After meeting privately for more than an hour, the city council voted 5-to-4 against giving Interim City Manager Gus Vina the job permanently. Instead, council members Sandy Sheedy, Rob Fong, Kevin McCarty, Darrell Fong and Bonnie Pannell want to conduct a nationwide search. Of those five, Darrell Fong was the only one willing to comment Wednesday. He says his vote isn't a vote of no confidence in Vina.
Fong: "To me - I'm not sure about how it goes to the others - but it doesn't preclude Gus from applying, and I hope he applies for the position."
Don't ask when that search will begin, though … or what it will look like, or how much it will cost. When I tried, the City Manager's office sent me to the mayor and council's office. They sent me to Human Resources. And H-R didn't call back at all - so it's unclear how City Hall's most critical job will be filled.
UPDATE (Thursday afternoon) - The city's Human Resources department says the Council will decide at its next closed session meeting, this coming Tuesday, how to conduct the search.
