for Frutchey were Councilmen Tom Holden and Dean Maulhardt.

Before moving to Oxnard, Frutchey worked in the Northern California city of Campbell, where he served as city manager for 11 months before resigning in January 1992, according to Campbell City Manager Bernard Strojny.

The three who cast votes against Frutchey said they did not support the way some employees had been treated and the way Frutchey handled the firing of certain employees.

“I have attempted to work with him, but now with the new City Council, I think it is time for a change,” Lopez said. “I believe Mr. Frutchey has a problem dealing with the council members evenly. We are told the city should be run like a business. Well, in business when the CEO cannot communicate with the board, changes are made. The task is to find a manager who can work with the council.”

As Frutchey supporters cheered them on, Holden and Maulhardt said that Oxnard needed to look at itself before blaming city staff.

“So, here we are at a point where we’ll have the fourth city manager in six years in the city of Oxnard,” Holden said. “Why do we go through city managers like we do socks? I think it’s because the City Council does not take responsibility for its decisions. We can no longer afford to make [city staff] the brunt of our shortcomings.’

Maulhardt pointed to Frutchey’s successes, saying that he has done a fine job for the city.

“We should not decide to fire him; let’s look for some solutions,” Maulhardt said.

Holden said he was angry with the way things were handled at a closed-door City Council retreat Friday, where Frutchey was told by City Atty. Gary Gillig that he would either have to quit or be fired.

Since the meeting had been adjourned, Holden said that neither he nor Maulhardt was present when Frutchey was told about ending his employment contract.

Although Frutchey’s contract states that the council should evaluate his job performance every year, he had not yet received a formal review. The contract also says that Frutchey can be fired by the council any time, for any reason, according to Bruce Dandy, personnel and employee relations manager.

Though the City Council should have done annual performance evaluations, it was also Frutchey’s responsibility to ensure that the council did so, Dandy said.

Frutchey, whose salary is $110,247, will receive up to six months of paid leave from the day he was fired, including medical benefits, vacation time and sick leave, which could total at least $60,000. The money will be paid in biweekly installments, not in a lump sum, and payments will stop if Frutchey begins another job during this period, according to Dandy.

Frutchey will also receive more than $24,000 in deferred compensation he has accumulated over the past three years, he added.

Before the vote, more than 30 people spoke, most of them supporting Frutchey.

Doug Bungert, who works for the city’s parks and facilities program, implored the council to keep Frutchey.

“I think that the city is functioning better and I don’t understand this cardinal rule that a city manager has a three- to five-year live span in this city.”

Added Planning Commissioner Joe Burdullis: “He has taken the direction of the City Council and done wonderfully. To fire a man for following orders is out of line.”

One former employee, Pio Quintans Macaraeg, was applauded loudly after delivering a speech in defense of Frutchey.

“How lonely must his office be, that when he does right he needs to give [the council] credit, but when something goes wrong, everything goes awry,” said Macaraeg, who worked for the city’s library program for 15 years.

But Frutchey’s opponents were just as vocal in their appeals to the council.

“If a majority of these elected officials believe a change in the city manager is desirable, they certainly should not retain him,” said Oxnard resident Peter Hearst.

Howard Watson, who has worked with the city for 27 years in engineering services, said he feared to speak out against his boss, but felt he had to.

“Mr. Frutchey holds a very powerful position within the city. I could be fired, repositioned or replaced,” said Watson, “but there is a time when you must stand up and say ‘enough is enough.’

“We don’t trust our leadership and three years of terror is enough of Mr. Frutchey,” Watson added.