City manager misses meeting

It’s second absence in a week for Lopez, but city officials won’t discuss his status

In the past week, Hemet’s city manager has been absent from two council meetings at which he was evaluated, and city officials won’t discuss his employment status.

Christopher Lopez was evaluated by the Hemet City Council during closed sessions April12, April 26, May 4 and Tuesday, according to the agendas. He appeared at the first two sessions but was not seen during this month’s sessions, nor was his absence addressed publicly, videotapes of the meetings show.

At the second session, City Attorney Steven Pacifico Graham said after the closed-door portion that the council took no action required to be reported. At the third session, Graham said that the police chief would be in line to run the city “when the office of city manager is vacant for any reason.”

In recent days, Hemet officials and elected city leaders have either not returned calls seeking information or declined to comment on Lopez’s status with the city.

David Snyder, executive director of the First Amendment Coalition, a nonprofit group that advocates for open records, said the council isn’t required to disclose records related to closeddoor topics but needs to report any council decisions or actions after a closed session.

“The city has an obligation to inform residents if the position as important of city manager is vacant,” Snyder said. “It causes skepticism; if he is indeed fired you have to wonder why that would be … the people have the right to know.”

When asked about Lopez’s status, Graham wrote in a Wednesday email that his office was “not authorized to discuss personnel matters.”

He also said that any closeddoor action by the council “requires a public report.” Such information would be available in online minutes of meetings, via a request to the city or on videotaped meetings on Youtube, he said.

After the May 4 meeting, Graham announced that “the city

council wanted to clarify that, when the office of city manager is vacant for any reason, that the police chief, or the acting police chief, would then be the acting city manager.”

Since then, Lopez has been unavailable for comment, and Hemet officials have said they cannot discuss the topic.

Mayor Malcom Lilienthal said Monday that there was no vote during the May4 closed session, but added that if there had been, he couldn’t comment on it. Mayor Pro Tem Karlee Meyer could not be reached for comment.

Tuesday night’s agenda included another evaluation of the city manager. It also listed Lopez as the city’s representative on a closedsession discussion on labor negotiations.

At the end of the closed session, which lasted about 90minutes, there was no comment by city leaders on either of the two agenda items.

Hemet Police Chief Eddie Pust is on vacation and could not be reached, police spokesperson Alan Reyes said. Police Capt. Glen Brock, who stands in for Pust when he’s out, could not be reached for comment.

City Clerk John Paul Maier and Brenda Chavez, executive assistant to Lopez, had no comment.

According to the Brown Act, the state’s open-meetings law, after a closed session, the agency must report any action taken behind closed doors “to appoint, employ, dismiss, accept the resignation of or otherwise affect the employment status of a public employee by title of position.”

Lopez was appointed city manager in November 2019 after serving as acting city manager in March 2019. He was hired as deputy city manager in 2018 and is the city’s 13th city manager since 2000.

Lopez