Making History

Council actions a first

About Town – TUESDAY, 4/15/25

The city council made history last week when they placed City Manager Scott Carney on paid admin leave. That’s never happened before in Lodi. And should council members later decide to terminate Mr. Carney, that, too, would be historic. It’s never happened before here. Carney is Lodi’s eighth manager since the city adopted the city manager form of government back in 1948. History shows that the top spot can be a fraught position. While no city manager has ever been fired from his post, that doesn’t mean there haven’t been close calls. The city’s second CM Henry Glaves served for about 20 years in the top spot. However, he came close to losing his job when at least two councilmen wanted him gone. However, an alleged Brown Act violation by three council members threw a wrench into their plans to force him out. Glaves’ successor Tom Peterson ran into trouble when a disgruntled former firefighter got elected to the council. His sole purpose was apparently to get Peterson fired. It didn’t work, but he made life miserable for Peterson until he retired in 1995 after 10 years at the helm. Finance Director Dixon Flynn was hired to replace Peterson. All was well until the seventh year of Flynn’s term when someone was elected to the council who wanted him gone. Flynn retired after nine years as manager. Carney’s successor Steve Schwabauer also served for about nine years before resigning, saying “It’s time.”

PUBLIC SPEAKING: There was a large public turnout at last week’s special city council meeting held to consider Carney’s fate. Public comments were allowed, even though it wasn’t on the agenda. The gathering of concerned citizens was generated in large part because of an email sent to Chamber of Commerce members by its president and CEO, JP Doucette. “In light of recent allegations regarding the misuse of public funds, it is concerning that the very person who authorized the internal audit to bring these issues to light is being considered for termination,” said his memo. In the end council members put Carney on paid leave and vowed to bring in outside people to ferret out the truth of his claims and to run the city in the meantime. But not everyone was happy with the decision. Someone identifying himself as “Mr. Jones” writes to this column, “The Council listened and brought in a qualified and experienced city manager with a mission to improve the agency and break old habits, only to leave him with no support as he attempted to carry out the assignment.”

EGG SCRAMBLE: It was every boy and girl for themselves last Saturday morning at Hutchins Street Square. Several hundred