Alameda City Manager Remains On Paid Leave

ALAMEDA, CA — The Alameda City Council voted in closed session late Monday night to keep City Manager Jill Keimach on paid administrative leave.

The Council also decided to release on May 5 an investigative report by outside attorney Michael Jenkins about a secret recording Keimach made of a conversation she had with Vice Mayor Malia Vella and Councilman Jim Oddie last August about hiring a new fire chief.

In addition, the Council voted to ask the Alameda County District Attorney's Office to review the secret recordings.

The council put Keimach on leave on March 9 after it learned of the secret recording.

Keimach has admitted that she secretly recorded her one-hour conversation with Vella and Oddie but said she did so because the two councilmembers were pressuring her to hire Fire Capt. Domenick Weaver, the past president of the city's firefighters' union, instead of her preferred choice, Salinas Fire Chief Edmond Rodriguez.

Keimach stuck to her guns and hired Rodriguez and he was appointed on Oct. 3.

Keimach's attorney Therese Cannata said in the public portion of the Council's meeting Monday night that Keimach's tape recording was legal under Penal Code 633.5, which allows a person to tape record a conversation when she reasonably believes it will obtain evidence related to commission of certain crimes, including bribery, extortion and a felony involving violence against the person.

Cannata also said City Attorney Janet Kern had told Keimach it was permissible to record Vella and Oddie, although Kern has denied giving Keimach permission to do so.

Kern said today that, "I adamantly deny" giving Keimach such permission and "Miss Keimach knows that."

Kern said, "I'm not her personal attorney and don't give her legal advice and said that when Keimach said she was considering taping her meeting with Vella and Oddie, "I was aghast and told her it was a very bad idea."

Kern alleged that Cannata and Karl Olson, another attorney for Keimach, are "spreading a falsehood and a complete lie" by claiming that she gave Keimach permission to tape the conversation.

Kern said the accusations are "a derogatory attack against me" and could jeopardize her bar license so "I'm considering my options."

Cannata told the City Council Monday night that the issue "is about perceived misconduct by two councilmembers (Vella and Oddie) over union influence."

She said, "The Council should investigate that" instead of investigating Keimach.

The council was considering firing Keimach at its meeting, but Olson said she would have legal claims, including whistleblower retaliation, if she's dismissed.

Olson said Keimach "has nothing to hide" and wants the secretly recorded conversation to be made public.

Keimach, who was hired on a four-year contract on March 7, 2016, told the Council, "I've worked my entire career in the public sector and a key core of my beliefs is to enhance the public's trust in government, even
behind closed doors."

But she said, "I was put to the test in Alameda" and said she chose the more difficult road of "exposing unethical behavior."

All but two of the approximately 40 people who addressed the Council supported Keimach.

Former Alameda City Manager William Norton told the Council it shouldn't fire Keimach on Monday because it hadn't given her enough notice and that it should give her up to a year to correct her performance if she
has any deficiencies.

Norton said the Council "has a very bad track record" because it has gone through seven city managers in 10 years and said if it fired Keimach, it would have a hard time finding a replacement since city manager
websites are full of discussions about the problems in Alameda.

Norton also said the controversy over Keimach "has taken a toll on the city's staff members" and made it hard for them to do their jobs.

Cannata and Olson told the Council that Vella and Oddie should be disqualified from discussing and voting on Keimach's fate because they have a conflict of interest and wouldn't be able to vote objectively.

The minutes of the Council's closed session indicate that Vella and Oddie participated in the lengthy discussion on the issue but were absent for 10 minutes when the Council voted.

Mayor Trish Herrera Spencer, Councilwoman Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft and Councilman Frank Matarrese voted in favor of the motion to keep Keimach on leave, release the report on May 5 and have the district attorney review the secret recording.

Vella and Oddie didn't respond to requests for comment today.

— Bay City News; Image via ALameda Patch Archive