Cupertino losing another city manager
Jim Throop, whose last day is July 22, is third to leave post in four years
The revolving door at Cupertino City Hall continues with the abrupt resignation of Jim Throop — the third city manager in four years to quit the job.
After a six-hour council meeting and shortly after midnight on June 22, Jim Throop submitted his resignation, stating that he had “decided to retire from local government service.” Throop, whose last day will be July 22, came to Cupertino following a three-plus-year stint as the city manager of Lompoc in Santa Barbara County. He'd only been in Cupertino for six months.
Throop did not respond to a request for comment by this news organization.
In a statement, the pro-housing group Cupertino For All called his resignation a “scathing indictment of the current city council leadership.”
“Cupertino residents should replace this current `Better Cupertino' affiliated council members with individuals who understand basic governance, the role of the city council in our manager-council form of government, and the importance of working with staff in a cooperative, productive and respectful manner,” the statement said in reference to the slowgrowth group that has backed several current council members.
The council has already offered the city's top job to the runnerup candidate found during the recent recruitment. According to a recent press release, the candidate has accepted the position, but negotiations are ongoing. And, though the city announced it had “retained” former Interim City Manager Greg Larson as a consultant to help with the transition starting July 5, it has been unable to produce a signed agreement with him, and the city attorney said negotiations are still ongoing.
To add to the mystery of Throop's pending departure, Mayor Darcy Paul asked him to keep the decision under wraps, according to an email obtained by this news organization.
Within two hours of Throop's email, Paul responded and CC'ed city attorney Chris Jensen asking if they could “hold off on making a public announcement” about his
resignation so the council could first “meet and discuss.”
“For the stability of the city, it makes sense to work together on an announcement or press release,” Paul wrote. “I would anticipate
that we could turn that around within a week.”
The city sent out a press release two days later announcing the city manager's departure. The mayor did not respond to a request for comment and instead referred questions to Jensen who said the city wanted to delay the announcement until they had a chance to meet to discuss the recruitment of a new city manager.
While the decision to hold off on announcing Throop's resignation doesn't break any laws, it raises issues around transparency and public trust, First Amendment Coalition Executive Director David Snyder said.
From a good government perspective, he said that “timely transparency is almost always the better course.”
“The public is always better served when public agencies are forthcoming and prompt about major changes like this,” Snyder added. “It only serves to foster mistrust of the government when they unnecessarily delay the shift in city policy or city staffing.”
In addition to Throop and the three previous city managers, Cupertino's had three interim city managers since 2018.
An audit conducted in 2020 by Campbell-based consulting firm Moss Adams, found the city's governance as the second-highest risk factor to the city.
According to the auditors, the city “doesn't not have a strategic plan and the council sometimes operates at more of an operational rather than strategic level, focusing on immediate action items and implementation details rather than setting long-term strategic goals.”
“This contributes to a reactive environment where staff priorities can change depending on the council's interests,” the audit said.