Front Page  »  

Former Morro Bay attorney takes job in Los Gatos

December 3, 2013
Rob Schultz

Rob Schultz

Former Morro Bay city attorney Robert Schultz is moving to Los Gatos to begin working as the Los Gatos city attorney.

The Los Gatos Town Council unanimously approved the hiring of Robert Schultz as the new Town Attorney at its regular meeting Monday evening.

“It is an honor to be selected as the Town Attorney and I am excited about living and working in Los Gatos,” Schultz said.

In November, the Morro Bay Council terminated Schultz for reasons not disclosed to the public. The city of Morro Bay paid Schultz $163,235 to resign from his position.

 


Loading...
Subjects:             
Related:


142 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

success in your new career

don’t let the door hit you in the rear

as you exit Morro Bay and enter the New Year


0

Lets just sum things up at this point:


I see a bunch of worthless claims:


Two complaints from citizens that funds were wrongly placed

(they weren’t if you actually read and look at the leases which are public info.)


Brown Act violations

(which Schultz instructed council to correct and they didn’t)


A separation agreement

(for full severance and no cause)


I see 17+ years of good decisions by Schultz and Leuker:


1. Chevron negotiations


2. Power plant negotiations with Dynegy and PG&E


3. Putting funds into the reserve fund for when the power plant stops running


4. Less litigation issues in the city


5. Volunteering at numerous city functions


I see one year of horrible decisions by Irons:


1. Pulling the WWTP from the CCC instead of working with them

(Which was a 40 million dollar+ mistake.)


2. Firing Schultz without cause for full severance, and no plan of recession.

(When he later got hired 15 days later.)


3. Firing Leuker without cause for full severance, and no plan of recession.

(And now she won’t even take full severance and wants more.)


All while Schultz worked for 17 years under 9 different mayors.

Who all gave above satisfactory reviews.


And Irons in his 1st year became Mayor before even being on city council decided to proceed with firing these two after the public was clearly against the firings.


0

Congrats to Schultz, he did a fine job for Morro Bay and our loss is a huge gain for Los Gatos. The sad part is what irons, smuckler and c. johnson put him through – a 2 month termination debacle, hostile work environment and needless stress. While I am confident that his agreement has a “no lawsuit” clause, as clever as he is, I am wondering when the first lawsuit will be delivered to irons, smuckler and c. johnson.


0

By landing a job so quickly shows what an incredible reputation Shultz has in the legal community and with other Cities. He is known statewide and I was told his phone was ringing off the hook the minute Irons announced he was firing him. Apparently, he had multiple offers to choose from. Los Gatos is very lucky.


0

Maybe we could hire Judith Propp, City Attorney from Los Gatos, since they make such fine decisions. She is still listed on the City’s directory. Obviously, this city works in slow mode. Rob should do well there.


0

Nice backhanded compliment to Rob. Stay classy, BIRD…..


0

I understand the frustration of the anti-change minority in Morro Bay – I really do, but perhaps if you had allowed Mr. Irons enough time to actually fail before trying to recall him, you would be taken more seriously. The recall effort looks and smells badly of opportunism and fear. Of course, your leaders on the national level have set the tone for you with their attempt to sabotage a president before he even started. Won’t you consider putting your energies into defeating Irons in a straight up election rather than wasting Morro Bay’s time and money with the recall? Either way, I wish you all the best. Peace.


0

I think the failure is evident. He botched the firings and made a huge mistake with the power plant. In addition, why is it wrong to fight a politician and hope for failure of policies that you are certain will be harmful? That was about huge policy disagreements. Of course everyone wants the nation to succeed. Hoping that destructive policies never make their way to law (thus the failure of the President to implement his agenda) is something totally different. You are lying to yourself f you think that Liberals do anything or would do anything other than obstruct what they think to be bad policy.


0

He already has FAILED. What are you talking about?


0

Enough time to actually fail? He already did that.


He has screwed up on three different huge issues in under a year in office.

WWTP, No cause firing of Schultz, No cause firing of Leuker.

He has showed that he has no idea what he is doing.


We are supporting the recall because we don’t want Irons in office to make any more irrational decisions. Otherwise he will have 6 months where he knows he is soon to leave office.


