Cypress City Councilmembers have picked Matt Burton, the city’s director of finance, as the next top city executive after former longtime City Manager Peter Grant resigned following misconduct allegations.
It’s an allegation by longtime former city department director Doug Dancs that for months has hovered over city hall – one city officials have not publicly discussed.
Dancs – who left the city as part of an over $180,000 separation agreement – accused Grant of illegal misconduct at a public meeting in April but was abruptly cut off by the city attorney before he could elaborate on the allegations.
Last week, former city council members claimed Grant’s resignation stems from political pressure spearheaded by Mayor David Burke, who they often used to disagree with on the dais.
But Burke denied spearheading any resignation campaign and chalked the allegations up to a conspiracy theory.
At the Aug. 25 meeting, officials voted unanimously to pick Burton as interim city manager as they look for a new permanent city manager.
“I worked closely with Peter Grant for 11 years and I considered him a mentor and I appreciated all the guidance he gave me and I wish him nothing but the best,” Burton said at the Aug. 25 meeting.
“But it’s also been a very challenging few months for city staff as well as the department directors and I appreciate the city council’s support in allowing me to assist on a temporary basis to see the city through this transition period.”
The appointment comes on the heels of the Event-NewsEnterprise reporting that Grant announced his resignation to staff in a letter in mid-August following two closed-door city council meetings to evaluate his performance.
“Mr. Peter Grant has resigned his position as city manager effective immediately. The city and City Manager Peter Grant have entered into a severance agreement and general release, which is effective today, August 25,” said City Attorney Fred Galante at the Aug. 25 meeting.
Grant did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
In an Aug. 18 resignation email to staff, Grant listed his accomplishments over his 11-year tenure as city manager and thanked his colleagues but didn’t explain why he was leaving.
Under his severance agreement signed the same day, the city agreed to pay Grant over $313,000 – a year’s salary as well as nine months of medical, dental and vision benefits unless he gets another job.
The agreement also prevents Grant and city elected officials from disparaging each other.
Grant’s resignation comes months after Dancs publicly called for city officials to fire Grant for cause.
“This opinion stems from alleged unlawful misconduct during my tenure,” said Dancs at the April 28 city council meeting, before Galante interrupted him and cautioned him not to finish his remarks, pointing to a separation agreement with a confidentiality clause between Dancs and the city.
Dancs isn’t the only one to raise concerns about Grant.
Last year, Frances Marquez – a city councilwoman at the time – sued Grant and three of her colleagues on the dais – including Scott Minikus, Anne Mallari and Jon Peat for alleged harassment and retaliation for her support of changing the city’s election system.
[Read: Cypress City Councilwoman Sues Colleagues, Alleging Harassment After Voting Rights Lawsuit]
Last week, a couple of those former city council members accused Burke of orchestrating Dancs’ public comment and came out in defense of Grant.
Mallari, a former Cypress mayor, said Grant was pressured to resign for personal and political reasons and criticized the mayor’s leadership.
“Based on information shared recently with me by a local resident, it appears that the mayor may actually have orchestrated the surprise appearance of former director Dancs and the press at the April meeting,” she said at the Aug. 25 meeting
“When we elect people who lack management and leadership experience and who do not know this community well and who refuse to listen to or follow the guidance of seasoned professionals, we end up with this, a highly ineffective council that destabilizes staff, potentially derails projects, undermines the city and ultimately puts our financial security at risk,” Mallari said.
Peat, a former city councilman, said some residents supported Grant but they have been ignored by their elected leaders and called Grant’s resignation political theater.
“We’ve been subjected to grotesque political theater designed to craft a rationale for the removal of the city manager from his position,” said Peat, whose wife currently sits on the city council, at the Aug. 25 meeting.
“A meeting that began by honoring the city manager for his many achievements over the years, ended with the staged appearance of a former employee who made accusations against the city manager.”
Burke called those claims “conspiracy theories” in a Tuesday email statement and said his focus is on addressing the concerns of residents as well as improving the city’s parks.
“I’m not going to engage in a discussion about the incoherent conspiracy theories peddled by some current and former council members,” he wrote.
“I hope my colleagues will focus their energy on substantive issues as well. We simply have too much work to do to get bogged down in pettiness and personal attacks.”
At the meeting last week, Burke said he recognized people’s frustration over the lack of information on Grant’s resignation due to confidentiality laws and called on residents to move past the “ugliness and division” at recent council meetings.
“We have to accept that there are things we can’t discuss and not fill that void with accusations and speculation because I don’t think that helps anybody, as others have acknowledged, this is going to be something of a time of transition,” he said.
Norma Stein, a retired human resources executive, also pushed back against the allegation that Burke orchestrated Dancs’ comment.
“It’s time that we stop casting aspersions on the city council,” she said.
Thomas Moore, a resident, said he was “cautiously optimistic” about the resignation.
“While the exact reason Mr. Grant walked away from a $475,000 job remains a mystery, his voracious appetite for power at the expense of democracy is well documented, and Grant’s self-serving actions didn’t exist in a vacuum. It took the complicity of at least six former and current council members to allow Grant to act with impunity,” he said at the Aug. 25 meeting.
According to Transparent California, Grant made over $450,000 in total and benefits as the city manager in 2022.
Councilman Kyle Chang thanked Grant for his service.
“I know for you guys that this process feels very partisan but I’m really hoping that we can come together and work on the next steps of navigating through this transition period and finding a new city manager together,” he said at the Aug. 25 meeting.
Councilwoman Bonnie Peat said it would be hard to move on from Grant.
“He did outstanding work within the city and I don’t want to lose sight of that,” she said at the Aug. 25 meeting.
“I wish Peter Grant well. I know he will do well wherever he ends up. I will miss him.”
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam.