Los Banos leaders’ decision to fire city manager stirs disapproval among some residents
Los Banons City Council members came under fire during a special meeting on Wednesday night as residents voiced their displeasure about the firing of former City Manager Josh Pinheiro.
The City Council voted to terminate Pinheiro last week, less than a year after he was hired as the city’s top administrator.
The agenda for Wednesday said the council was scheduled to appoint an interim city manager. However, the council left closed session without naming Pinheiro’s temporary successor.
City officials did not publicly state a reason for letting Pinheiro go last week.
Meanwhile, some residents spoke during Wednesday’s meeting, saying they disapproved of the termination.
“What’s going on with this city? Are we so dysfunctional that we can’t operate or you don’t see what’s going on under your noses and have any thought on what is going on?” asked Los Banos resident Anna McCauley during the public forum of Wednesday’s special meeting.
“Short of being found out as a felon or embezzler, what was so egregious that you had to fire a new manager within nine months?” McCauley added.
All five residents who spoke during the public forum portion of Wednesday’s meeting were critical of the City Council’s decision to terminate Pinheiro.
“You guys need to be held accountable to this city,” said resident Greg Wilson. “As one lady had said earlier, our police department is a revolving door of officers, who are leaving because they don’t get paid enough. We can’t hire a fire chief, a deputy fire chief for what reasons? Maybe because the City Council doesn’t know what they’re doing.”
Dissenting council members take to social media
The council’s June 15 vote to fire Pinheiro was 3-2 with Mayor Tom Faria, District 2 Councilmember Refugio Llamas and District 4 Councilmember Deborah Lewis all voting in favor of the termination.
Mayor Pro Tempore Kenneth Lambert and District 3 Councilmember Brett Jones voted against the move.
Both Lambert and Jones recently took to social media to voice their disagreement with the termination of Pinheiro.
Jones posted on Facebook the termination happened “for no logical or rational explanation.”
Lambert posted on Facebook the vote by the mayor, Llamas and Lewis was unfair and without cause. He said the votes were “purely out of emotion with no justified reason, no thought or logic given to the repercussions this would have on our City and Residents moving forward.”
Jones said the goal of the City Council when they hired a city manager was to find someone who would engage with our citizens and stakeholders.
“We wanted a City Manager that would take back control of City Hall and raise the moral and instill a culture that employees could take pride in,” Jones posted, saying Pinheiro accomplished that.
Jones also said Pinheiro had made progress during his time as city manager, saying he allocated $1 million to rebuild the dilapidated animal shelter, allocated $1 million to local small businesses through the RAD Card program and allocated money to build pickleball courts in Los Banos, among other improvements made to the community.
“He worked 60-plus hours a week including nights, weekends and holidays when he was only contracted for 40 hours a week,” Jones posted. “He was working on building moral and a positive culture within the City.”
Most of the residents unhappy with the termination of Pinheiro felt he wasn’t given enough time as city manager to do his job and they weren’t given any reason for his firing.
Resident Penny Glick questioned the leadership of the City Council members.
“Is that what the three votes want is no change for this community, for our future in our community?” Glick asked. “We deserve better for our community and maybe we deserve better City Council members.”
No members of the council addressed the comments made by the residents during the meeting Wednesday evening.