For those who say the recall effort is silly because Mayor Irons could still win the election but lose a recall and have to sit out 6 months (written in a bay news opinion) that is foolish.


For the recall too happen there would have to be an overwhelming amount of support in favor of Irons leaving office immediately. Which I believe there is. He would not win the election and lose the recall.


Basically we are eliminating a lame duck period of 6 months.


Think of if Mr. Iron’s manages to continue to make mistakes as bad as this?


0

None of those sound like failures to me – they sound like steps taken that you disagree with. Wouldn’t your claims hold more weight if say, after this and other steps, at the end of his term, Irons was proven to be a failure? With all the revealing news stories coming out of Morro Bay lately, wouldn’t you want to wait and see? I think the fact that Irons appears to know exactly what he’s doing is what is bothering people.


0

Isn’t 11 months of a 24 month commitment enough time?


0

In the past, politicians have gotten their evaluations handed to them at election time. I guess that is changing.


0

Win-win for everyone involved. Makes me think of the sports coach that gets fired for the sole reason that the team needs a change. The coach isn’t necessarily a bad coach, in fact may be very good, but things have stagnated under his leadership – he goes to another job and does very well and his old team hires a new coach that takes them in the direction they want to go in and they also do very well. Everyone coexists.


0

Or the manager just has no idea what he’s doing, so the organization continues to fail under the next coach…


0

I am hoping for that for Irons.


0

First off the City Attorney does not provide leadership. His job is to provide legal advice to the City and protect it from litigation and loss. Under Schultz, the Cities legal fees were reduced drastically and also the number of lawsuits. Are you aware that there were 15 ligation matters before Schultz took over and when he left there were three. Are you aware that a large percentage of our reserves is because of refunds from our Insurance carriers because of the lack of claims against the City.


Unfortunately, the new coach (attorney) will not do well and it will be a hell of a lot more expensive. The Irons RFP wants to hire outside attorney for 25 hours of office time plus going to the meetings. A $250. hour (Simas rate) this equates to $360,000., more than double what we were paying for Schultz and we had him for 50-60 hours a week. Also, outside attorneys do not care about the community or the budget so when its said and done we will be back to paying over $500k a year for new coach (attorney) with less expereince and knowledge. great move Irons!


0

Sports analogies aren’t perfect – try to use your imagination a little. And aren’t you being a little pessimistic about our future attorney’s performance? Don’t you want this person to succeed, whomever he or she turns out to be?


0

Just being honest. Schultz was an incredible attorney. Who actually cared as evidenced by his volunteering for the community and his countless hours he worked.


The new attorney is going to cost well over $300,000 a month. To make it worth that we better get freaking Johnnie Cochran.


0

I don’t know much about volunteering (tried it once and thought it was too much work) but I would guess there are some “rules” (like in Fight Club): Something like “Volunteering Rule #1: Never talk about volunteering.” So should something that someone does VOLUNTarily keep being used as a reason for them to keep their job until the day they retire?


0

It speaks to the morals and character of those we had in office. They were not just here to make there $250 from Morro Bay. They were servants of the city. And serve us well they did.


0

“They were servants of the city. And serve us well they did.”


The roads have sure been in great condition the past 10 years!


0

That has absolutely nothing to do with the city attorney.


0

I was referring to the City Manager. Does the condition of the streets have something to do with the City Manager?


0

Not amused.


0

No, but amusING.


0

givemeabreak2……tell that to a bunch of children in our county. All politics aside. It is really SAD that you would make fun of helping the less fortunate.: (


0

Sorry : {o —


0

I guess this says alot for the justification for severance pay? Not a bad payoff for being out of work for a couple of weeks. Maybe someone is really trying to clean the system up. The real truth will be what Iron’s and freinds give to their future replacements. If they curtail these giveaways they will have my support.


0

The new city attorney will have no severance pay because it has already been determined that he will not be a full time salaried city attorney. Instead he will make $150-$300 per hour. Compared to Schultz’s $152,000 and benefits.


But because of the amount of time it takes to deal with Morro Bays complicated issues (WWTP, Power Plant, Harbor issues, own fire department, and police department).


