National City residents urged the City Council on Sept. 2 to appoint an independent, professional city manager and demanded transparency over public records before the council recessed into closed session to consider the appointment and several legal matters.

Mika Planko, a public commenter, said, "I believe we need an independent and accountable City Manager," and accused the mayor and two council members of obstructing the city manager's ability to run day-to-day city operations. Planko also alleged that the phone of former city manager Benjamin Martinez "vanished after public records were requested" and said documents produced in response to a records request contained redactions.

Louisa McCarthy, another public commenter, said National City "is supposed to function in a city-manager form of government" and repeated that the city manager should be independent and enforce the National City Municipal Code. McCarthy and other speakers also alleged that the mayor's assistant had "improperly touched and commented on the physical attributes of a city employee," and criticized a fast-tracked scheduling of a closed-session item and subsequent changes to the city's claim form after a records request.

Alexander Guthrie, identified by the clerk as a public commenter, told the council that the mayor and the mayor's assistant, "with the support of 2 council members, have usurped the authority of the city manager," and accused them of obstructing the ability to discipline employees and of failing to produce public records related to a planning commission-rejected public-health-nuisance project.

Daniel Kaye, another public commenter, framed the city manager role as a nonpolitical professional administrator and said the position should be "independent of you" elected officials. Kaye cited historical reasons for a professional city manager, referencing the International City and County Management Association.

The City Attorney read the closed-session agenda items aloud immediately before the council recessed: item 5.1, "public employee employment pursuant to Government Code section 54957(b)(1)" concerning the city manager position; item 5.2, conference with legal counsel on existing litigation pursuant to Government Code section 54956.9(d)(1), naming Delgado et al. v. City of National; item 5.3, anticipated litigation (a potential case); and item 5.4, conference with labor negotiators pursuant to Government Code section 54957.6. The council announced it would report out at the end of the council meeting.

No formal votes or actions on the city manager appointment were recorded in the public portion of the meeting. The record shows the council recessed into closed session to consider the items above; the council noted that a report-out would follow later in the meeting.

Background: Commenters repeatedly urged council members to adhere to the National City Municipal Code and the Public Records Act when filling the city manager post and handling related personnel and public-record matters. They also criticized alleged conduct by the mayor's assistant and raised concerns about transparency in how records and claim forms were handled in response to public-records requests.

A report-out describing any closed-session decisions or directions was not included in the public transcript provided and was scheduled to be delivered at the end of the council meeting.