Residents urge National City council to appoint independent city manager as council recesses to closed session

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…