Anaheim begins city manager search after previous official’s hasty exit
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Three months after former City Manager Jim Vanderpool’s sudden resignation, Anaheim is taking steps toward hiring a permanent replacement.
With a unanimous vote on Tuesday, the Anaheim City Council authorized its human resources director to contract with CPS HR Consulting for a nationwide city manager search.
A review panel gave the Sacramento-based firm the highest ranking of the six bidding companies for the contract, which was capped at $75,000.
“The city manager position is unique,” said Councilmember Natalie Rubalcava, who supported Vanderpool before his resignation. “It’s not like recruiting a chief of police or another department head. A lot of people don’t even know the city manager role exists or what they do.”
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Going forward, part of CPS HR Consulting’s responsibilities will be doing community outreach with stakeholders about the executive search, although the number of community meetings expected has not been set.
Other tasks include conducting candidate recruitments, evaluations, interviews and background checks.
Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken asked H.R. Director Linda Andal about a timeline for the search.
Andal said the recruitment process is expected to last over the summer, with a city manager hire coming anytime between September and October.
“If during this process we have conversations where maybe we decide that we don’t want to move forward with [it], are we able to do that?” Councilmember Carlos Leon asked.
“Absolutely,” Andal responded. “This is your recruitment. It’s at your discretion.”
Councilmembers could open another recruitment or go with a candidate not listed at the end of the outlined process.
The move toward selecting a new city manager in Orange County’s most populous city comes at a time when Vanderpool’s hasty exit remains shrouded by unanswered questions.
After a TimesOC investigation revealed Vanderpool did not report a Lake Havasu retreat he attended in 2020 despite accommodations provided by the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce, Aitken called for a closed session job review in January.
The Fair Political Practices Commission also launched an investigation into the Havasu retreat.
Still, Vanderpool garnered a lot of support heading into the council meeting held Jan. 27, according to records TimesOC obtained.
The Anaheim Police Assn. sent a letter to the City Council supporting his continued employment.
As Vanderpool came out of closed session with his job firmly secured, he privately texted supporters.
“I’m still here,” he told a city staffer. “Long road ahead. It will be death by 1,000 cuts from this point on.”
The closed session became subject to greater controversy after the Log Cabin Republicans of Orange County, a conservative LGBT advocacy group, posted on Facebook that same night that Aitken could not get a second from any council colleague to grill Vanderpool behind closed doors.
Who may have leaked a confidential vote not reported out of closed session remains unknown.
But it didn’t take long for word to travel out of closed session.
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Vanderpool received a text from “Chris L.” roughly an hour after the council reconvened out of closed session at 5:19 p.m., well before the Facebook post.
“Congratulations,” Chris texted on Jan. 27 at 6:13 p.m. “Heard she didn’t even get a second!”
Vanderpool did not respond.
Instead of “death by 1,000 cuts,” Vanderpool made an abrupt decision to clear out his office that weekend and amended an upcoming council meeting agenda to tender his resignation.
Councilmembers voted on Feb. 4 to formally accept it.
In a statement, Vanderpool claimed to have moved up an already planned retirement later this year.
The FPPC investigation into the Lake Havasu trip remains ongoing.
Aitken previously cited state and local investigative efforts in calling off internal probes into the retreat and leak.
In the meantime, councilmembers elected to go with a firm on Tuesday that has worked on other city manager recruitments in the state, including Sacramento.
CPS HR Consulting also helped Anaheim recruit a police chief and deputy police chief in 2023.
“I really want to make sure the person that we recruit in Anaheim is not necessarily from the region, but somebody who can lead our city forward,” Rubalcava said. “There’s a lot of concerns that I have in terms of making sure that we have somebody who’s strong enough to push back on special interests in our city.”
