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Last Updated on May 28, 2024 by BVN
Hardy Brown, Sr.
In a unanimous vote by San Bernardino Mayor Helen Tran and seven councilmembers on May 22, 2024, the new city manager, Charles Montoya, who had been on the job for seven months, was fired without cause as outlined in his contract approved by the council on October 18, 2023. On October 18, 2023, with a 5-3 vote, Councilmembers Kim Calvin, Ben Reynoso, and Damon Alexander voted against hiring Montoya. Despite objections from a large and diverse cross-section of citizens, the majority of the council went ahead with the hiring.
I remember former City Councilmember Rikke Van Johnson warning the council during that meeting of four red flags in Montoya’s past employment history: he was a job hopper, had been fired as a city manager, was involved in lawsuits, and had initiated lawsuits against the cities he managed. Van Johnson reiterated these concerns at the May 22, 2024 meeting, emphasizing the danger signs the council should have considered before hiring Montoya.
During his seven-month tenure, Montoya often seemed like a “shell game artist,” constantly keeping the council and the public guessing. He started by changing the times of council meetings, moving them from 7:00 PM to 2:00 PM, then to 4:30 PM, and finally to 5:00 PM, with the intent of reducing public participation. He even stopped city staff from reading comments submitted to the city clerk’s office from citizens with speaking disabilities during council meetings.
Montoya also created confusion by having the City Attorney tell the Mayor and Council that San Bernardino’s new charter made it a city manager form of government, giving all powers to him. The council was taken aback and did not challenge the attorney at the meeting.
Montoya also lied to the council, staff, and public. At one meeting, he told the council he had signed a “Letter of Intent” to renovate the old city hall with a company and that the council should pass a resolution to start the bonding process. When Councilmember Calvin questioned when the council had given him that authority, Montoya doubled down, accusing the council of wasting time and insisting he was hired to get things done in the city.
By the council previously maligning Calvin with a political hit piece back in December 2023, Montoya and the council felt emboldened to be disrespectful and rude to her and the Black community.
As a retired newspaper publisher, I submitted a Public Records Request for that Letter of Intent, which Montoya eventually had to admit he did not have in his possession.
Montoya did other questionable things, but the last straw came when Barbara Whitehorn, the Director of Finance, informed Mayor Tran and four councilmembers (Sanchez, Ibarra, Figueroa, and Shorett) and the public that she had been fired by Montoya for doing her job. Whitehorn told the council that an agenda item Montoya wanted them to approve was incomplete and did not contain her financial forecast, which showed the city could not afford what Montoya was proposing. She said, “Because of my forecast, Montoya fired me.” She added that she loved the city because she lived there, whereas Montoya lived in Riverside.
The late B.B. King had a popular song that said, “Never make your move too soon.” Montoya made his move too soon, and now he is gone.
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