City Manager Singer is back on the City Council agenda for Closed Session
August 05, 2026
By Peggy Kelly
Updated: August 19, 2026
The City Council will meet Aug. 19 and an issue that keeps popping up — City Manager Dan Singer — is back on the agenda for the closed session.
There will be a special meeting earlier at 4:30 p.m. billed as a Study Session: City Growth Overview before the regular session starts at 5:30 p.m. with a closed session regarding the city manager.
Noted on the agenda is the closed session will include a “CONFERENCE WITH LABOR NEGOTIATORS,” between the “Agency designated representative(s): Monica Castillo,” the city attorney and the “Unrepresented employee: City Manager.” The second closed session item notes “PUBLIC EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE EVALUATION,” for “Title: City Manager.”
It’s been musical agendas since a city press release dated July 1 stated that the contract of Singer, who took the top city job about seven years ago, would lapse on June 30, 2027, following the “decision” by the council, which met in closed sessions on June 23 and June 30 to discuss the city manager’s “performance evaluation.”
At a special July 30 Santa Paula City Council meeting, City Attorney Castillo pulled the agenda item that prompted the session after the Santa Paula Times questioned the lack of reporting of each council member’s decision to allow the contract to expire in June 2027.
In a July 27 letter to the city clerk and all council members, the Santa Paula Times asked that the city abide by California Government Code 54957.1, which governs public reporting of decisions made in closed session. It is part of California’s open-meeting laws, known as the Brown Act.
At the July 30 special meeting, Castillo stated she would “like to clarify and correct the report,” made at the July 15 council meeting regarding the closed sessions. “I previously reported that no action was taken concerning the city manager’s employment. And for that reason, the city manager’s employment agreement will sunset on June 30, 2027. That statement incorrectly suggested that the agreement will expire because the council took no action in closed session. To clarify, there was no reportable action concerning the city manager’s performance or the city manager’s employment agreement. The agreement expires by its own terms on June 30, 2027. No council action is required for the agreement not to be renewed or extended beyond that date. Likewise, no motion or vote was required merely to allow the agreement to expire according to its terms.”
For that reason, Castillo added, the item regarding PUBLIC EMPLOYEE DISCIPLINE/DISMISSAL/RELEASE was pulled from the closed session agenda because “no further closed session action is needed concerning the expiration of the existing contract.”
Agenda item 5.B, PUBLIC EMPLOYEE APPOINTMENT Title City Manager, Castillo said, would remain on the agenda and it was announced when the council came out of closed session that the recruitment process would start for a new city manager.
In other council business for the Aug. 19 meeting, Police Chief Don Aguilar will provide the council with a report outlining SPPD activities. Deputy City Manager Aminah Mears will present the 1-year progress on the 2-year 2025-2027 City Council Strategic Plan, that “provides a comprehensive status update on the six overarching goals and 49 objectives contained within the Plan,” according to the staff report.
Public comment is welcome and there are various ways to view and/or participate in the meeting either in person or online. For more information, visit https://santapaula.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=5 or https://bit.ly/4qmHm65.
City Council rejects state Open Meeting rule by not reporting each council member’s decision on city manager’s tenure
August 5, 2026
At a special July 30 Santa Paula City Council meeting, City Attorney Monica Castillo pulled the agenda item that prompted the session after the Santa Paula Times questioned the lack of reporting of each council member’s decision to allow City Manager Dan Singer’s contract to expire in June 2027.
In a July 27 letter to the city clerk and all council members, the Santa Paula Times asked that the city abide by California Government Code 54957.1, which governs public reporting of decisions made in closed session. It is part of California’s open-meeting laws, known as the Brown Act. (Read Santa Paula Times letter to the City Council on this page.)
In a city press release dated July 1, it was stated that the contract of Singer, who took the top city job about seven years ago, would lapse on June 30, 2027, following the “decision” by the council, which met in closed sessions on June 23 and June 30 to discuss the city manager’s “performance evaluation.”
