City officials react to CFO’s resignation

Another top city employee has announced she’s leaving. City CFO Carmen Arrieta-Candelaria will be leaving for an unspecified private-sector job as of July 25, but the city said she won’t be getting any special severance or leave time as she departs.

“No, she will be paid until the 25th,” said Linda Ball Thomas, the city’s human resources director. “And then we will pay her vacation balances, as we would with all employees.”

According to the city, Arrieta-Candelaria was not under any special contract with the city and will not be getting any extra payments besides accumulated vacation days. As a city employee for a decade though, she does qualify for the city’s pension program.

Now the city has to focus on finding a replacement.

“We want to be able to look from within, but also to look to find somebody,” said Mayor Oscar Leeser. “And I think first we look within and then we can look nationwide.”

The choice will largely come down to City Manager Tommy Gonzalez. While establishing himself in that new position, he could also end up combining or eliminating other positions.

“We have a lot of capital improvements that we have to put in place to improve the community,” Gonzalez said. “And that costs money, and so we need to find the best ways to provide that service.”

Also leaving is Deputy City Manager Jane Shang, who will be on paid administrative leave through the end of the year and then on paid vacation through next April. That situation has caused some concern with council members, particularly about comments that Shang left because of friction with City Council.

“Any parachute, and agreement, any contract was generated by the city manager, and was not generated by the reps,” said District 8 Rep. Lily Limon. “That is not our job, that is not our role. So any accommodations that were made came from her, our past city manager.”

Arrieta-Candelaria was receiving a salary of $162,000 a year from the city, and there’s not set timeline yet for finding a replacement or dealing with other city positions under the city manager.