It will quickly be in the $300,000 range. At which point a new RFP will go out for a full time attorney just like what happened to Schultz in 1998 when he became the full time city attorney.


This was a foolish mistake by Iron’s and company indeed.


This whole, “severance,” situation would be avoided if they eliminated him at his yearly evaluation that has come up every year. Or if they had any real reason.


0

This attempt at political cleansing on behalf of the Irons regime in order to promote this new so called progressive agenda, speaks volumes about their lack of character, integrity and govern responsibly.


0

edit: and ability


0

The fact that the Council majority has the courage and common sense to clean up the inefficiency and corruption in Morro Bay speaks volumes about their outstanding character, integrity, and ability to govern responsibly.


Despite vicious attacks by a small minority of people who think they own the town, Jamie, Christine and Noah are continuing to do what has to be done to clean up the incredible mess that prior councils and certain senior staff members created.


0

There was no mess created before!


They fired two incredible employees, without cause, and gave them 300,000 in severance, while also costing 50 million extra by withdrawing the WWTP.


What don’t you understand?


0

Yes, there was a mess created by the prior councils – including a ridiculous WWTP project that violated numerous Local Coastal Plan policies AND the California Coastal Act AND Morro Bay zoning. The prior councils wasted millions on a project that they were warned was doomed for the above reasons.


Under their “leadership”, the streets crumbled, the sewer lines deteriorated, and the state of our drinking water supply worsened to an alarming degree.


Residents were forced to subsidize local builders when building impact fees were lowered instead of being raised, even though a substantial increase in the fees had been recommended by a respected financial consulting company brought in to recommend ways to improve the City’s financial situation.


Special treatment was given to “insiders” who got building permits for projects that violated the Local Coastal Plan and local ordinances.


Yes, it was a mess alright – thanks to the arrogance of people who were primarily focused on looking out for the interests of the members of their little clique, rather than those of the majority of residents.


Thank goodness we now have people in charge who have the courage and insight to clean up this town.


0

Baloney (Cal Coast – are you going to delete this one, like usual?)


0

You really have no idea what you are talking about on so many levels.


The CCC was working with us to find a solution for the WWTP that meets both of our needs and Irons failed miserably. There are ways to work around the 100 year flood plain issue and that would be considerably cheaper.


If you watched the meeting with the CCC where Irons requested for it to be denied you would realize that.


I am not looking out for the interest of any specific members, but is best for the majority of the community. Iron’s and yourself clearly have no idea what is best for the city of Morro Bay and it is quite frustrating. I feel like I am talking to a wall.


0

Not so, mb20. I know exactly what I am talking about and you know it. I did watch that whole meeting, and that request for denial by Irons had no more weight with the Commissioners than Enns’ request for a withdrawal instead. Since you watched, I assume you did hear Enns speak.


The Commissioners knew full well that both Morro Bay and Cayucos had a stake in the outcome, and that Irons and Enns wanted different things. They had absolutely no reason to favor the wishes of one man over those of the other. They made their decision based on facts, not what one individual wanted.


What clearly swayed the Commissioners was the CCC staff report listing the numerous violations of the Local Coastal Plan, and noting the fact that building a WWTP in that area would violate the zoning.


These are facts that cannot be changed no matter how hard someone tries to spin this situation to use it against Irons.


Equally important is the fact that no one who spoke against the project had anything personal to gain by doing so – no money, no business advantage – nothing other than ensuring that the new WWTP is built in a safe location so that we won’t have to build another one in ten years to replace one that got inundated with flood water and failed to function.


0

Council majority in the same sentence with courage and common sense is an oxymoron. This is nothing more an attempt to rid the city of any political opponents while gaining indisputable power. Sounds a bit fascist.. now doesn’t it?


0

Different leaders have different styles.


0

The key word here being “leader.” The current Mayor is NOT a leader in any sense of the word…thus the inevitable recall.


0

Statistically speaking, experience is not a reliable indicator of job performance.


0

Let’s hear all those statistics!


0

answer: methodology ; )


0

I didn’t realize that “arrogant” and “pompous” were styles of leadership….


