City Manager Jim Vanderpool at the Anaheim City Council meeting on Jan. 13, 2026. Credit: ERIKA TAYLOR, Voice of OC
Anaheim City Manager Jim Vanderpool has collected his personal items from his office after facing renewed scrutiny for his close relationship with Disneyland Resort interests.
It also comes as Vanderpool added a “public employee resignation” notice at the 11th hour to the city council’s closed session meeting on Tuesday.
City Spokesman Mike Lyster confirmed in a text message Monday that Vanderpool collected his belongings from his office on the seventh floor of city hall after security would not let a reporter view his office on Monday morning without an appointment.
“We can share that Jim has collected personal items from his office. Beyond that, the office is not a publicly accessible space,” he wrote.
For years, Vanderpool has faced ongoing criticism for his close ties with resort interests.
After an FBI corruption probe hit city hall in 2022 and tanked a lopsided deal to sell Angel Stadium deal, a 2023 report from city hired investigators detailed how Vanderpool was keen on an Anaheim Chamber of Commerce-backed plan to withhold more than $100 million in bond repayment money from the city’s general fund – money that was long promised to be a tax windfall to the city’s most flexible fund.
That scrutiny intensified recently in the wake of a TimesOC article in January revealing thatVanderpool did not disclose a trip with Anaheim Chamber of Commerce officials to Lake Havasu right before city council members voted to finalize the Angel Stadium Sale in 2020 backed by the chamber.
The news reporting was based on emails released by new leadership at the Chamber of Commerce to reporters.
Tuesday’s city council agenda was revised by Saturday to include an item related to a public employee resignation at the 4 p.m. closed session meeting.
Lyster said in a Sunday email that Vanderpool requested the item.
“As a closed session item, I’m unaware of what the Council may receive on Tuesday. The city manager sought and placed the item on the agenda, and it is our understanding there are no financial aspects to it. Beyond that, we want to respect that this is a closed session, personnel item,” he wrote.
Vanderpool did not respond to questions on whether he submitted a letter of resignation.
In a Jan. 11 email to city council members, Vanderpool said he didn’t know that the chamber paid for the rental unit he stayed in, he only stayed two nights and that the food and beverages he brought would have offset the need to report the stay.
Mayor Ashleigh Aitken said in a Sunday text she was unaware of Vanderpool submitting a letter of resignation.
It all comes as city officials are starting to mull over the future of Angel Stadium, with another deal seemingly on the horizon again after a previous sale attempt imploded in the fallout of an FBI corruption probe in 2022.
Aitken spearheaded a closed session meeting last month to question Vanderpool about why he didn’t disclose the Lake Havasu trip paid by the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce on his statement of economic interests.
On Tuesday, Aitken is also calling on her colleagues – some who voiced support for Vanderpool – to release a memo by the city’s ethics officer about gift reporting requirements and an analysis of the city manager’s trip to Havasu.
The mayor isn’t the only one questioning Vanderpool’s undisclosed trip.
The Fair Political Practices Commission, the state’s campaign finance watchdog, is investigating Vanderpool for potential violations to the economic interests disclosure clause of the Political Reform Act.
Editor’s note: Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken’s father, Wylie Aitken, chairs Voice of OC’s board of directors.
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam.
