It was experience vs the future at the Rossmoor Community Services District this week as three members of the community’s Board of Directors voted despite very vocal opposition to the contrary to hire a former city manager to replace the retiring Joe Mendoza.
“There will never be another Joe,” said Director Jo Shade, referring to the outgoing General Manager Joe Mendoza, a well-connected former L.A. County government executive who has acted as the General Manager of the community for less than $75,000 per year.
Mendoza announced to the board last summer that he intended to retire but agreed to stay on until the board found someone to comfortably replace him.
While longtime board members Tony Demarco and Michael Maynard suggested Rossmoor find another retired former executive at lower costs, Shade and her other colleagues on the board said Tuesday after months of searching, no such candidates have surfaced.
Therefore, following a long and contentious debate, preceded by a string of angry residents who argued loudly against the move, the Board of Directors voted 3-2 to hire former Carson city manager Sharon Landers as the new General Manager.
Since Rossmoor is not an incorporated city, its status as a service district gives it very limited powers and a very limited budget of $2 million annually to service the community’s needs.
As a satellite of Orange County, the community gets police protection from the California Highway Patrol, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and gets most of its public works and other services from the Orange County Supervisors.
Even First District Supervisor Janet Nguyen weighed in on the debate, asking the Board not to hire Landers at $200,000 per year, plus benefits and other perks.
Residents said Landers, an attorney, has a history of short-term employment at public agencies, leaving with huge payouts.
Professor Cheryl Katz said through an email statement their family has lived in Rossmoor since 19060 and her mom is a 97-year-old Holocaust survivor.
“The proposed salary with benefits given to Miss Landers will be double that which is currently being paid to Mr. Mendoza. This seems frivolous and excessive,” said Katz.
Maureen Waters entered two articles into the record that highlighted Landers’ firing from the City of Carson in 2021 and walking away with a Severance Package between $250 – 350,000.
“Why would we bring in someone with no ties to Rossmoor,” asked Waters. “She is not the person to lead Rossmoor.”
Austin Edsel, a representative for Nguyen, said, “At a time when all cities and counties are facing budget cuts and fiscal uncertainty, every financial decision must be carefully evaluated.”
“Media reports and many concerned Rossmoor residents have highlighted troubling allegations involving this candidate,” said Edsel, reading from the letter. While the Supervisor stopped short of saying don’t hire Landers, the letter left little to the imagination.
“I urge you to consider the residents you serve as you proceed,’ Nguyen advised.
Rod Crane, a resident since 1961, called it a “very generous offer.” He said Landers would get two weeks administrative leave, two weeks paid vacation, “She can be reimbursed for anything, has $10,000 worth of life insurance an a six percent matching retirement fund on top of her “roughly $200,000 annual compensation.”
“I don’t see a limit on this,” he said.
Both Maynard and Demarco vehemently opposed the move for mostly the same financial reasons. They chose not to speak about Landers personally, or her work history, but simply saw this as a move that will take from other items in the small budget to pay for Landers compensation package.
“Calling this contract flawed is being very nice,” said Maynard, speaking about the employment contract drawn up for Landers.
“This should not have even been brought to us,” said Maynard. “It looks like it was written by someone who has never in their lives negotiated a salary contract. This is not a good working contract,” said Maynard.
“I’m dead against this,” he said.
Demarco said the small staff at Rossmoor had to wait years for benefits such as life insurance and small retirement contributions, “and that was only after they had been here a while,” he said.
Giving Landers $10,000 worth of life insurance for the first six months “is outrageous. We just don’t have the funds to pay,” said Demarco.
Looking forward, Demarco said every dollar in Rossmoor’s small budget of approximately $2 million is already targeted for projects. “Where’s this money (to pay Landers) going to come from?” he asked.
“We have a set lighting assessment, and a set property taxes,” said Demarco, “we get a little bump every year, but it’s going to be carved out of something.”
He suggested if the majority insisted on hiring Landers, offer her a six-month contract before loading the wagon with benefits and perks.
“It’s not only insulting to our General Manager and our employees, but it’s going to be very difficult to pull these (perks) back,” he said.
Shade said she had been at every meeting and that there was nothing missing from the record.
“If you’re on this committee that is choosing this person and you don’t know how we got here, you were not paying attention,” she said flatly.
“We got here because of certain issues that we’re having with RCSD and our policies. This committee chose this person (Landers). We were brought this person. This person was brought to us.
Things got a bit rowdy, and Shade offered and Maynard even made a motion to “take off the handcuffs” from executive session so that residents could hear some of the discussion that occurs from behind closed doors.
“We’d like to have more transparency and that’s part of the issue,” said Shade.“We’re trying to make some changes so that our community has open transparency on issues, on policies, and all that sort of thing,” said Shade.
“I think there are circumstances that we have to deal with and step up to knowing a certain caliber of individual we want,” said Shade. Finding someone of that caliber to work for Mendoza’s salary is a fantasy. “It’s not happening, “ she said.
Regarding the contract, she said the same people wrote it that writes all of the RCSD contracts.
As far as the allegations, Shade said the committee investigated every single one of them to learn of the circumstances and found no reason to believe anything out of the ordinary.
“People on this board has done extensive research,” said Shade, “and I know all of the facts,” she said.
Remnet reassured residents that there was “much more detail” in the closed session briefings that, unfortunately, board members are unable to publicly discuss.
I fully support the vote we took in closed session to hire her,” said Director Mary Ann Remnet, “and I hope going forward, we can have a more inclusive process with our community.”
Board President Nathan Searles said Mendoza, Demarco and Maynard initially introduced Landers to the board as “an exceptional candidate, whom we’ve gotten o know over the past several months.”
He thanked Landers for her patients and thanked outgoing GM Joe Mendoza for his dedication and said the community will plan a public send off for the longtime Rossmoor official.
Over the years, Mendoza has been responsible for many improvements, including most recently, a retirement plan for RCSD employees.
Searles said he did not agree with the overall tone of the discussion.
“I don’t necessarily agree with the tone tonight about this being somewhat easy and we’re giving it all away. The discussions were not easy and we are all accountable to the residents who vote for us,” said Searles.
Searles said that Landers has no inside connection to Rossmoor, which makes in the long run for a more accountable executive.“The terms are really difficult for us but they are the terms that we were able to come up to go with a candidate we find to be worthy of the position,” the RCSD president said.
Searles moved to approve the contract and the board voted 3-2 in favor. Searles, Shade and Remnet voted yes while Demarco and Maynard voted no.
Following the discussion, both Maynard and Demarco apologized about the sharp debate, but like the other three board members, they welcomed Landers to Rossmoor.
She began her new role May 19.
Editor’s Note: According to RCSD President Nathan Searles, the salary of $75,000 as reported for GM Joe Mendoza was his starting salary, while his change in compensation to $55 per hour recently equates to an annual salary of approximately $110,000.00. In addition, he clarified that the compensation of $200k as reported for the annual salary of newly hired GM Sharon Landers represents the annual fiscal impact as calculated by Mendoza. Searles said the exact compensation for Landers is $140,000 per year, plus benefits.