Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/chris-zapata/)
Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu admits there is no good time to change City Managers, but there are certainly worse times than others, and wise leaders are expected to know the difference. Council members Denise Barnes and Jose Moreno cast two dissenting votes against removing Chris Zapata from his position as Anaheim City Manager on April 21st, and they offer Voice of OC readers their reasons for that opposition.
Anaheim City Council members’ decision to fire City Manager Chris Zapata in the middle of the novel coronavirus pandemic with no public critique of his work – a move that cost taxpayers roughly $475,000 in severance pay – has heightened accountability and transparency concerns among some council members and residents.
Anaheim’s City Council sacked City Manager Chris Zapata, after he raised concerns last month over a $6.5 million city bailout for Visit Anaheim, the advertising arm of the Disneyland-area resort industry, and it’s executives’ high salaries.
Zapata, who offered to take a pay cut, in an emailed memo proposed the same for Visit Anaheim executives who make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in salary. The same day he sent the memo, an online city agenda item began circulating for a closed door discussion about Zapata’s firing or resignation.
Zapata took his post in 2018, and has since overseen the city’s day-to-day administration.
Anaheim City Council members voted unanimously Tuesday to appoint Chris Zapata as the new city manager, ending a more than year-long leadership transition where three top executive roles were filled by temporary replacements.
Anaheim City Council members Tuesday will consider appointing Chris Zapata, the former city manager of San Leandro, as the city’s top executive, less than a week after Zapata announced he would step down from leading the city of 90,000. Zapata had been accused, and cleared, of sexual misconduct while city manager.