{"id":160684,"date":"2026-02-02T19:45:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T19:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/160684\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T19:45:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T19:45:07","slug":"is-anaheims-controversial-city-manager-calling-it-quits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/160684\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Anaheim\u2019s Controversial City Manager Calling it Quits?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anaheim City Manager Jim Vanderpool has collected his personal items from his office after facing renewed scrutiny for his close relationship with Disneyland Resort interests.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It also comes as Vanderpool added a \u201cpublic employee resignation\u201d notice at the 11th hour to the city council\u2019s closed session meeting on Tuesday.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

City Spokesman Mike Lyster confirmed in a text message Monday that Vanderpool collected his belongings from his office on the seventh floor of city hall after security would not let a reporter view his office on Monday morning without an appointment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can share that Jim has collected personal items from his office. Beyond that, the office is not a publicly accessible space,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

For years, Vanderpool has faced ongoing criticism for his close ties with resort interests.<\/p>\n

After an FBI corruption probe hit city hall in 2022 and tanked a lopsided deal to sell Angel Stadium deal, a 2023 report from city hired investigators detailed how Vanderpool was keen on an Anaheim Chamber of Commerce-backed plan to withhold more than $100 million in bond repayment money from the city\u2019s general fund \u2013 money that was long promised to be a tax windfall to the city\u2019s most flexible fund.\u00a0<\/p>\n

[Read: How Disneyland Resort Interests Planned to Withhold Tax Money from Anaheim\u2019s Working Class<\/a>]\u00a0<\/p>\n

That scrutiny intensified recently in the wake of a TimesOC article in January revealing\u00a0 that Vanderpool did not disclose a trip with Anaheim Chamber of Commerce officials to Lake Havasu right before city council members voted to finalize the Angel Stadium Sale in 2020 backed by the chamber.<\/p>\n

[Read: Is Anaheim\u2019s City Manager on the Chopping Block?<\/a>]<\/p>\n

The news reporting was based on emails released by new leadership at the Chamber of Commerce to reporters.<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s city council agenda was revised by Saturday to include an item related to a public employee resignation at the 4 p.m. closed session meeting.<\/p>\n

Lyster said in a Sunday email that Vanderpool requested the item.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a closed session item, I\u2019m unaware of what the Council may receive on Tuesday. The city manager sought and placed the item on the agenda, and it is our understanding there are no financial aspects to it. Beyond that, we want to respect that this is a closed session, personnel item,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

Vanderpool did not respond to questions on whether he submitted a letter of resignation.<\/p>\n

In a Jan. 11 email to city council members, Vanderpool said he didn\u2019t know that the chamber paid for the rental unit he stayed in, he only stayed two nights and that the food and beverages he brought would have offset the need to report the stay.<\/p>\n

[Read: Is Anaheim\u2019s Controversial City Manager Going to Get Fired?<\/a>]<\/p>\n

Mayor Ashleigh Aitken said in a Sunday text she was unaware of Vanderpool submitting a letter of resignation.<\/p>\n

It all comes as city officials are starting to mull over the future of Angel Stadium, with another deal seemingly on the horizon again after a previous sale attempt imploded in the fallout of an FBI corruption probe in 2022.<\/p>\n

[Read: Anaheim Officials Once Again Put Angel Stadium in Play<\/a>]<\/p>\n

\"\"The entrance to Angel Stadium at the Angels vs Cleveland Indians game Sept. 9, 2019. Credit: SPENCER CUSTODIO, Voice of OC<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s meeting comes after a local Republican group seemingly leaked a failed attempt by Aitken to nix Vanderpool behind closed doors last week. \u00a0<\/p>\n

[Read: Who Leaked a Failed Closed Door Vote to Nix Anaheim\u2019s City Manager?<\/a>]<\/p>\n

Aitken spearheaded a closed session meeting last month to question Vanderpool about why he didn\u2019t disclose the Lake Havasu trip paid by the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce on his statement of economic interests.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Aitken is also calling on her colleagues \u2013 some who voiced support for Vanderpool \u2013 to release a memo by the city\u2019s ethics officer about gift reporting requirements and an analysis of the city manager\u2019s trip to Havasu.<\/p>\n

[Read: Where\u2019s Anaheim\u2019s Ethics Officer?<\/a>]<\/p>\n

The mayor isn\u2019t the only one questioning Vanderpool\u2019s undisclosed trip.<\/p>\n

The Fair Political Practices Commission, the state\u2019s campaign finance watchdog, is investigating Vanderpool for potential violations to the economic interests disclosure clause of the Political Reform Act.<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s note: Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken\u2019s father, Wylie Aitken, chairs Voice of OC\u2019s board of directors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam.<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Anaheim City Manager Jim Vanderpool has collected his personal items from his office after facing renewed scrutiny for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":160685,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,40333,165,164,19753,19740,50872,19748,49836,2267],"class_list":["post-160684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-chamber-of-commerce","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-angel-stadium","tag-ashleigh-aitken","tag-jim-vanderpool","tag-mike-lyster","tag-oc-corruption-scandal","tag-voice-of-oc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160684","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=160684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160684\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}