0

when dribbling the ball make sure your not dribbling,

some of your facts are questionable at best


0

aggressive bully intimidation, by thugs


0

Thugs???? I have my Ughs on. It is cold outside Coco!


0

12/03/2013 at 11:12 am


And in breaking news: At the special closed session today to terminate City Manager, Andrea Leuker, one person spoke in favor of what the current City Council was going to do. One person! This council majority represents no one. Call 464-8798 to sign the recall.


0

I missed the meeting, what were the results from close session? I’m assuming they went through with terminating her 3-2 with League and Nancy against?


And do they have an interim interim city manager now too?


0

There was no reportable action from the closed session. So the Council adjourned without taking any action.


0

Thanks! Sounds like they are going to continue dragging this out until they have someone new in line. At least they learned from how badly they botched Schultz’s resignation. I bet Leuker stays city manager through the RFP process.


Either that or Leuker isn’t settling and is taking them for court for defamation of character, hostile work environment etc..,


0

I think they have actually moved very swiftly on all of this. In fact, wasn’t that one of the big Recallers’ complaints – that Irons was taking all these actions without getting more public input and taking more time to find replacements? I don’t know – it’s getting hard to keep up with the Recallers. I suppose they are all pro-CCN now, until the next George Leage story.


0

I think the firings were dragged out way to long. There was no need for all of the public input and disclosure of the process. I wonder who began leaking that information? It is clear that they had no plans to handle this as the city had nobody prepared to negotiate the settlements. I don’t think the agenda for the private sessions needed to be public information and that this should have been quiet until the agreements were in place. The recall should go forward do to that mishandling as well as the WWTP. Why is it that the opponents are so fearful of this recall process and wish to limit the rights of those bringing the actions?


0

No swiftly is how Los Gatos handled the situation.


The attorney said she wanted to retire soon, they kept her and then sent out an RFP, waited till the RFP was over and then hired Rob Schultz with no issues.


Taking two months to fire Leuker and still having no idea who to replace her with and being unable to reach a settlement agreement is NOT a swift move.


0

They represent no one? I guess that’s why they defeated your candidates by such huge majorities – and if you think that’s not going to happen again, dream on.


The supporters of the Council majority do not feel it necessary to stage demonstrations every time the Council is going to make a decision. The drama queens all seem to be part of the small minority we call the old boy/old girl club.


0

It sure doesn’t seem like that to me,

have you actually talked to people in the community?

Do you see how many dislikes you get on each post you make?

Do you watch the city council meetings?


Time will tell whether or not its a, “small minority,” still.

Irons has not lived up to his campaign promise of, “transparency,” and has made several huge mistakes in the management of this city already.


To say that because they were elected by a majority a year and a half ago does not mean that people still feel the same way about these candidates. Most people in this city I believe recognize the mistake they made electing Mayor Irons.


We will know soon enough how many people still support Mayor Irons (in June that is).


0

I do watch the Council meetings and keep track of who posts here – the latter being, for the most part, the people who click thumbs-up or thumbs-down.


The ones on the anti-Irons side are from that small minority of people who make a lot of noise in hopes that will make up for a lack of numbers.


0

Well time will tell.


0

Again, you attack the messenger instead of the message.


You have absolutely no way to know the numbers of participants here who support or don’t support Irons. So you have zero evidence of any “lack of numbers.”


0

Sure I do. Check out the results of the June, 2012 election.


0

That was the June 2012 election.

The June 2013 election will be after Irons has shown he has no idea how to be mayor. That makes a big difference doesn’t it?


0

Your statement is insulting, inaccurate, and a weak ad hominem attack.


If you cannot support Irons with valid means, then just give it up. If you have to stoop to attacking the messenger, then your opinion is weak and unsupported.


0

If you’ll read our posts more carefully, you’ll see that we are all (on both sides) very capable of making our points while delivering quality ad hominem attacks at the same time.


0

Everyone is pretty good with personal attacks as well.


0

“while delivering quality ad hominem attacks at the same time”


No , also 2 users banned today for just that sort of behavior.


We could always go to facebook comments, is that what you want?


0

3 months, as of December 10th, to terminate an at will employee – that along speaks volumes of the failure to lead by this council majority “led” by irons.


0
1 2 3