{"id":150676,"date":"2026-01-26T23:15:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T23:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/150676\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T23:15:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T23:15:07","slug":"anaheim-officials-to-question-city-manager-behind-closed-doors-tuesday-orange-county-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/150676\/","title":{"rendered":"Anaheim officials to question city manager behind closed doors Tuesday \u2013 Orange County Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amid a flurry of recent headlines revolving around the city\u2019s top administrative executive, Anaheim<\/a> councilmembers are scheduled to question City Manager Jim Vanderpool Tuesday night, Jan. 27, behind closed doors.<\/p>\n

At the City Council\u2019s last meeting, Mayor Ashleigh Aitken asked for an agenda item to question Vanderpool in closed session about news reports that recently emerged saying he attended in 2020 a days-long retreat at Lake Havasu paid for by the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we look at the article that was in the LA Times recently regarding our city manager, I do want the council to look at transparency,\u201d Aitken said at the Jan. 13 council meeting. \u201cWe would like to meet in closed session and get more information and speak to both our ethics officer and our city attorney.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEarning and keeping the public trust is tantamount to both me and, I know, my colleagues on this dais,\u201d she said, \u201cso I would like to have the opportunity to ask questions of our city manager and let this process play out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vanderpool left the Buena Park manager position in 2020 to assume his role in Anaheim.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Just weeks into his new job, Vanderpool attended a September retreat to Lake Havasu; the trip\u2019s guest list included several of the city\u2019s most-influential, including then chamber CEO Todd Ament.<\/p>\n

Ament later became a key figure in the 2022 Anaheim corruption scandal, wearing a wire for the FBI that recorded then-Mayor Harry Sidhu saying he hoped to elicit a $1 million campaign contribution for his reelection from the Angels once the sale of Angel Stadium was complete. FBI investigators alleged Ament was a ringleader of a self-described \u201ccabal\u201d of business and political figures exerting influence at City Hall.<\/a><\/p>\n

Ament pleaded guilty in July 2022 to several counts of fraud in a deal with federal prosecutors,<\/a> though his attorneys filed a motion in November to withdraw<\/a> those pleas, arguing he got bad advice from his prior attorney. The hearing for the motion is scheduled for next month.<\/p>\n

Ament was cooperating with federal prosecutors\u2019 investigation into Sidhu,<\/a> who resigned in May 2022 amid news breaking that he was part of an FBI investigation for corruption, partly in connection with the sale of Angel Stadium to a business partnership of Angels owner Arte Moreno, which the council gave initial approval to in late 2019.<\/p>\n

Sidhu would later admit to providing confidential information to a consultant working for the Angels, according to his signed plea agreement, so that the Angels could buy the stadium on favorable terms.<\/p>\n

Sidhu was not at the Havasu retreat, Vanderpool said in a Dec. 23 email to councilmembers, which was later released to the media. He added that he was invited by Ament, but \u201cdid not engage with any subsequent social or business travel with Todd Ament.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vanderpool declined to comment, but had the city release emails he sent to councilmembers about the issue.<\/p>\n

Just two days before Aitken called for his questioning, Vanderpool sent the council another email, in which he said he and his husband \u201cstayed for two nights\u201d in a mobile home unit shared with then-Chamber Vice President Laura Cunningham and her husband.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt no time was I aware that the Chamber of Commerce was paying for the unit,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cA total of $1,900 was paid in rent for the units,\u201d Vanderpool wrote. He estimated that over his two-night stay, the \u201cpotential gift\u201d for he and his husband would have been $190.<\/p>\n

Vanderpool told councilmembers he did not report the transaction as a gift in his 2020 annual statement of economic interests. \u201cFood and beverage provided by me would have offset any reporting requirement,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Councilmember Natalie Rubalcava characterized the situation as a \u201cgood learning experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that it is probably a good idea for an ethics officer to provide training on behested payments and reporting,\u201d she said in an interview. \u201cI\u2019m not so much concerned about the integrity of our city manager because I feel like he has proven himself through and through.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dara Maleki, founder of The Pizza Press, stepped up last year to lead the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce as its interim president and CEO<\/a> just as the organization was on the cusp of shuttering.<\/p>\n

He said he\u2019s focusing on restoring public trust in the chamber. And that begins, with fulfilling an \u201cobligation prior leadership had to disclose to the public\u201d he said about why he shared more information with the media.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve looked through the prior actions and timeline for the chamber,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u201cI think this gives a lot more clarity to what was involved, who was involved, and really an ability to close chapters not only for the organization, but for the city at large.\u201d<\/p>\n

Angel Stadium<\/p>\n

City staff, during a December public strategic planning session, also asked councilmembers if they could potentially begin speaking to state officials about navigating the Surplus Land Act process in regards to the city-owned stadium.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Surplus Land Act requires priority be given to affordable housing and open space when a local government is selling excess property, including giving affordable developers the first opportunity to negotiate for the land.<\/p>\n

The Anaheim City Council approved in 2020 the final details of the $320 stadium property deal,<\/a> which included plans for 466 apartments for lower-income families, a flagship 7-acre community park, hotels, shops and restaurants, offices and housing.<\/p>\n

But the state notified Anaheim officials in 2021 that the planned sale was in violation of the Surplus Land Act. City officials argued the stadium property was exempt. Anaheim later agreed to pay $96 million from the sale\u2019s proceeds toward building affordable homes around the city.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Going forward, before the 150-acre Angel Stadium site could again be put up for sale, the city would need to through the state process.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo this is a project that requires a lengthy process and we are seeking council\u2019s direction to engage in some preliminary conversations with the state about the Surplus Land Act process and moving forward,\u201d city spokesperson Esther Kwon said following the December meeting.<\/p>\n

The results of a city assessment on Angel Stadium\u2019s condition and structural integrity, expected mid-year, will also inform considerations, city officials said. It\u2019s been 25 years since the stadium was last renovated.<\/p>\n

Councilmembers gave staff the greenlight to pursue the surplus land discussions with the state. But those conversations haven\u2019t begun, spokesperson Mike Lyster said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in the early process of evaluating next steps,\u201d he said. \u201cTo even get to a negotiation or discussion about the future of the site, we could be a year or more away from that easily.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Amid a flurry of recent headlines revolving around the city\u2019s top administrative executive, Anaheim councilmembers are scheduled to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25413,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,15261,165,164,19753,7,1071,23,611,136],"class_list":["post-150676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-city-hall","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-angel-stadium","tag-california","tag-local-government","tag-local-news","tag-orange-county","tag-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150676\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}