Costa Mesa makes interim city manager permanent, responds to her predecessor’s lawsuit
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Months after Costa Mesa officials agreed to promote interim City Manager Cecilia Gallardo-Daly to the position permanently, following the termination of her predecessor, they finalized her employment contract.
The City Council Tuesday unanimously supported a three-year agreement offering Gallardo-Daly $451,700 in salary and benefits and the use of a city-owned vehicle.
“I’m very grateful for everything Ms. Gallardo-Daly has done to step up for the city of Costa Mesa,” Mayor John Stephens said. “I think this vote … is really going to propel the city forward under her leadership.”
On the same evening, nearly 500 miles away in Sonoma County, the Santa Rosa City Council approved hiring Gallardo-Daly’s predecessor, Lori Ann Farell Harrison (who now goes by the single surname Farrell) as interim city manager.
Effective Jan. 2, she will receive base pay of $291,200 — nearly 12% less than the $330,216 she earned in Costa Mesa.
Lori Ann Farrell Harrison claims she was retaliated against in improperly noticed meetings after accusing Costa Mesa Mayor John Stephens of conflicts of interest, illicit interference and undue influence.
Farrell will also receive a $3,000 monthly housing allowance, if she resides in Sonoma or Marin counties, along with a standard $500 monthly auto stipend, $500 annual wellness incentive and 80 hours of administrative leave. If she were to be terminated without cause, the city would be required to give her 30 days’ notice or one month’s salary.
By comparison, Gallardo-Daly’s contract comprises an annual base salary of $320,000 in addition to $50,000 of deferred compensation annually and a benefits package valued at $131,700, with 40 hours of annual executive leave.
The agreement would be terminable at will, except within 90 days of a municipal election.
“Many cities actually have that in their municipal code,” Barlow said of the provision. “We do not have that in our code, but that was a request that was made for this agreement.”
In the event Gallardo-Daly were terminated without cause, which was the case for Farrell, she would receive a severance equivalent to a year of her base salary. A for-cause firing would not trigger severance.
The municipal actions coincide with Costa Mesa’s first official response this week to an Orange County Superior Court lawsuit Farrell filed against the city in July.
That suit contends council members violated the state’s open meetings law — the Brown Act — by discussing her imminent termination in a closed session meeting noticed as a performance evaluation. The action seeks to nullify the termination.
In a filing Wednesday, the city’s attorneys sought to dismiss Farrell’s suit, maintaining council members were within their rights to discuss termination in the context of an evaluation and that Farrell failed to prove a council majority discussed the matter prior to the May 6 meeting in which she was fired.
“Because the petition fails to state facts sufficient to constitute a violation of the Brown Act, and cannot be amended to do so, the court should ... dismiss the petition without leave to amend,” the filing states.
The two parties are scheduled to appear in court for a March 6 case management hearing. A second hearing, on the city’s request to dismiss the case, is set for April 28.
