Merced city manager terminated from job by City Council. Who will lead in his place?
Following an already contentious Merced City Council meeting that took steps to formally quell Councilmember Fernando Echevarria, the council met Monday evening in closed session and quietly terminated Steve Carrigan’s role as city manager.
City Council voted 6-1 to terminate the city manager, a Merced news release said on Tuesday. Echevarria cast the dissenting vote.
Assistant City Manager Stephanie Dietz will serve as acting city manager until another individual takes on the role, Mayor Mike Murphy told the Sun-Star. Dietz will be appointed by City Council as interim city manager on August 3.
“The City Council and I have the utmost confidence in Ms. Dietz’s ability to serve in the position of acting city manager,” Murphy said in the news release. “She brings a lot of experience and a strong understanding of our community to this important position.”
Details about the circumstances surrounding the separation were not immediately available. Disagreement between Carrigan and Murphy boiled over publicly in June when the mayor alleged the city manager demonstrated a lack of transparency and mishandling of power during the local coronavirus emergency.
It is unclear whether that incident played a part in Carrigan’s dismissal from his role.
Prior to Carrigan’s termination during closed session, the council voted 6-1 to censure District 2 Councilmember Echevarria following a series of controversial incidents. Only Echevarria, whose district encompasses south Merced, voted against the censure resolution.
“There’s a lot of side shows, a lot of distraction, a lot of energy being consumed on side issues,” Councilmember Matthew Serratto said of the recent conflicts surrounding Merced City Council. “But at the end of the day, the work is getting done.”
Carrigan had acted as Merced’s city manager since January of 2016.
Carrigan, 56, has around 25 years of experience as a public employee. Before coming to Merced in January 2016, he was city manager in Los Banos.
He was the assistant city manager of Sanger before coming to Merced County. Before that, he spent eight years as economic development director in Stockton.
The search for a new city manager is anticipated to take place this fall, according to the release.
This story was originally published July 21, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
