Upheaval in Seaside continues as the city council places the city manager on administrative leave.

Numerous top staffers have left Seaside City Hall in recent weeks, and now it appears City Manager Jaime Fontes might be on his way out too—in a closed session City Council review of his performance Thursday night, April 18, the council put Fontes on paid administrative leave. Police Chief Nick Borges will act as city manager in his absence. 

This comes after a dispute between Fontes and City Attorney Sheri Damon in which Fontes accused Damon of acting illegally by facilitating investigations of city staff without his authorization, as required by city code. 

Per Fontes’ contract from when he was hired in June 2022, the city is required to give him 30 days of advance notice to terminate him, with or without cause. If he’s terminated without cause, he’s entitled to six months of severance—“base pay and health insurance benefits.”

Fontes’ gross monthly pay is $20,833, not including health insurance benefits, which means that if Fontes is terminated without cause it will cost the city upwards of $125,000 to make him go away, not including whatever costs the city may incur in potential litigation as a result. 

Litigation is also possible: In an email Fontes sent out to council members on Thursday afternoon, in advance of the council meeting at 5pm, he outlined actions he believed to be illegal. 

One is that, because Fontes missed an April 4 council meeting due to being out sick with Covid, he contends the staff report for an issue before the council—whether to remove the $24,000 cost cap on the contract of special counsel Don Freeman, the former city attorney—should not have included Fontes' digital signature, because he wasn’t even aware of the report. 

Another is that Mayor Ian Oglesby “ostensibly” signed a letter, using the city manager’s letterhead, to an attorney from the law firm that Freeman retained to conduct the personnel investigations without Fontes’ consent. The letter, Fontes relayed in the email, assured the attorney they will be compensated for the ongoing investigations. 

Both cases, Fontes claims, constitute fraud in two different sections of the state penal code. 

How city officials navigate the coming weeks and months remains an open question. The city’s former finance director, Victor Damiani, announced his resignation last week, April 8. That came after a letter Damiani's attorney sent to the city in early March stating, among other things, that Damiani was not comfortable making payments to an outside law firm for an investigation not authorized by the city manager, per the city’s own law—so Seaside is currently going through the process of formulating the 2024-25 fiscal year’s budget (which begins July 1) without a finance director. 

On Tuesday, April 16, City Clerk Dominique Davis sent an email to city staff and council members on behalf of Fontes. “As many of you are aware, Seaside…is currently undergoing some organizational changes," the email began. "We are committed to ensuring a smooth transition and maintaining operational excellence during this time.”

The email went on to outline efforts to fill various vacancies. It noted that efforts to fill the role of Human Resources director is "ongoing, and we anticipate filling this role soon. Once a new director is in place, a key priority will be to initiate recruitment for an assistant city manager and assistant public works director."

It also stated that, effective Monday, April 15, Jessie Riley will serve as the interim finance director (Riley presented a mid-year budget report to the council on April 18). It added that due to the departure of building official Romeo Herrera, effective April 15, an outside consultant will act as the city’s interim chief building official. 

Lastly, the email noted that Dave Fortune, a public works superintendent, is retiring after 35 years with the city. Scores of members of the public showed up to pay him tribute for his service at Thursday night's council meeting. 

For the immediate, foreseeable future, Seaside’s police chief, Borges, will act as city manager—that’s about all that is publicly known amid the staff turnover. 

Among the things that remain unknown are what the personnel investigations are about, and whether City Hall will continue bleeding members of its staff.