Pasadena Postpones Action on City Manager

After meeting in closed session Monday, the Pasadena City Council postponed a decision on the fate of City Manager Philip Hawkey, whose power struggle with officials has preoccupied city leaders for several months.

Emerging from the meeting, council members offered little comment except to say there was no change in the status of Hawkey, whose job contract expires in October, 1999.

“It is clear Mr. Hawkey remains the city manager,” Vice Mayor Bill Crowfoot said. “At this point this isn’t about money, this is more about finding a way to communicate publicly in a city without creating wounds so deep that they are difficult to heal.”

Hawkey, 51, has held the position for eight years. During his tenure, Pasadena played host to soccer’s World Cup Final and football’s Super Bowl, and Old Pasadena, the city’s downtown, was transformed into a thriving shopping area. But detractors have accused him of a lack of sensitivity to minority and neighborhood concerns, and council members over the years have complained that he failed to keep them informed.

His battle with the council came to a head in December, when a divided council told Hawkey he would be replaced by summer. An angry Hawkey informed the city it would have to pay him $1.5 million or face a lawsuit, which would allege that efforts to oust him, a white male, amounted to reverse discrimination.

Five days later, the council decided Hawkey would serve out his contract.

But in January Hawkey’s settlement demand became public, along with his accusation that council members favored a hiring system based on race and political connections.

Mayor Chris Holden remarked that the accusation seemed to be directed at him and Councilwoman Joyce Streator, African Americans who voted to fire the city manager.

Last week, city officials said Hawkey had offered to leave his post before his contract ends in exchange for a severance package that would be worth at least $300,000. Hawkey has declined to comment on the negotiations.

Monday, Councilwoman Ann-Marie Villicana suggested that the financial concerns were an issue. “I will not vote for a deal to pay off a city manager who I voted only a few months ago to keep on until October, 1999. I don’t understand why anyone would want to pay him to leave. If they don’t want him they should just ask him to resign. I’m not going to approve this deal.”

The city is hoping to avoid a lawsuit by Hawkey--litigation that both his council supporters and opponents feared would create new political and racial divisions in the community.

The council has already agreed to assume the mortgage of Hawkey’s Pasadena home and reimburse a $70,000 down payment to him upon departure. The home cost $615,000. The city in 1991 paid $366,000 toward its purchase.