{"id":505957,"date":"2026-10-24T00:46:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-24T00:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/505957\/"},"modified":"2026-10-24T00:46:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-24T00:46:09","slug":"i-was-ignored-lemon-grove-city-clerk-resigns-warns-of-administrative-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/505957\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI was ignored.\u201d Lemon Grove city clerk resigns, warns of administrative issues"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lemon Grove City Clerk Joel Pablo has resigned \u2014 the latest in a recent wave of departures \u2014 and warned officials of top-down administrative problems, urging them to \u201clook closely at management at the top.\u201d<\/p>\n

His exit comes after more than three years on the job, and amid an effort to restructure<\/a> the city\u2019s operations to reduce turnover.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy leaving was about the conditions I worked in and about the management at the top of this organization,\u201d Pablo said in a written statement that was read to the City Council Tuesday by Lemon Grove Planning Commissioner Jacquelyn Clark.<\/p>\n

Regulars at City Council meetings knew Pablo as the clerk who collected speaker slips during public comments, handled their records requests and frequently troubleshot the city\u2019s outdated audio system<\/a> that often failed at the start of meetings.<\/p>\n

His resignation was effective Oct. 15.<\/p>\n

Last year, longtime City Manager Lydia Romero departed her post after city leaders did not renew her contract. Her exit was the start of a string of vacancies that left Lemon Grove without permanent leadership in key roles, including the finance director and senior management analyst positions.<\/p>\n

\"LemonLemon Grove City Manager Lydia Romero and City Clerk Joel Pablo tally votes to select an appointment to the City Council at Tuesday night\u2019s council meeting.<\/p>\n

Officials said the vacancies created\u00a0organizational instability<\/a>, spurring a staffing overhaul in June where leaders voted to hire a full-time code enforcement officer, fill a senior management analyst position and scrap plans to hire a community development director.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese vacancies cause havoc,\u201d Snow said at the time.<\/p>\n

In a written statement submitted to The San Diego Union-Tribune, Pablo compared his job duties to those of clerks in nearby cities, noting he alone completed work he was often told \u201cshould be a three-person office.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not the only one who has walked out these doors; a finance director, senior management analyst and other dedicated professionals have left in a short span of time,\u201d Pablo said. \u201cWhen good people leave, one after another, it deserves honest attention, so I ask the council to look closely at management at the top.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his letter, he specifically noted his leaving was \u201cnot because of any mayor, city council member, and \u2026 not because of any planning commissioners.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a months-long recruitment and vetting process, city leaders selected Tony Winney<\/a> to serve as the permanent city manager. He served as Lemon Grove\u2019s interim top administrator for seven months before he was made the permanent pick in August.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe city cannot respond regarding confidential personnel matters,\u201d Winney said in a written statement. \u201cMr. Pablo has left employment with the city and we wish him well on his future endeavors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before submitting his resignation, Pablo said he asked the city\u2019s administration for support \u201ca number of times, especially this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly after I submitted my resignation letter in September 2026 did the city take my concerns seriously and by then it was too little, too late,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Officials have since hired Kara Johnson to serve as interim city clerk, according to city records.<\/p>\n

In his resignation statement, Pablo said his parting wish was that the city fund an assistant or deputy city clerk position.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was ignored, but I don\u2019t want somebody else to go through what I did,\u201d Pablo said.<\/p>\n

After reading Pablo\u2019s letter to city leaders, Clark asked the council to study how employee needs are met and suggested they amend the city\u2019s administrative code to create a space for employees to share their concerns \u2014 outside of a direct supervisor.<\/p>\n

In an interview, Pablo said he was concerned his resignation statement was being misconstrued and reiterated that his leaving \u201cwas not because of the mayor.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Lemon Grove, the city clerk is paid an annual salary of about $94,676, according to the salary plan for the last fiscal year.<\/p>\n

\u201cServing the people of Lemon Grove as their City Clerk has been one of the great privileges of my life,\u201d Pablo said. \u201cI have truly cared for this community and I gave it everything I had.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lemon Grove City Clerk Joel Pablo has resigned \u2014 the latest in a recent wave of departures \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505958,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[7,3053,181,6503,23,205,100,13,74,84,76,75,1696],"class_list":["post-505957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-california","tag-east-county","tag-latest-headlines","tag-lemon-grove","tag-local-news","tag-local-politics","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-county","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-top-stories-sdut"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505957","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=505957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}