On Tuesday night, details of how Sacramento’s Office of the City Manager will be run came to light. The office is under new leadership for the first time since 2016 after Sacramento City Council ended its contract with former City Manager Howard Chan in December.
City Council approved Interim City Manager Leyne Milstein’s contract during its regular meeting, and just hours later, Chan announced on LinkedIn that he’d be starting a new position: Special advisor to the city manager.
Although Chan said he will be advising, he is technically exercising a provision in his contract that allows him to serve as an assistant city manager for up to a year.
“Employee's salary in the Assistant City Manager classification shall be set at the top of the published range for the classification, and employee shall receive all of the applicable benefits as described in the personnel resolution,” the provision stated. “This paragraph survives the termination of this Agreement.”
City spokesperson Jennifer Singer explained that his annual salary will be $340,812.60 and he will receive all benefits under that classification.
Chan’s previous salary as City Manager was $400,000 a year, which he was largely criticized for.
Council approves interim city manager contract
Milstein, the Interim City Manager, will earn an annual salary of $352,000 while the City Council continues its nationwide search for a permanent replacement.
The announcement was made during the council’s Tuesday meeting. Council members also approved the terms and conditions of her contract with the city, which Mayor Kevin McCarty noted includes the following:
- Milstein will receive all the benefits of employment to which the city manager is entitled.
- Milstein will be allowed to accrue vacation time beyond 480 hours.
- Any leave time credited to Milstein for 2025 will be honored.
- At the conclusion of the appointment as interim city manager, Milstein can return to her previous position as assistant city manager at the same salary she was appointed as the interim city manager for a term of no less than one year.
- Leyne will work cooperatively with the council and assist in the recruitment of a permanent city manager.
Milstein received a 7.5% increase from her previous annual salary as assistant city manager and will receive $352,000 a year. Her previous base salary was $327,442.50 and she received $372,352 in total compensation in 2024, according to Singer.
McCarty said he thinks this was a “fair arrangement” that recognized Milstein’s hard work as an assistant manager since November 2017.
“I really want to note the last piece in the terms of this action today is your engagement to finding the next city manager because you, like all of us, want to make sure we leave the city in a good position going forward,” he said. “We certainly have a lot of work to do and I think we are laying out a good process on how to move forward.”
Council member Caity Maple noted that Milstein will be taking over “the CEO job” managing over 5,000 employees and all the day-to-day tasks of the city.
“It's a tough job with a lot of different balancing priorities, including nine different bosses and thousands and thousands of people who all have differing opinions on how the city should be run, and how services should be done, and what we should do during a budget deficit, for example,” she said.
Henry Harry was one of three public commenters during the 2 p.m. meeting, and he argued that the decision to hold the meeting earlier than the usual 5 p.m. time was intentional.
“It’s shady to hold this meeting at 2 o’clock in the afternoon when most people are working,” he said. “It’s shady that you didn’t describe the pay and benefits on the agenda so people would know if they should be here.”
According to Singer, the city did provide the salary and terms of conditions of employment one day before the meeting.
Harry also questioned the reasoning behind her salary. As an example, he used the salaries of a Sacramento roofer or gas station clerk, both of whom he said make roughly $144 a day.
“Now, compare that to a top step assistant city manager making $163 an hour, or a city manager making $196 an hour, both making more in one hour than those workers make in a day,” he said. “And now you’re about to vote on how much you’re going to pay another city manager on their backs with their tax dollars.”
Milstein’s hourly rate is roughly $183 an hour, while Chan’s new hourly rate is $177 an hour.
The council voted unanimously to adopt a resolution appointing Milstein as interim city manager and approving her salary and terms and conditions.
The council anticipates it will take at least six months to find a permanent city manager as it continues its nationwide search.
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