New city manager takes helm in Livingston

Livingston has a new new city manager.

City leaders confirmed Monday that Eddie Duque was sworn in this month during a private barbecue for city staffers.

Duque, 48, formerly a senior management analyst in the Finance and Management Services department in Santa Ana, agreed in July to a three-year contract with annual pay of $140,000, plus car, telephone and insurance benefits, according to a copy of the contract.

Duque did not return a phone message Monday, nor did he answer questions submitted by email as of press time.

In the time since he agreed to his contract, he has seen some road bumps. Sun-Star inquiries found he had a bankruptcy filing and a domestic violence conviction in his background. Both have been cleared from his record, he said, but the council admitted to not being aware of either one when he was hired.

After the Sun-Star first reported those two facts, the city asked Duque to complete a digital fingerprinting process that the Livingston Police Department uses for background checks on city employees. Officials said the scan was not conducted before because the city contracted with an outside agency to do the recruiting and background checks for city manager candidates.

Police Chief Ruben Chavez said the city completed the process with Duque, but he declined to talk specifically about the findings, citing personnel issues. He said the swearing-in ceremony was conducted during a barbecue on Oct. 5.

“He’s been hired and he’s been here for a week now,” Chavez said.

City leaders acknowledged they would’ve preferred knowing about the filing and conviction earlier, but said ultimately, Duque’s qualifications outweighed any potential doubts over the two issues, both a decade old. His qualifications include a master’s degree from Harvard University and nearly 20 years of experience in various government and leadership positions.

The council was scheduled to meet on Oct. 6, but the city clerk announced on Sept. 25 that the meeting would be canceled because of a lack of items on the agenda.

Mayor Pro Tem Gurpal Samra said it is not necessary to have the City Council present to conduct a swearing-in, because the ceremony is conducted by the city clerk. He said holding a council meeting just to conduct a swearing-in would have been wasteful, because city employees are compensated for that time.

“There was no other reason,” he said about why the swearing-in was not public. Samra said scheduling conflicts forced the city to swear in Duque during the private staff meeting.

The city may still hold a more ceremonial swearing-in at the council chambers, he said. The previous city manager, Jose Ramirez, was sworn in while in the council chambers, Samra said.

This story was originally published October 12, 2015 at 6:29 PM with the headline "New city manager takes helm in Livingston."