Marlene Best is out as Santee city manager, and the City Council is seeking an interim replacement.
The surprise development was revealed when the City Council held a special closed-session meeting on Friday to discuss appointing an interim manager. No appointment was announced after the meeting.
Another special meeting was called at the highly unusual time of Easter Sunday night to again discuss appointing an interim city manager, but still no announcement was made.
On Monday, the city released a revised agenda for its Wednesday City Council meeting that includes an item about hiring an interim replacement for Best.
According to the agenda item, the city manager’s position will be vacant on Wednesday, presumably meaning Best will not attend. The wording in the agenda does not indicate whether her departure was a resignation or a firing.
There has been no apparent public disagreements between the city manager and City Council at meetings, and Mayor John Minto did not return a phone call to discuss her departure Monday.
A request from The San Diego Union-Tribune for a comment from Best received an email reply from city Marketing Manager Bree Osborne who said that Best “has declined the opportunity to make a public comment or provide a formal statement at this time.”
A Public Records Act request for any documents or emails about Best’s resignation received an email reply from City Clerk James Jeffries who wrote that the request had been received and the city had 10 days to respond.
Best was hired as Santee city manager in 2016 and previously worked 10 years at the same position in the city of Imperial. She was also a city manager in Calexico and assistant city manager in Lake Elsinore.
In a 2019 San Diego Union-Tribune article, Best described herself as “an East County girl” who had graduated from Helix High School in 1978 and lived in the area her entire life.
Best got her start in city employment working in the recreation department in Lemon Grove in 1980 and continued to live in East County even while working in Imperial and Calexico, according to the article.
The resolution before the City Council on Wednesday states that they are seeking an interim manager to serve until a permanent replacement is hired.
The new hire should be a CalPERS retiree and will be hired to work no more than 24 weeks at a pay rate of $126.14 an hour, according to Wednesday’s agenda. Best, 64, earned $269,000 annually.
Her departure marks the second time this month a San Diego County city has lost a city manager. Ben Martinez resigned as city manager of National City on Friday.
