Jim Antonen

Jim Antonen was the City Manager until the end of January 2006. According to an article in the Davis Enterprise, he resigned at the request of the City Council.

2006-02-02 11:11:57   This presumably has nothing to do with the fact that one day earlier, he offered funding for a student project. Though that does seem a little suspicious. —BrentLaabs

2006-02-02 18:22:05   Oh, please. I don't think the City Council is going to convene an emergency meeting to fire their City Manager, whom it took 18 months to hire, just for offering funding for a student project. —GrahamFreeman

2006-02-02 21:55:29   So is the city in bad shape or something? Or is this one of those personal-indiscretions firings? —ApolloStumpy

2006-02-02 23:06:40   This guy "resigns" and gets severance pay? When do we get to hear the "real" story? —PaulThober

2006-02-03 01:05:34   I don't know what the real story is. All I know is what the Davis Enterprise's gossip-column-posing-as-an-article said, plus the City's press release. But it's quite common for executive departures to involve severance pay, and to involve the use of the term 'resignation' in public even when the term 'involuntary termination' is used in private. Nobody wants to admit they were fired, and people in management positions often have enough money and ego to make it smarter for the employer to allow them to call it a resignation. Since the confidentiality of personnel issues is generally protected by law, we may never know the "real" story. My bet is on several years of sub-par performance, but that's just speculation. I do know that you don't fire someone in whom you invested the better part of a million dollars unless there's a very good reason. —GrahamFreeman

2006-02-08 12:17:55   This is not an issue with sub-par performance. The City Staff are shielded from Council action regarding personnel issues. They can only be hired and fired by the City Manager. If the Council is unhappy, they can only take action by firing the City Manager. —SharlaDaly