David Carmany, who was heralded as a “perfect fit” for Rialto when he signed a five-year contract earlier this year to serve as city manager, has stepped down after less than three months on the job.
Carmany’s resignation came suddenly, unexpectedly and quietly on April 12, with no public mention of it. In contrast, when he was hired on Jan. 23 at an annual salary of $354,987, the city issued a news release touting Carmany as the ideal candidate for the job, “having successfully managed seven cities over a career spanning more than 30 years.”
Under terms of his separation agreement, Carmany received a $119,329 severance, plus whatever was owed to him in regular pay at the time, City Attorney Eric Vail said. He also was given 21 days, from the date of his resignation, to reconsider and rescind his decision to step down.
The reasons given for Carmany’s abrupt departure were vague.
“It was a mutually agreeable separation due to personal reasons,” Vail said in a telephone interview, declining further comment.
Carmany, 67, of West Covina said as much in a telephone interview this week.
“I just decided to segue into retirement, so that’s what I did,” he said. Carmany added that his focus now is on “living my best life.”
“For now, I’m focusing on some home improvement projects, doing a little bit of woodworking, and teaching my grandson how to build birdhouses,” he said.
Mayor Deborah Robertson did not respond to a request for comment. Councilmember Ed Scott, the longest serving member on the City Council after Robertson, declined to comment.
In the city’s Jan. 23 news release, Robertson said she was “thrilled” to welcome Carmany aboard, and that his “impressive track record, leadership skills, and commitment to community engagement make him the perfect fit for our City.”
And yet Robertson abstained from voting during the Jan. 23 council meeting when Carmany’s contract was approved. Scott was the lone dissenting vote on the decision to hire Carmany, whose extensive public service career includes stints as city manager in Agoura Hills, Malibu, Pacifica, Seal Beach, Manhattan Beach, La Puente and West Covina.
Assistant City Manager Tanya Williams has been named acting city manager, officials said.
Carmany was the third full-time city manager in the past five years at the helm of Rialto’s government. That doesn’t include three acting city managers — Arron Brown, former city Fire Chief Sean Grayson and now Williams — and one interim city manager, Henry Garcia.
Before Carmany was hired, Marcus Fuller served as city manager from May 2021 through January 2023, leaving with a $430,000 severance after what he described as management differences with the City Council. And Rod Foster served as city manager from May 2019 through October 2020, when he stepped down for personal health and family reasons.
Checkered past
Carmany has had a spotty history at the other cities where he has worked over decades.
In May 2023, he resigned as West Covina’s city manager, also for “personal reasons.” Two weeks earlier, a jury awarded the city’s former fire chief, Larry Whithorn, $4.1 million in an age discrimination lawsuit in which Whithorn accused Carmany of unlawfully firing him.
Whithorn, a nearly 30-year veteran of the Fire Department, alleged in his lawsuit he was terminated in April 2019 due to age discrimination and retaliation for reporting a hostile work environment caused by a city commissioner who “was harassing him, disparaging his name, verbally assaulting him and campaigning to get rid of him.”
Two days before the jury awarded Whithorn the $4.1 million, Carmany admitted during his trial testimony that he provided false information about the reasons he fired Whithorn.
Carmany also fired Police Chief Marc Taylor after his appointment as city manager. Taylor subsequently filed an age discrimination lawsuit against the city that is pending trial.
Manhattan Beach dispute
In Manhattan Beach Carmany worked as the city manager from 2010 until November 2013, when the city fired him without cause, claiming it wanted to move in “a new direction.” Nine months later, Carmany’s former administrative assistant sued the city alleging Carmany harassed her and then retaliated, ultimately firing her.
In a laundry list of allegations, Patricia Schilling accused Carmany of forcing her to alter figures in staff reports, shred documents and falsify financial disclosure forms, all the while harassing her to the point of triggering a stress-related heart condition. When Schilling complained about Carmany’s conduct to a city-hired lawyer, Carmany fired her.
Additionally, Carmany, according to the lawsuit, shredded an anonymous letter containing a complaint about him and instructed Schilling to shred any anonymous letters in the future. Schilling claimed to have witnessed Carmany lying to the City Council about the use of city funds, including a contract for legal services; saw him leave the office regularly for long periods of time during business hours; and charge personal expenses, such as meals and travel, on the city’s credit card.
The city settled the lawsuit in 2016 for $1.5 million.
Next career moves
After Manhattan Beach, Carmany took a $38,000 cut in pay to become city manager in La Puente. He worked there until 2018, apparently with no splits.
Among his accomplishments in La Puente, Carmany cited his work with the Police Department on an award-winning community-based policing model and helping to clean up the city’s image and reputation. He said he established La Puente Live, a weekly farmer’s market, and helped to increase the city’s sales tax revenue by 20% over a 13-quarter period.
Carmany’s tenure in Pacifica also was marked by his firing for alleged misconduct and his breach of contract lawsuit alleging wrongful termination.
Carmany, hired in January 1997 in the coastal community just south of San Francisco, was fired in March 2003 “for cause.”
He said the city’s allegations against him — including that he engaged in “criminal violations beyond the scope of the Pacifica Municipal Code” — were false and libelous on their face. His lawsuit, filed in August 2004, alleged Carmany did not receive the appropriate severance after he was terminated, per the terms of his employment contract.
The city settled the lawsuit in October 2005 and paid Carmany $175,000.
Personnel matters
During a March 4 interview with the Southern California News Group at his office in Rialto, Carmany declined to discuss the history of litigation he had been ensnared in over the years at cities where he has worked, calling them “personnel matters.”
He did, however, recall a “very hot” redevelopment project in Pacifica he supported that he believes was the real reason he was fired there. The project, which voters rejected, called for a hotel and retail shops to be built on an old quarry site.
“The project was defeated, and after that it was time for Dave to go,” Carmany said. “It was because we had a hot municipal election, and the development project that I advocated for was turned down at the ballot box.”
Related links
Rialto’s new city manager comes to town with 30-plus years of experience
West Covina city manager resigns, citing ‘personal reasons’
Former West Covina fire chief awarded $4.1 million in wrongful termination suit
Manhattan Beach fires City Manager Dave Carmany
Former Manhattan Beach employee claims fired city manager harassed her
Asked what criminal violations the city accused him of, Carmany said he couldn’t recall. “I don’t remember what the issue would have been,” he said.
At the time of the interview, Carmany seemed like he was ready to get to work and take Rialto in a new direction. He called the city “uniquely positioned to make good strides.” He cited several projects on the horizon, including a new police station at City Hall, to be built over the next two years, and development in the city’s northern end, between the 210 Freeway and the foothills.
And, of course, Carmany said he planned to focus heavily on the things constituents demand the most — jobs, paved streets and good government services.
“That’s the assignment of the city manager here,” he said. “I’m pretty excited about it.”
