Arroyo Grande City Manager Terminated

The Arroyo Grande City Council has voted to end the employment of City Manager Dianne Thompson.

Thompson was placed on paid leave last week for undisclosed reasons with Mayor Jim Hill saying only that her management style may not be a good fit for the city.

Thompson was hired last year from a similar position in Marin County to replace long-serving City Manager Steve Adams who resigned in October 2014 amid controversy involving allegations of an intimate relationship with Community Development Director Teresa McLish.

After meeting in closed session Tuesday night, Arroyo Grande City Attorney Heather Whitham announced the City Council voted unanimously to terminate Dianne Thompson’s employment, effective immediately.

LeAnn Akins was among a few city residents who attended Tuesday night’s City Council meeting and waited for the decision on Thompson’s fate after the lengthy closed session meeting.

“I don’t know if its necessarily a right fit”, Akins says about Thompson’s dismissal, “I think that if you, as a city manager, have a contract and your contract states that you need to be able to meet with the City Council and set goals within your first 45 days and that doesn’t happen and you employ whatever tactics you can to delay that and continually delay that, I don’t think that’s a bad fit, I think that you’re not doing your job.”

Terms of Thompson’s severance with the city were not immediately known but she was earning a base salary of $179,000 a year.

City Public Works Director Geoff English has been serving as Acting City Manager since Thompson was placed on paid leave.