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Council introduces code change shortening city manager removal window and adding post-election protection
Summary
The council voted to introduce an ordinance that shortens the routine removal notice window for the city manager from 30 days to 10 days and creates a 90-day post-election period during which removal at will would require a four‑fifths council vote.
Interim City Manager James Lindsay presented proposed amendments to Lodi Municipal Code section 2.12.005 concerning removal of the city manager. Lindsay said the changes respond to recent experience with the code and would shorten the normal removal notice window from 30 days to 10 days. The proposal also includes a 90-day period following council elections during which removing a city manager at will would require a four-fifths vote of the council.
Lindsay described the change as a staff recommendation based on council direction; council asked no follow-up questions and there were no public comments during the hearing. The council moved to waive the first reading and introduce the ordinance; the motion passed.
The ordinance will proceed through the council’s standard reading and adoption process. The change alters the procedural timetable for a personnel removal action and adds a higher supermajority threshold to protect managerial continuity immediately after elections.
