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Bill Workman terminated as Redondo Beach city manager

By Nicole
Mooradian

April 8,
2014

Bill Workman is no longer the city manager of Redondo Beach, the city council announced Tuesday after a closed
session meeting lasting nearly an hour and a half, according to a news release from the city.
The vote to terminate Workmans employment without cause was unanimous, though Councilman Stephen
Sammarco was absent, according the news release.
The City Councils vision for the city is now taking it in a new direction, leading to a decision to transition the chief
administrative officer helm of the city to another qualified individual, the city said in the release. The Council thanks
Bill for his years of service, and wishes him the very best as he pursues new private sector business opportunities.
Mayor Steve Aspel read the complete news release after the council returned from closed session at 5:53 p.m.,
according to City Clerk Eleanor Manzano.
Because Workmans job performance is a personnel issue, the Brown Act allows the council to discuss it in closed
sessionthat is, without the public present. No open session was scheduled for Tuesday nights meeting.
The Coalition of Redondo Employeesan unofficial group made up of members of the Redondo Beach Firefighters
Association, Redondo Beach Police Officers Association, Redondo Beach Professional and Supervisory Employees
Association, the Teamsters, and the City Employees Associationalleged that the city, and the city manager in
particular, was not acting with honesty, fairness and respect in contract negotiations with employees.

About 98 percent of CORE membersor roughly 70 percent of all the citys employeesexpressed a negative view
of the city managers performance in a no-confidence vote in the fall.
According to public records, Workman, 60, earned $237,097 in 2012. He, along with all other city employees, took a
6 percent pay cut in 2009. Since then, he has declined annual increases to his compensation, preferring instead to
request the city council extend his contract an additional year. Workmans contract was extended until Jan. 2, 2016 at
the beginning of 2013.
Nevertheless, when an item to increase the former city managers compensation was placed on the agenda in
December 2013, Workman asked the council to postpone the matter until 2014. He did not request a contract
extension.
The council voted at the end of January to spend $30,000 and hire an independent investigator to look into complaints
by city employees against Workman, who began his tenure as city manager in 2004.
It is an American past-time to gripe about your boss, Workman wrote in a news release at the time. I encouraged
the City Council to move quickly to complete a probe to clear up the allegations. It should not surprise anyone that
each of the complaints I read originated from union negotiators in an effort to discredit management.
In a statement released prior to the councils decision to hire an investigator, Workman said he was the subject of
harassing, hostile and retaliatory attacks from city employees.
Under the guise of public employee speech privileges, some labor unions zealots have made an assortment of false
assertions about me in an attempt to vandalize my professional reputation, the former city manager said.
The results of the councils investigation are unknown. Workmans performance review, as well as an item concerning
a public employees discipline, dismissal or release, has been an item on the city councils closed session agenda
since at least the beginning of March.
The decision to terminate Workman helps to validate a lot of the COREs claims, RBFA Brad Sweatt told My
Redondo Beach. I cant imagine the city would come to this conclusion if what weve been claiming and saying at the
podium for quite some time wasnt mostly true, if not fully true.
We would stand by everything weve said and they obviously see through it now.
When reached for comment, Aspel directed My Redondo Beach to the complete news release issued by the city:

Bill Workman has served the City of Redondo Beach as City Manager since 2004. The City has
benefited from his efforts and successful results, including being ranked number one for governance
and financial management by the Los Angeles County Grand Jury. The City Councils vision for the
City is now taking it in a new direction, leading to a decision to transition the chief administrative officer
helm of the City to another qualified individual. In order to do so, the Council has unanimously, with
Councilman Stephen Sammarco absent, elected to terminate Bills employment agreement without
cause. The Council thanks Bill for his years of service, and wishes him the very best as he pursues
new private sector business opportunities.

Workman has not been seen around city hall for weeks, with multiple sources saying he was on medical leave.
Peter Grant, an assistant city manager, has been acting city manager in Workmans absence. Grant will continue in
his position as acting city manager with Workmans termination, Aspel said.
Information on Workmans severance package will be forthcoming, Aspel said.

My Redondo Beach has reached out to Workman and will update this article with his response if one is received.