The March 13 meeting of the Portola City Council focused on the city manager position, currently held by Interim City Manager Jon Kennedy.
Before discussing updates to Kennedy’s position, council members quickly approved the consent agenda, with some amendments, and renewed the city’s state of emergency proclamation, originally issued March 8, 2023. “We will continue to renew the state of emergency proclamation until we get paid,” Kennedy noted. The motion to approve the proclamation was unanimous.
Council also unanimously approved sending a letter to AT&T in support of maintaining landlines in the City of Portola and Plumas County, after recent news that AT&T was making an effort to remove landlines in the area. Council members voiced concerns over not having landline access for first responders, and the many in the area that still do not receive reliable cell service. “Just look at what happened during this last big storm,” Mayor Pat Morton said. The full letter is available here.
“It’s time to find a permanent city manager.”
Jon Kennedy, interim Portola city manager
When it came time to address the last five items on the agenda, Kennedy spoke emotionally about his tenure as interim city manager. “It’s time to find a permanent city manager,” Kennedy said.
“When I was first asked to come here and be interim it was supposed to be for a year. … Things and people happened and work still needed to be done when Mayor Cooley left, and I agreed to stay on longer to help with lots of things that we had to do. I sent you all an email a week or so ago saying that I cannot continue being the full-time city manager,” Kennedy explained.
It would be beneficial to all if he could stay until the city completed the search for a new full-time city manager, Kennedy said, but added that his family and personal life needed him elsewhere.
“Managing a city is filled with all kinds of surprises on a daily basis and our staffing now is a little shorter than it used to be in the past. There is a possibility that I might be able to remotely do some work until you get someone else in here,” Kennedy said.
He noted that he shouldn’t get paid moving forward pursuant to his current agreement, and that an ad hoc committee should be designated as labor negotiators.
Councilmembers Leah Turner and Bill Powers were voted in as an ad hoc committee for labor negotiators. The meeting went into closed session. Upon return from closed session, the councilmembers announced that no formal action was taken. They agreed to move forward with the search for a full-time city manager.