Jose Antonio Ramirez is being reappointed as the City Manager of Livingston on Tuesday.
His reappointment comes over three years after he was terminated from the position and sparked a legal battle with the municipality.
The big picture: The Merced City Council’s agenda for the Tuesday evening regular meeting has Ramirez taking the oath of office to return as the city manager as the first item on the agenda.
- Livingston has not announced why Ramirez will return to the role that he held on and off since he started in the early 2011, although the reappointment comes after the city council discussed a lawsuit Ramirez filed against the city during a closed session meeting.
- His return also comes after a failed run against Buddy Mendes for the Fresno County Board of Supervisors in 2022.
The backstory: Ramirez was terminated by the Livingston City Council in July 2021 after several performance evaluations in the preceding year.
- In December of that year, Ramirez filed a government claim against the city making a number of allegations against several city officials during his time as city manager.
- The council rejected the claim shortly after he filed it, leading to the lawsuit.
Go deeper: In the claim, Ramirez accused former City Councilman Gagandeep Kang of pressuring the city to pay for an expansion of his home driveway, threatening to fire the city engineer and withhold tax funds.
- Ramirez also accused Kang of trying to bribe the city attorney.
- Ramirez said in the claim that his opposition of Kang led to the six performance evaluations that ultimately resulted in his firing.
- Further, Ramirez accused Kang of engaging in voter fraud.
- The complaint also detailed allegations of Brown Act violations involving certain councilmembers during Ramirez’s tenure and that the council retaliated against him for not renewing former Police Chief Chris Soria’s contract.
