Lodi City Council votes 5–0 to publish resolution to begin removal process for city manager

Lodi City Council voted unanimously in closed session Tuesday to publish a preliminary resolution to begin the formal process of removing city manager Scott R. Kearney. The action, reported out by the city attorney after the closed session, also continues Kearney’s suspension and the appointment of the acting city manager.

The move came after the city attorney announced the closed-session agenda would include consideration of a preliminary resolution under Lodi Municipal Code section 2.12.050 and a conference with legal counsel under Government Code section 54957(b). In the public comment period before the council convened behind closed doors, a representative of the Lodi Chamber of Commerce urged the council to seek a negotiated separation if the outside investigation had not found illegal conduct.

"We know that there really are 3 paths forward," the Chamber representative said, summarizing options discussed with local leadership: returning the city manager to duty, dismissing him without cause under mutually agreeable separation terms, or dismissing him with cause if the investigator found grounds. The speaker added, "We urge city council and all those advising them to approach this decision with fairness, a spirit of compromise," and said the Chamber remained "ready to support this process in any way that fosters speed, transparency, and stability."

After returning from closed session at 3:09 p.m., the city attorney reported that "City Council gave direction on a 5 to 0 vote to publish the resolution as modified in closed session to commence the process of removing the city manager from office and continuing the suspension of the city manager from duty." The city attorney cited the applicable state and local code sections in the report.

The council did not disclose details of evidence or the specific modifications to the resolution during the public report. The transcript records the vote tally (5–0) but does not identify a mover or seconder for the motion to publish the resolution, nor does it include the text of the published resolution. City staff said the action was to publish the preliminary resolution as modified in closed session; additional procedural steps required under Lodi Municipal Code section 2.12.050 will follow once the resolution is published.

The meeting agenda also listed, as a separate closed-session item, conferences on multiple labor negotiations (including IBEW and several police and fire associations), but no public details were given about those negotiations during the public portions of the meeting.

The council adjourned the special meeting at 3:10 p.m. The city attorney’s public report is the only formal on-the-record account of the closed-session outcome available in the transcript; specifics about the grounds for removal, the version of the resolution published, or next public hearing dates were not specified in the record.