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Adams gets $71,000 settlement from Arroyo Grande

January 28, 2015
Steve Adams

Steve Adams

Threatened by a potential lawsuit, the Arroyo Grand City Council agreed to issue ousted city manager Steve Adams a settlement of more than $71,000, but the council did not meet all of his demands.

Late last year, Adams’s attorney sent a letter to the city demanding that the council award his client six months in severance pay, including salary and benefits. The demand amounted to about $107,000, and Adams’s attorney gave the city until Wednesday to respond.

On Tuesday night, the council met in closed session to discuss the matter. After the hearing, the city disclosed that it had reached a $71,073 cash settlement with Adams.

The settlement equates to about four months of total compensation for Adams, but it does not include any of the benefits he requested. In the December letter, Adams’s attorney asked the city to compensate his client with a benefits package that included the equivalent of six months of pension contributions.

Adams announced his resignation from Arroyo Grande on Oct. 1, after being the focal point of a summer-long sex scandal. In his letter of resignation, Adams stated that his departure from the city would take effect when his replacement began work.

The council placed Adams on administrative leave in November, and he received pay and benefits until the interim city manager took over on Jan. 14. While Adams was on paid leave, though, he claimed the council fired him.

Adams’s contract allowed him to receive severance pay if the council fired him without cause. But, he was not eligible for the severance if he chose to resign.


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At this point all the haters are working against their own best interests. Anyone interested in applying for the job is probably reading these comments. The negativity display over the past few months most likely has scared off the best of the best (who would be interested in working with a bunch of nut jobs).


Give it a rest. Time to heal.


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Hopefully who these comments have scared off is anyone who would get drunk and then use their city office for a sobering up locale and to have “tea” with a employee they manage.


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I don’t know about “scaring off” Steve Adams clones just because he was put on paid administrative leave for screwing a subordinate is what is likely to happen.


I think the legacy of Steve Adams’ and the Ferrara-serving council members and legal counsel setting up and endorsing the financial screwing of taxpayers will actually ATTRACT Steve Adams wannabes.


Adams not only, on multiple occasions, had sex with a subordinate–for which he was not fired–he also got paid off, to the tune of $71,000 PLUS his paid administrative leave PLUS his unused vacation pay and holidays PLUS a probable six-month continuation of insurance coverage for him and his family.


I will be watching what happens with the six-month insurance deal…if the City Council okays that, then those who vote for it should be targeted for unseating in the next election.


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You Still Have Arlow Guthery & Brown & KB .. Making a big Block .. of votes , I think you need to clean house!! still Clowns .. give them all that red rubber nose award!!! this still makes me sick!


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Difficult to “heal” when sadly pathetic, aging, self-serving, subordinate-sex-surfing @ssholes like Steve Adams continue to eagerly screw the taxpayers just like he eagerly screwed McClish.


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THEY WERE ASLEEP!


McCLISH & ADAMS WERE ASLEEP!


THAT IS WHY THEY DID NOT HEAR THE KNOCKING ON THE DOORS and WINDOWS 30 minutes BEFORE THE DOORS WERE UNLOCKED!


THEY WERE ASLEEP ON ADAM’s COUCH!

( Please tell me he took that with him!)


IF THEY WERE SOBERING UP, CUDDLING or JUST TOO COMFORTABLE KNOW NOW THAT…..


THEY WERE ASLEEP!


POOR JUDGEMENT! I SAY NO JUDGEMENT!

THE COUNCIL MISSED THIER OPPORTUNITY ON JULY 8th TO TERMINATE for CAUSE.


They had better have learned their lesson!


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Things to do today. Get caught having sex. Get paid.


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Our former council’s actions, or lack thereof, have been costly to AG.

This all could/should have been avoided.

Sure, it means they would have had to terminate a popular city manager,

but popular employees get fired all the time if they’ve violated policy,

and that is what Adams did.


They believed that since Steve was such a nice guy,

they could get away without reprimanding him to the degree city policy clearly outlines,

even AFTER they were aware a previous incident had taken place.


So, Steve got a pat on the wrist, and the council hoped

it would all blow over by election time.


HA! Residents know when they smell a rat,

and few appreciated Adams receiving preferential treatment. Blaming the POA, the Save Ag website- – -what BUNK!


C’mon, Adams should have been TEMINATED WITH CAUSE.


We can only hope our current “friends of Adams” council members

have learned their lesson.

