Jaime Fontes, former Seaside city manager, files a claim against the city.

Former Seaside city manager Jaime Fontes, who City Council terminated for no cause (“loss of confidence”) effective June 6 of this year, is not done with Seaside yet.

On July 22, Fontes filed a claim with the city for an amount that exceeds $10,000 regarding his termination. The claim, which the Weekly obtained via the California Public Records Act, puts in writing a broad set of claims against the city regarding personnel investigations that Fontes says he did not authorize, and that, as city manager, he was solely vested with the power to authorize them.

Because he was terminated for no cause, Fontes, per his contract with the city, received six months of pay ($125,000) plus six months of medical benefits. Even though his contract explicitly states he can be fired for no cause, the central thrust of his claims is that because he pushed back on the personnel investigations that he didn’t authorize, the City Council terminated him in retaliation.

The narrative laid out in the claims puts a finer point on the allegations that were broadly outlined in the Weekly’s previous reporting this year – that Fontes didn’t authorize the many personnel investigations conducted by an outside law firm, so that therefore they were unlawful.

He also claims the city committed fraud in two ways: the first due to an April 4 city report asking the City Council to amend the city’s contract with outside attorney Don Freeman (who formerly served as Seaside’s city attorney for many years) to exceed its cost cap of $24,000. That report has a digital signature from Fontes, though his claim states he never signed it, and that he had Covid-19 from April 4-8.

Another instance where Fontes claims fraud stems from an April 8 letter Mayor Ian Oglesby sent to an outside attorney whose firm was conducting the personnel investigations, and he assured her the city would pay any billings incurred. That letter was sent on the city manager’s letterhead, but Fontes claims he had no knowledge of it.

If the city denies Fontes’ claim and he files a lawsuit, it wouldn’t be the first time he’s gone to court with a local city. He served as Greenfield’s city manager from April 2017 until June 2018, then sued that city, alleging discrimination, a hostile work environment and retaliation; that lawsuit was settled in 2020 with the city agreeing to pay Fontes $250,000.

Also in 2020, Fontes sued Greenfield’s contract city attorney Mary Lerner, of the firm Lozano Smith, for “intentional interference with contractual relations.” That case was dismissed in 2021.

Seaside saw several city employees resign earlier this year – including former finance director Victor Damiani and public works director Nisha Patel – both during and in the wake of the turmoil of the personnel investigations. The City Council also hired a former employee on Aug. 1. Former city manager Craig Malin is interim city manager two days a week – he’ll be flying in and out every week from Wisconsin until a permanent city manager is hired.