Morro Bay moves forward on terminating city attorney and manager

November 13, 2013

The Morro Bay City Council voted unanimously Tuesday evening to approve a severance agreement with city attorney Robert Schultz and 3-2 to begin negotiations to oust city manager Andrea Lueker.

Mayor Jamie Irons along with council members Christine Johnson and Noah Smukler voted to terminate Lueker. Council members Nancy Johnson and George Leage opposed the action.

Lueker will continue to manage the city while her severance package is negotiated.

Irons asked the city council to approve another $5,000 for attorney Steven Simas to handle negotiations with Lueker. The council had already approved $20,000 for Simas to construct an agreement with Schultz.

In addition to the settlement agreement costs, the city is required to pay both terminated employees nine months of severance pay which amounts to about $114,000 each.

In early September, Irons began promoting the terminations of Schultz and Lueker. Irons has not stated publicly why he has called for the termination of the city’s top two employees and is now facing a recall effort.

Iron cites employee confidentiality as the reason he is not telling the public why he wants the city’s two at-will employees terminated.