Council Decides to Keep City Manager

Santa Clarita City Council members on Friday announced their unanimous support of the city manager--after a three-hour closed door meeting called to discuss his termination.

About half of the 200 residents at the meeting spoke or submitted written comments on behalf of City Manager George Caravalho, who has been under fire for several weeks after some City Council members raised questions about trash hauling contracts. There were also concerns about a bookkeeping discrepancy involving material diverted from landfills through recycling programs.

Caravalho said he was glad to put this behind him, and for the fact he and the council were able to “refocus on being the city we’ve been for 12 years.”

The city will hire an accounting firm to audit the city’s trash hauling contracts, including past, present and future diversion rates and franchise and tipping fees, council members said.

Mayor Laurene Weste, who called for the meeting along with two of the four remaining council members, said the discussions proved to be productive.

“We were not happy to do this, but it was the only way we could get to the bottom of this,” Weste said.

“We couldn’t ignore these issues over trash, and as a result, we’ll have a full-blown audit.”

The council also decided to do quarterly performance reviews on Caravalho and City Atty. Carl Newton.

Caravalho was hired in June 1988, six months after Santa Clarita’s incorporation in December 1987. Heading a list of 54 candidates for the position, Caravalho was praised by the original council as a visionary and aggressive executive.