Residents ARE paying attention,

we can/will make our voices heard.

Our council WILL be held accountable.


Rules are in place for a reason, it is best, and fair

if they are followed by everyone.


While it infuriates me that he will be paid a penny,

we are good to be done with him,

and as a result of his poor judgment, Ferrara as well.


Good riddance.

Lets move on.


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Maybe we should be grateful it was only $71,000? Sounds like others have received more. His chances of being hired elsewhere? Not very good if they just Google his name!


I agree, let’s move on. Our new council has been working well together, and new placements on commissions will bring a fresh perspective to our town.


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I agree, at some point we have to move on, but under no freaking circumstances should we be “grateful” that we “only” got sodomized by Adams to the tune of $71,000. The reality is, we still got sodomized by Adams, and whether it is $1 or $71,000, it still does not change the nature of what he has sodomized our city and its taxpayers.


And if our City Council pays 6 months worth of benefits, I will be outraged. He already has a big chunk of change for vacation/sick time.


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Five years from now, it is my hope that people will not remember Adams.

Heck, they hardly remember Ed Arnold and his tales were much more juicy!


If they do remember Adams, it is my desire that he will be remembered for lying to the citizens, the Council, the Police, and his family.


He is a liar. If he did anything good for our city, it was wiped out will his sickening “resignation advertisement” and his continual denial of his own shortcomings.


Adams and Ferrara were both thrown under the bus by the whole July 3rd incident! .


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Oh, I’ll remember Adams….every time I find out where he is applying for a GM job, I will make sure the potential city victims get a complete 411 on Adams.


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I hope the legacy of Adams, Ferrara and their toadies on the city council will be remembered for a very, very long time.


If we don’t remember, we risk complacency which leads to allowing it to happen again.


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Steve Adams:


Things to do today:


1. Send roses to McClish

2. Buy green tea

3. get ones from bank

4. go to strip club!


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The government gravy train is one train that’s never late!


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As related to Adams being an unethical and dishonest manager, this is pretty much the proof in the pudding.


In view of everything that happened, Adams did not deserve this payday of tax payers money …but he played the system.


For those who defended him, now you see his true colors.


To the Tribune: Your defense of this payout is shameful and I disrespect your editorial staff as much as I do Adams and Ferrara.


To the previous council members (Ferrara, Barneich, Costello, Guthrie and Brown) who set this craziness in place, SHAME on your lack of foresight. You trusted that Adams would resign and with Carmel’s blessing, he sliced you and diced you.


To city attorney Carmel you need to go… the sooner the better !!!


To Mayor Hill and Councilmember Harmon. Stay the course and help the city get back on track.


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QUOTE: “To the previous council members (Ferrara, Barneich, Costello, Guthrie and Brown) who set this craziness in place, SHAME on your lack of foresight. You trusted that Adams would resign and with Carmel’s blessing, he sliced you and diced you.”


———————–


The only exception I have with the above quote is this: I don’t believe for one second that Ferrara, Barneich, Costello, Guthrie and Brown believed Adams would do what he promised, or even cared when he didn’t.


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Another government give away of taxpayer’s money. At some point there is going to have to be some type of citizen’s oversight committee’s to be formed to monitor the contracts and benefit packages that these government employees give themselves.

The old term that they need to do this to get top people is a myth. Just look at what happened with Adams behavior here which evidently is going to be fanancially rewarded. You have the former city manager of Atascadero who set himself up with accrued vacation and sick leave benefits, contrary to city policy, and when everything started to go into the dumps he was rewarded with $144,000 upon leaving town. The cases go on and on.

Sooner or later I hope some agency will stand up to these people and actually take them to court and overlook the threats. It may initially cost more but in the long run it may eliminate the threats that these government agencies succumb to.


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It is important to note that the 11/19/14 Council “accepted the resignation” prior to the seating 12/1/14 of Write In Jim Hill Mayor Arroyo Grande 2014and Barbara Harmon for AG City Council.


It is also important to note that the (bad advice) action was “blessed” by AG City Legal Counsel, Timothy Carmel & Naccasha LLP. After 21 years together, it is definitely time for Arroyo Grande to look at changing their legal representation.


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Actually the council DID NOT accept the resignation.


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What resignation??, Oh that’s right the A.G. city attorney did not protect the taxpayers by making sure the city council actually got Mr. Adams’s “letter of resignation”, he was too busy protecting the former mayor and Mr. Adams from yet another moment of weakness.


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