Moss' vision didn't overlap City Council's

By: BRIAN ECKHOUSE - Staff Writer | Tuesday, January 23, 2007 10:55 PM PST ∞

MURRIETA ---- City Manager Lori Moss will receive a severance package worth about $175,000, according to a settlement agreement between her and the city. Moss, whose "mutual" separation from the city was announced shortly before her settlement was signed, will leave her post Friday, officials said Tuesday.

A specific explanation for her sudden departure has not been disclosed, and Moss declined to comment both Monday night and Tuesday. Council members said Moss' vision for the city didn't align closely enough to their own views and objectives, but that that wasn't the primary reason for her departure.

"It had less to do with the vision itself, but how to get there in terms of personalities and leadership styles," Mayor Doug McAllister said. "The team wasn't going to mesh like we needed it to."

An agreement was required because, according to Moss' contract, she cannot be fired within six months of a council election. The last election was held Nov. 7.

In return for a year's salary and benefits, Moss agreed to be available to officials twice a month between now and July 3 ---- the day she will receive her severance package.

Moss was hired as an assistant city manager in 1999, coming from the Riverside County Economic Development Agency, where she had been the assistant director of desert operations.

She was promoted to city manager in late September 2004 when Steve Mandoki was forced to resign after six years at the city's top post.

But Moss' successor won't be from inside City Hall, council members said Monday. On Tuesday, McAllister said he'd like the interim city manager to be an outsider, as well.

City leaders are initiating a nationwide search to find Moss' replacement to identify a potential manager with a wealth of experience ---- and one who aligns with their vision, which may differ some from those of past councils.

An emergency meeting of the council could be called as soon as Friday, McAllister said, with the intent to appoint an interim leader. That decision likely would be made in a closed session, then announced publicly immediately afterward.

McAllister envisions the interim leader as a "consultant type" who could evaluate the roles and performances of city staffers, possibly for Moss' eventual replacement. He cautioned there would be no mass firings, just an examination of the city's hierarchy.

"The primary role is to ... continue on as a city," he said.

City Hall observers hope the new city manager will be given space to accomplish the council's goals.

"They need to go out and have an individual with marketing experience and background, and then grant that person the autonomy to create clear and concise goals," said Kassen Klein, a former planning commissioner who noted that previous councils as well as the current council have been accused by some locals of being too involved in staff's day-to-day operations.

The end of Moss' tenure surprised some in City Hall on Tuesday, one longtime city employee said, but not all: Rumors had been circulating for several weeks among Murrieta gadflies that Moss would be replaced. Those suspicions were abetted, the official said, by a lengthy closed-door evaluation of Moss that extended across three consecutive council meetings.

But council members insisted Tuesday they hadn't planned to sever ties with Moss ---- especially not a month and a half after the new council was seated ---- a contention that runs counter to a theory floated Monday night by former Councilman Kelly Seyarto.

He said the decision to replace her fulfilled an objective of councilmen Warnie Enochs and Rick Gibbs. Enochs rejected that theory outright Tuesday, while Gibbs didn't address the allegations, saying only that Seyarto is "entitled to his opinion."

Councilman Gary Thomasian, who was elected in November, said he didn't come into office with any preconceived ideas about Moss.

"I didn't come in to clean house," said Thomasian. "That was the furthest thing from my mind."

Moss' departure, he said, was a mutual decision: She was tired, and the council decided to move the city beyond the status quo.

"It was just continuing to stay in place," Thomasian said of the city.

Gibbs declined to directly address the "new direction" sought by the council, but he said he'd ideally like the city manager's role to be divided between two positions: manager of city operations and director of a proposed economic development department. After she was named city manager, Moss retained her oversight of the city's economic development ---- to the satisfaction of some residents, and the frustration of others.

City staff, Gibbs noted, recently proposed about 100 suggestions to boost the city's attractiveness to companies in Orange and San Diego counties, but added: "There's no one person who can be expected to carry it out. ... There's nobody with the expertise or experience needed on either side of the dais. We need somebody with a gigantic Rolodex with 200 CEOs' names and numbers."

Councilwoman Kelly Bennett did not return a phone call seeking comment Tuesday.

Some residents and many developers have been frustrated by Murrieta's apparent lagging behind neighbors Temecula and Lake Elsinore.

"Why is it that we have an auto mall that sits half vacant?" asked Klein, who is a consultant to developers. "Temecula continues to get new dealerships ---- Lake Elsinore gets new dealerships.

"It reflects on the city manager, because she is city manager and because she has headed up economic development. But the burden also is with the City Council. Lori isn't 100 percent culpable for the delays of the city advancing its economic goals."

McAllister, though, said the notion of splitting Moss' job between city manager and head of the city's economic development did not prompt her dismissal. Moss, he said, "has not exactly been a lightweight when it comes to that." Moss' departure, rather, is reflective of a new council whose perspectives don't entirely overlap hers, he said.

McAllister doesn't dispute a theory bandied about by some residents that Moss was perceived as too aligned with the past council. Seyarto is one of her biggest supporters.

Moss' apparent willingness to leave her post could confirm Seyarto's belief that the new council ---- particularly Gibbs ---- has become too meddlesome in the day-to-day affairs, causing tension within City Hall.

"(Gibbs) has such an oppressive and micromanaging style," Seyarto said. "He must have thought he got elected to be city manager. ... People with any caliber at all will want to leave, because they won't want to work in an environment like that."

Again, Gibbs said, Seyarto is entitled to his opinion.

-- Contact staff writer Brian Eckhouse at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2626, or beckhouse@californian.com.