Anaheim\u2019s top administrative executive emerged from a Jan. 27 closed session questioning with his job intact, and praise from at least two councilmembers.<\/p>\n
At the City Council\u2019s Jan. 13 meeting, Mayor Ashleigh Aitken asked for an agenda item to question City Manager Jim Vanderpool behind closed doors. Information recently released by new Anaheim Chamber of Commerce leaders said Vanderpool attended\u00a0a September 2020 trip to Lake Havasu<\/a> paid for by the organization. He did not disclose the trip as a gift in his 2020 annual statement of economic interests. Aiken said she wanted \u201cto have the opportunity to ask questions of our city manager and let this process play out.\u201d<\/p>\n Items for a \u201cpublic employee performance evaluation\u201d and a \u201cpublic employee resignation\/release\/dismissal\u201d appeared on the Jan. 27 closed session agenda.<\/p>\n Vanderpool will continue to serve \u201cour community as city manager as he has since 2020,\u201d city spokesperson Mike Lyster said in a statement following Tuesday night\u2019s closed session. \u201cBeyond that, we want to respect that Tuesday\u2019s item was a closed session discussion.\u201d<\/p>\n The five-day trip included former chamber CEO Todd Ament, from whom Vanderpool told councilmembers in a Dec. 23 email he\u2019d received an invitation shortly after joining City Hall, but \u201cdid not engage with any subsequent social or business travel with.\u201d<\/p>\n FBI investigators later alleged Ament was a leader among a group of business and political leaders that may have been exerting undue influence at City Hall;<\/a> and Ament was a key player in a scandal involving the now-defunct Angel Stadium sale, wearing a wire for the FBI that recorded then-Mayor Harry Sidhu saying he hoped to elicit from the deal a $1 million campaign contribution<\/a> for his reelection from the Angels. Vanderpool joined the city after the council decided to sell Angel Stadium to a business partnership of team owner Arte Moreno.<\/p>\n Sidhu was also among those invited to Lake Havasu, although Vanderpool told councilmembers in the email he did not attend.<\/p>\n In another email sent this month to councilmembers, Vanderpool said the value of his two-night stay in a mobile home unit shared with then-chamber Vibe President Laura Cunningham and her husband would have amounted to about $190.<\/p>\n \u201cAt no time was I aware that the Chamber of Commerce was paying for the unit,\u201d he said in the Jan. 11 message.<\/p>\n \u201cFood and beverage provided by me would have offset any reporting requirement,\u201d he added. Vanderpool did not report having received any gifts in his 2020 statement of economic interests.<\/p>\n Councilmembers Natalie Rubalcava and Ryan Balius defended Vanderpool\u2019s job performance during the meeting.<\/p>\n \u201cJim, I appreciate your commitment to our city,\u201d Rubalcava said. \u201cAnd I just want you to know that I continue to support you, and thank you for improving the morale and the city of the Anaheim, which was on a rapid decline in 2020.\u201d<\/p>\n