At the July 30 special meeting, Castillo stated: “I would like to clarify and correct the report,” made at the July 15 council meeting regarding the closed sessions. “I previously reported that no action was taken concerning the city manager’s employment. And for that reason, the city manager’s employment agreement will sunset on June 30, 2027. That statement incorrectly suggested that the agreement will expire because the council took no action in closed session. To clarify, there was no reportable action concerning the city manager’s performance or the city manager’s employment agreement. The agreement expires by its own terms on June 30, 2027. No council action is required for the agreement not to be renewed or extended beyond that date. Likewise, no motion or vote was required merely to allow the agreement to expire according to its terms.”
For that reason, Castillo added, “We are going to be removing item 5.A,” PUBLIC EMPLOYEE DISCIPLINE/DISMISSAL/RELEASE “from this morning’s closed session agenda because no further closed session action is needed concerning the expiration of the existing contract.”
Agenda item 5.B, PUBLIC EMPLOYEE APPOINTMENT Title City Manager, Castillo said, would remain on the agenda.
Before going into closed session after public comment, Councilman Pedro Chavez said he had some questions for “clarification”: “When a contract is initiated, that contract is agreed upon by all parties, correct, including the expiration date?”
The city attorney agreed with Chavez who then asked if closed-session employee performance evaluations — “as part of the responsibility I have as a public servant” — is confidential per state law.
Castillo again agreed.
Multiple community members addressed the council in support of Singer, expressing concern about the direction, clarity and transparency of the council’s decision.
Bob Orlando noted his remarks in support of Singer at the July 15 meeting, and again questioned the new direction the council is headed. “Dan apparently doesn’t fit into that new direction. We don’t even know what that direction is. It seems a bit confusing to us who are concerned about the livelihood and progression of the city that’s been happening quite nicely lately. … I know we don’t know everything that’s going on here with this decision or non-decision.”
Gary Ohst told the council he has been impressed with what Singer and city staff have accomplished with limited resources. “Now,” he said, “some on this council want to go in a different direction. This council owes this community an open discussion as to why we’d risk all this positive momentum by undertaking the risky process of changing” leadership “midstream, but no valid reasons have been provided.”
Ohst asked that the council maintain “our positive hard-earned momentum” by extending Singer’s contract. “You have the power to limit our individual comments to three minutes,” he concluded, but the issue “will resonate all the way to November and beyond. … ”
Stephanie Becerra said she was “disappointed” with the council’s decision, especially as she has observed Singer’s interactions with, and responses to, the council. She said she is also disappointed that the council’s decision to let Singer’s contract lapse was not the subject of a council vote. The issue has become the topic of much community conversation, she said, adding: “I just feel like the accountability is yours. When you run for office, you promise to show your accountability to our town and do the best for our community.”
Becerra said the decision coming before an election that could change the makeup of the council, “just seems kind of frazzled.”
Connie Tushla shared her history of involvement in the city manager selection process.
“Hiring a city manager, no matter how much research that has been done, you are hiring someone with an unknown future track record. Excellent city managers are extremely hard to locate,” especially those “who also want to come to a small town with a limited finance budget and a hospital about to close. It seems we have not yet found our niche for economic development. You have many hard decisions to make for Santa Paula, and this is one of those hard decisions. I sincerely thank you for all the long hours of work that you put into this position. Not many people want to do it. And I wish you profound success with divine guidance to make the right decision for Santa Paula.”
SIDEBAR
Santa Paula City Manager Dan Singer’s contract isn’t the only one that has recently drawn public scrutiny. On June 17, Rick MacLennan, chancellor of the Ventura County Community College District since 2022, sent an email to the district’s faculty to inform them that the board had notified him that his contract would not be renewed.
The agenda for the VCCCD Board of Trustees’ June 9 meeting, prior to MacLennan’s email, included a closed-session performance evaluation for the chancellor. The board did not make a public announcement of any decision from that closed session.
In an opinion piece published in the Ventura County Star on Aug. 2, by Matthew Fienup, Ph.D., executive director of the Cal Lutheran’s Center for Economic Research and Forecasting, wrote that the VCCCD board voted 3-2 not renew MacLennan’s contract.
