City manager resigns

Decision made following two-hour closed session

After meeting in a closed session Tuesday night, the Marysville City Council voted 3-1, with one abstention, to accept the resignation of City Manager Marti Brown.

Vice Mayor Bruce Buttacavoli and council members Stephanie Mckenzie and Bill Simmons voted to accept the resignation; council member Brad Hudson voted not to accept it; Mayor Ricky Samayoa abstained.

Brown had been the city manager since Jan. 1, 2018. She said Wednesday she had no comment. Wednesday was her last day.

The council went into a closed session around 8:30 p.m. and did not reconvene until around 10:30 p.m. There were two

items listed under the closed session.

The first said “Public employee discipline/ dismissal/release” and the next item was titled “Public employment (Interim City Manager).”

Simmons said he made the motion to allow Brown to resign rather than being terminated.

Before the closed session, Simmons had asked for the proceedings to be done in an open session, but Samayoa denied the request.

“I think it’s the wrong thing to do to terminate her,” Simmons said on Wednesday. “...There were reasons that really don’t hold water.”

Samayoa said separation language was being worked out between Brown and the city and that the topic of her replacement would be discussed at a July 28 special meeting. In the meantime, Marysville Police Chief Christian Sachs will serve as acting city manager.

Simmons said he’s concerned about where the city will go from here.

He said Brown had been working on several projects and had helped the city get back on track.

“She put us back on our financial feet,” Simmons said.

His hope is that the city finds a retired city manager from the League of California Cities to serve in an interim capacity while a search is done for the permanent replacement.

Simmons also said his preference would have been to allow

Brown to help the new city manager with the transition.

“I think we made a drastic mistake,” Simmons said.