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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 30, 2018
Closed Session Report Issued
Contact: Mary Locey
949-644-3031
NEWPORT BEACH, CA— On Monday, July 30, at 9 a.m. the City Council of the City of Newport
Beach (City) convened for a special closed session meeting regarding the city manager
recruitment. At the conclusion of the closed session item, City Attorney Aaron Harp read the
below Closed Session Report.
The City's recruiting firm has counseled confidentiality throughout the City
Manager application and selection process. Excellent candidates are willing to
apply if they do not have to worry that their current employers question loyalty.
The City Council agreed unanimously in Closed Session to respect
confidentiality.
The Council agreed to interview seven of the 72 applicants. After a full day of in-
person interviews (previously held on July 23), three candidates received
majority support for final interviews.
The City's recruiting firm scheduled final teleconference interviews for August 13,
2018.
Within days, rumors circulated online that purported to disclose the name of one
or more of the final candidates. The Mayor called a special meeting that moved
up the August 13 interviews to, hopefully, stop the rumors and inaccuracies and
potentially lose good candidates for this most important position.
On Saturday, July 28, Council Member Jeff Herdman issued a public statement
regarding the qualifications of the final three candidates. His statement violated
the confidentiality he agreed to uphold and contained a number of inaccurate
statements.
To set the record straight, the candidate Mr. Herdman now calls unqualified
received a bare majority of four Council Member votes. Mr. Herdman cast the
deciding fourth vote. Without Mr. Herdman's support, the candidate in question
would not be the subject of community speculation.
After conducting the final round of interviews, the Council will now pursue one of
the other two candidates. We sincerely hope that the process has not been so
compromised that the candidate refuses consideration.
Closed Session Report I Page 2 of 2