Three Manteca city leaders — the police chief, the city manager, and the finance director— have been placed on administrative leave and another terminated pending some sort of an investigation.
The city will not say what led to the shakeup. Manteca Mayor Ben Cantu described it only as “a perfect storm” of employee issues (ABC 10).
"I feel it is important that you have reassurance that city hall is not 'going to hell,'" Cantu wrote on Facebook. "City hall is still under management and public services provided and conducted (without disruption) by the same experienced employees that have been doing so for years."
The sequence of events was as follows, per to ABC 10 News:
Finance Director Jeri Tejada was placed on paid leave back in September by City Manager Tim Ogden. Ogden was then put on paid leave that same month by the Manteca City Council. Manteca PoliceChief Jodie Estarziau was placed on paid leave on Wednesday, Nov. 13, and temporarily replaced by police captain Mike Aguilar.
To add to the list, Community Development Director Greg Showerman quit in October for another job with the City of Modesto.
The matter is now in the hands of “fair, impartial outside investigators,” said Johanna Ferreira with the City Attorney’s Office.