NEW: Sculley withdraws as manager candidate
Web Posted: 04/13/2005 04:08 PM CDT
Greg Jefferson
San Antonio Express-News
Sheryl Sculley today withdrew her name from consideration as San Antonio city manager soon after learning that Councilman Julián Castro would come out against her proposed contract, Mayor Ed Garza announced this afternoon.
"I think we lost probably one of the best city managers in the United States," Garza said. He blamed Sculley's withdrawal partly on mayoral politics – Castro is one of three serious contenders for the city's top office.
"You've got to take into account the political season," Garza said. "I think the mayoral dynamics were certainly dynamic."
According to the mayor, Sculley learned from a local Web site that Castro had scheduled a news conference this afternoon to announce his opposition to the pact. She then called Garza to pull out.
"On Monday after completing contract negotiations, I informed the San Antonio mayor and City Council that I would come to San Antonio if their vote were unanimous," Sculley said in a written statement. "I learned today that this will not be the case."
She thanked officials here "for offering me this opportunity."
Councilwoman Patti Radle also publicly sided today against the agreement, which would've paid Sculley $265,000 a year and additional benefits.
The 52-year-old manager emerged three weeks ago as the council's lone finalist, easily surpassing four other candidates.
But since the mayor's office released details of the pact Tuesday, people angry about Sculley's proposed salary have sounded off Wednesday on radio call-in programs and online polls and forums. And they've contacted their council members, said Castro during a news conference, holding up a sheaf of e-mailed complaints.
"I think (Sculley) wants unanimity from the council," Castro said, "but I don't think unanimity means anything" without the public's support.
Castro said he also considered her proposed salary out of line with what other cities pay their managers, even though he believed her to be "a very impressive candidate."
"What the City Council put on the table is well above the industry standard," Castro said.
He said he'd spoken up against paying Sculley a $265,000 salary during a closed-door bargaining session last week. Garza confirmed Castro's opposition last week.
Last year, Dallas’s chief executive earned the highest pay for a city manager at $263,000. Phoenix’s City Manager Frank Fairbanks, who’s held the job for 15 years, draws a salary of nearly $205,000.
Phoenix is the largest U.S. city that operates under the manager-council form of government, followed by San Antonio, which paid its last city manager $206,000 per year.
"I think it certainly got her attention," Garza said, that a person who could be San Antonio's next mayor was coming out against her proposed contract.
A second manager search, Garza said, will have to wait until the next City Council and mayor take office in June.
I'm a PM also and I guess still learning and suprised how many positions a PM can hold.
She certainly was the best qualified, but I agree, her contract was to high. Even though we're the second largest to operate by manager, I think our pay still should be a lot lower.
When I heard that one of her conditions was a unanimous vote from city council I knew it would never happen. They can only seem to do that on really important things like strippers...
Castro is an idiot...
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